A report released Thursday shows just how influential new U.S. citizens could be in the November midterms, especially in Nevada.
The “New American Voters in Nevada” report found that 42,976 citizens were naturalized in Nevada between 2016 and 2020.
That number is larger than Nevada’s 2020 presidential election margin of 33,596 votes, showing how much of an influence the new citizens can have on the election, the report says.
“In Nevada, a bloc of New American Voters — recently naturalized citizens that have earned the right to vote — has the potential to play an outsized role in the outcomes of critical federal and state races,” the report says.
Partnering with the Asian Community Development Council, the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada and the Culinary Workers Union Local 226, the New American Voters 2022 campaign that published the report aims to mobilize and encourage new citizens across the country to vote.
Of the newly naturalized citizens in Nevada, 47 percent come from the Americas — such as Central and South America, the Caribbean and Canada — 38 percent come from Asia, 8 percent come from Europe and 6 percent come from Africa, according to the report.
Of the more than 40,000 people who became naturalized citizens between 2016 and 2020, 11,318 originally came from Mexico, the highest single country of origin, followed by the Philippines in Asia and Cuba in the Caribbean.
The Southern Nevada area of Las Vegas, Henderson and Paradise had the highest concentration of new naturalized citizens with 285,000, followed by the Reno area, with 34,000 people.
About 59 percent of the people who were naturalized in Nevada between 2016 and 2020 were below the age of 45, and about 59 percent were women, according to the report.
“This voting bloc is multiracial, multigenerational, geographically diverse, and majority female. New American Voters hold distinct ideologies, experiences, and viewpoints, and will be motivated by a variety of issues this November,” the report reads.
Most from Latin America
The majority of Nevada’s new citizens originate from Latin countries, and the Latino vote is expected to be influential in the 2022 midterms. Historically, Latinos in the U.S. have voted more Democratic, although recent reports show that the Republican Party is making more inroads with Latino demographics. One report, for instance, found that former President Donald Trump received more support from Latinos in 2020 than in 2016 because of his economic stances.
In Nevada’s big races, such as the U.S. Senate contest in which Republican former Attorney General Adam Laxalt is looking to defeat the first Latina in the U.S. Senate, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., candidates have campaigned for the Latino vote. Laxalt, for instance, started his “Latinos for Laxalt” campaign, blaming Cortez Masto and other Democrats’ handling of the COVID-19 pandemic as a reason why Hispanic businesses closed.
Republican Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo’s campaign for governor has a Latino outreach coordinator as well.
A decisive role
Nicole Melaku, executive director of the National Partnership for New Americans, said Nevada’s numbers are part of the 5.19 million newly naturalized people in the U.S. Out of 15 states highlighted in the report, Nevada will be one of the states where new citizens can play a decisive role in the 2022 midterms, Melaku said.
With the demographics, age and countries of origin reported, candidates can work to carve out the identities of those new citizens and learn what’s important to them, Melaku said.
“It’s a super multiethnic, multiracial electorate that I think tells the story of the changing electorate of Nevada,” Melaku said.
The National Partnership for New Americans also works to identify and eliminate barriers for people wanting to become citizens. One of the most obvious barriers, Melaku said, is access to legal services. People can get intimidated by the length of the application or concerns that they aren’t proficient enough in English to pass the test. There is also a $725 application fee, Melaku said.
There are partners in Nevada that help people free of charge with the process, Melaku said, such as the Progressive Leadership of Nevada’s Northern Nevada Citizenship and Immigration program.
Contact Jessica Hill at [email protected]. Follow @jess_hillyeah on Twitter.
Nevada NAV State Report Final 822 by Tony Garcia on Scribd