The Latino 'sleeping giant' is finally woke in key battlegrounds

For years we’ve been hearing about the so-called “Sleeping Giant” —the massive number of eligible Latinx voters who stay home on Election Day— and wondered if this will be the election when the giant awakens.

But now she’s up. All it took was Donald Trump shouting sexist and xenophobic comments in the giant’s ear to get her out of bed.

Latinx voters are already voting in record numbers in the key battleground states of Florida, North Carolina and Nevada — Hillary Clinton campaign

For example, officials in Clark County, home to the Las Vegas strip, have recorded a 34% uptick in Latinx voter participation, compared to white voter turnout, which is up only 13%.

“If we keep this trend we feel very good about Hillary Clinton winning the state in Nevada,” Marlon Marshall, director of state campaigns and political engagement for Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign, said during a press call with reporters.

The early numbers look even better for Clinton in Florida, where over 133,000 Latino voters have already cast ballots over the past week. That marks an incredible 99% increase in Latino early voter participation from this same point in the 2012 election.

“Latino vote-by-mail requests in Florida are through the roof,” said Marshall.

Marshall credits the Clinton campaign’s 16 Nevada offices for organizing a “coordinated” grassroots effort to register voters and educate them about the importance of early voting. The campaign and other groups have also been engaged in an aggressive door-knocking campaign to get out the vote in diverse neighborhoods across the state.

And the ground game appears to be paying off with the Latinx voters; the giant isn’t going to sleep through this election.

“This is extremely significant and a sign of where this race is going over the next 12-days,” Marshall said about the early voting numbers in Nevada.