Latino Republican Who Won Mayorship In Town That Is 85% Latino: Latinos ‘Opening Their Eyes’

NEIL CAVUTO, FOX NEWS HOST: McAllen, Texas, they have elected Republican for mayor. Now McAllen, in that area, is the same area that Hillary Clinton won 40 points over Donald Trump in 2016, Joe Biden won by about 20 points over Donald Trump. So, something’s changed. The guy who right now is the mayor elect, it was a close election, and they’re ironing that out, but he was kind enough to join us, Javier Villalobos, the McAllen, Texas, mayor elec. Sir, very good to have you.

JAVIER VILLALOBOS, MCALLEN MAYOR ELECT: Thank you very much. Glad to be here.

CAVUTO: Let me get your take on what happened. Now, I know it was a close election, you won by a couple hundred votes. I don’t whether there’s going to be a recount or your opponent is looking into that. But where do things stand now? 

VILLALOBOS: Certainly, actually, it was a very close election. Of course, you all know that it was nonpartisan. But everybody also knew that I was a former Republican chair. So no, the difference was only about 220 votes, it’d be very difficult to do overturn, recount, whatever, I think we’re going to be fine.

CAVUTO: Alright, regardless how close it was or what happens, to your point mayor elect, it’s very different than it was little more than, you know, a few months ago … what’s going on?

VILLALOBOS: Well, during the past election, it’s amazing what happened here in South Texas. I think genuinely the Hispanic community is very conservative, yet, traditionally, they voted Democrat. It’s amazing what happened this past election. I think our numbers as far as conservative voters were up by substantially. We finally, finally, have competition in South Texas. So I think it’s an open up the doors for a lot of people.

CAVUTO: Alright, now a lot of people have been noticing even in the last election where Donald Trump scored more of the Latino vote than then he did even in the election four years prior, how do you see the Latino vote if I can generalize, going right now?

VILLALOBOS: Down in south Texas, it’s a little bit different. Like I said, traditionally Democrat, however, they are, a lot of individuals, including older individuals that have forever voted Democrat are opening up their eyes, accepting different ideas, both social and economic. And that’s amazing. We will have some, I always tell everybody, competition is good. It has been traditional Democrats of South Texas have been ignored a lot of the times, it won’t happen anymore. We expect next election, that we will have the same type of results. We have candidates now running for Congress, when a lot of times it was very difficult to field a candidate down here, especially local elections, I think things are going to be changing.

CAVUTO: … we always tend to look at the Hispanic community as a monolithic bloc, but there are many in your community who got here legally, and then they tend to resent what’s been happening at the border and as if that speaks for all Hispanics. What do you think?

VILLALOBOS: You know, it’s amazing. Even the older individuals … they just can’t stand what’s going on. My in laws, they were, they were immigrants, legally. And it’s true. People talk about it. They said, look what’s going on? Why can’t they do it legally? There has to be a mechanism, but you know what, a lot of the problem we have is in Washington. So we implore with our senators, our congressmen, the president, guys take a look at the immigration issue, take care of it. We’re being burdened right now with hundreds, thousands, of immigrants almost daily. And it’s an issue that we shouldn’t be burned, our taxpayers shouldn’t be paying for that. So we keep on telling Washington, take care of business.

CAVUTO: You know, Javier, Kamala Harris has yet to come to the border. She seems to be putting it off. Is it almost too late now?

VILLALOBOS: No, look, anytime a federal official comes in, they’re welcome. I think it’d be, it’d be wonderful if vice president Harris could come and see some of the issues that we have. We are about 10 miles from the border. We have two international bridges on Anzalduas and Hidalgo. In Anzalduas, it’s amazing at any given time, hundreds and hundreds of immigrants, that’s the point where Border Patrol starts processing. They send them to McAllen. Fortunately, all we do is logistical assistance as far as transportation where they’re dropped off to the respite center, and then to the bus station or to the airport. So our position is like, look, we shouldn’t be doing this. We should not be expending our money on immigration issues, on federal issues. But fortunately, we, for our purposes, it’s logistical. And the immigrants don’t stay here McAllen. They go to the bus station to the airport and they’re out. So at least that’s beneficial for us.