AUSTIN, Texas — Latino voters are expected to make up the largest minority voting bloc in the country for the first time in a presidential election. With weeks to go until Election Day, both President Donald Trump and Democratic challenger Joe Biden are boosting their Latino outreach in Texas.

“Hispanics are in play in Texas,” Jason Villalba of the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation recently told Capital Tonight. “If that occurs then there’s every possibility that either side could win that constituency and that constituency will be the determining factor in the race coming up.” 

A recent poll from the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation and Rice University’s Baker Institute found that Texas Hispanics favor Biden over Trump. But Trump is doing better among Hispanics this year than he was in 2016. And despite Biden’s nearly 10 point lead in that poll, the person who helped Bernie Sanders secure the most votes among Latinos in the Texas primary told a UT Austin virtual crowd Tuesday, the Biden campaign isn’t making enough inroads with the community.

“Latinos don’t know what Joe Biden is going to do for them, and they don’t know him as a human being even though he’s been around public service forever. They don’t know him,” said Chuck Rocha, Bernie Sanders’ former Latino outreach strategist.   

But Biden’s state director says the campaign knows the importance of the Latino vote.

“We are reaching out to Latino voters every single day,” said Rebecca Acuña. “Our campaign absolutely knows that there is not a path to the White House without the Latino community. It is why Latinos are present at the highest levels of this campaign. It is why we’re focusing on digital ads, on bilingual communication, on Latino organizers and people working in the communities where they’re from.”

Meanwhile, while there are no indications that Trump will be able to win the Latino vote, his campaign says it sees an opportunity to boost support with his message on the economy and crime.