House GOP rushes to court critical voting bloc while facing uphill midterm battle

FIRST ON FOX: House Republicans are making their case to a critical voting bloc ahead of an election cycle that's expected to see the GOP fight an uphill battle to keep control of Congress.

House GOP Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain, R-Mich., was in South Florida late last week selling President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" to Hispanic and Latino communities, and she told Fox News Digital she is confident Republicans can keep up their support with those voters ahead of November.

"They have the same concern that any other American has. People have a tendency to stereotype them in that the only issue that Hispanics care about is immigration. And I'll tell you, from my experience, that simply just isn't true," McClain said.

The No. 4 House Republican was in Florida's 26th Congressional District, which includes part of the Miami suburbs, alongside its congressman, Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.

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It's a victory tour that McClain has embarked on for months, but her stop in the Hispanic-majority district is of particular significance as Republicans work to defy years of historical precedent to keep control of the House in the coming election.

Political convention dictates that the president's party faces significant losses in the next election after power changes hands. 

For the GOP to buck that trend, Hispanic voters across the country will be key — just as they were to Republicans' victory in 2024.

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McClain dismissed predictions that Hispanic voters would be turned off by the GOP over Trump's immigration crackdown, arguing the issues she heard in Diaz-Balart's district were no different from those anywhere else.

"I asked the same questions and listened the same in that district as I did in Ryan McKenzie's district," McClain said. "I will tell you, the idea that Hispanics only care about immigration is completely outdated and, I'll tell you, just simply wrong. They care about the economy, no different than anybody else. I mean, sometimes people have a tendency to put 60 million people into a category… their issues are no different than the people in my district, and it revolves around the economy, keeping more money in their pockets."

McClain called it "a big aha" moment ahead of November.

She also argued that the massive policy bill Republicans passed last year was helping those communities and others around the country, in particular hearing from voters who were happy about policies reducing taxes on tipped and overtime wages.

"Obviously, the no tax on tips was really big… but I didn't realize the first responders, the police officers — it really helped with morale," McClain said. "I guess as a police officer or as a first responder, they mandate that you have to work overtime."

Diaz-Balart told Fox News Digital the event was a "fantastic" roundtable that involved "working moms, Uber and DoorDash drivers, law enforcement officers, small business owners, and local tax professionals."