In New Mexico, a Democratic stronghold battling poverty and fentanyl backs Trump

By Andrew Hay and Jorge Garcia

Past a pawn shop and thrift store in the working-class section of Socorro, New Mexico, Jose Benavidez stood on the porch of his trailer and said he voted for Donald Trump because he had "nothing to lose."

The 49-year-old car mechanic hopes that Trump can ease poverty and a fentanyl crisis in Socorro and its surrounding county of the same name, which this month backed a Republican presidential candidate for the first time in 36 years.

"He said I'll have more money in my pocket this time," said Benavidez, who is currently unable to work and gets disability payments. He voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 before switching to Trump, who defeated Democrat Kamala Harris in the Nov. 5 election.

It's a sentiment heard elsewhere in working-class neighborhoods of south Socorro, where Trump made some of his biggest gains in the county of 16,000 residents compared to his last run in 2020. Reuters spoke to nearly two dozen voters, elected officials and community advocates in the southern New Mexico county around 40 miles (64 km) south of Albuquerque, the state's largest city.

Trump's 3-point win in Socorro, which is 50% Hispanic and 15% Native American, after Biden took it by 7 points in 2020, is emblematic of inroads the Republican made in counties with high poverty levels and those with large Hispanic or Native American populations, according to Edison Research data.

It was the only county in Democratic-controlled New Mexico, the state with the highest percentage of residents who identify as Hispanic or Latino, to flip Republican at the presidential level in this year's election.

Socorro was one of only 10 counties in traditionally Democratic states that have voted Democratic since 2012 that Trump was able to win in 2024, Edison Research data shows.

Harris won New Mexico by 6 points in 2024 after Biden took it by 11 points in 2020, a result strategists say reflects how Trump's hardline approach to migrants coming across the Mexican border and pledge to boost the economy has resonated with voters.

DISAFFECTED

Straddling the Rio Grande valley and the surrounding Chihuahuan desert and Magdalena mountains, Socorro county is home to New Mexico's mining and technology public university and the Very Large Array astronomical radio observatory.

Chile farms line the irrigated valley where the Bosque del Apache wildlife refuge draws bird watchers from around the world to see tens of thousands of sandhill cranes and other migratory wildfowl.

Socorro is also among 11% of U.S. counties that have been stuck in high levels of poverty for at least three decades, its population shrinking 5% since 2019 as residents sought work elsewhere, according to U.S. Census data. Its drug overdose death rate is approaching twice the national average and about a third of people live in poverty.

Sitting on the town's main plaza, Democratic voter David Chavez said the town of 8,200 never fully recovered from the businesses and jobs it lost during the pandemic. Two grocery stores shut in recent years after a Walmart moved in.

"People feel disaffected," said Chavez, a brewer who says his pub and music venue, like most local businesses in Socorro, is struggling economically.

LOW-HANGING FRUIT

Local Republican officials said they tapped into voter resentment of Democrats they accuse of being out of touch with working-class priorities.

Gail Tripp, a Republican elected county treasurer in the Nov. 5 vote, said people she met while knocking on doors were primarily worried about high grocery prices and migrants coming across the border.

"They don’t have the money to feed their dogs let alone the whole family," said Tripp, who won a seat previously held by a Democrat.

Republicans also flipped two Socorro County commissioner positions, two seats in the state House of Representatives for the county and one state Senate seat for the area.

Socorro's Democratic Mayor Ravi Bhasker, a doctor and hotel owner in office for 34 straight years, did not respond to requests for comment.

Allan Sauter, treasurer for the Democratic Party in Socorro County, blamed the party's defeat locally on national leaders that he accused of listening to the wealthy "donor class" instead of the "working class" on issues ranging from the economy to supplying Israel with arms for its war in Gaza.

"People feel poor and they don't feel like anyone cares," said Sauter. "Grocery prices and fentanyl are low-hanging fruit Republicans can point to."

NEVER LIFTED UP

In a thrift store on California Street, the town’s main shopping strip, elementary school aide Judy Evans said she voted for Trump in the hope he could cut her grocery bill after it doubled in the last two years - reflecting the economic pain voters across the U.S. have felt after inflation peaked at 9.1% year-over-year in 2022, the highest since the early 1980s.

“We’re shopping here to save money,” said the single mother of five, as she looked at kids' socks priced at 25 cents.

A few blocks south, Jerry Perez stood outside his multi-generational adobe mud-brick home and pointed to a house that he said burned down when fentanyl users "nodded off." Perez blames the drug crisis on fentanyl smuggling across what he calls a "wide open" U.S.-Mexico border, 160 miles to the south. Democrats have blamed Trump for the failure of a bipartisan bill aimed at improving border security and Biden earlier this year enacted restrictions that reduced migrant crossings.

“For so long we’ve always voted a certain way but we never see ourselves getting lifted up,” said Perez, 35, an upholsterer who voted for Trump hoping he would generate jobs, crack down on fentanyl dealers and curb illegal immigration.

At the town plaza, health group SCOPE provides Narcan, which reverses opioid overdoses, and offers advice to locals. One of the group's workers, Veronica Espinoza, says voters just "want to make sure the streets are safe."

Local officials like County Manager Andrew Lotrich want resources to investigate fentanyl dealers and create jobs.

"It's 'how do we get our small businesses back into Socorro County?' and 'how do we attract more entrepreneurs?'" said Lotrich, dressed in camouflage before an elk hunt.

Back at his trailer, Benavidez called Trump a "character" who could at least make people laugh. A convicted felon who has had run-ins with Socorro police, Benavidez said he felt a kinship with Trump. A New York jury in May found Trump guilty of falsifying business records, making him the first former U.S. president convicted of a felony.

"Like I said, there's nothing to lose," said Benavidez, who stapled his Trump flag to the porch after it was ripped down a couple of times.