Can Democrats Win Back Latino Voters by Treating Them Like Everyone Else?

When the Harris campaign released its first television ad targeting Latino voters, one word was conspicuously absent: Latinos.

Instead, the ad included subtle cues to voters that Vice President Kamala Harris, the child of immigrants, is one of them and cares about their issues. In 60 seconds, there are pictures of young brown-skinned children and families playing in parks, while a narrator with a slight Spanish accent tells Ms. Harris’s family story.

Both Democrats and Republicans acknowledge that attracting Latino voters will be key to winning the White House this year. Latinos remain one of the fastest-growing groups of voters. They are disproportionately young and have less partisan loyalty than many other groups.

So it is especially notable that Democrats, four years after hemorrhaging Latino support, have not been offering a slew of overt appeals. Rather than ads filled with promises about immigration reform and Spanish phrases, Democrats have been focusing on economic messages, talking about the cost of housing and medication, or relentlessly hammering the promise of the American dream. In short, they are courting Latino voters by treating them like everyone else.

The change represents both a shifting political strategy and an evolving view of Latino identity. Rather than approach Latino voters as if they are an enigmatic niche group with a narrow set of interests, Democrats seem to be recognizing that Latinos have the same hodgepodge mix of priorities as other voters. With more than 36 million Latinos eligible to vote this year, they are firmly in the mainstream.

The approach is exemplified by one of the party’s biggest Latina stars, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who, after repeatedly emphasizing economic class, did so again in her nationally televised speech during the Democratic National Convention last week, as she spoke about growing up as the daughter of a domestic worker, finishing her homework at other people’s dining room tables.