California has the nation’s largest Latino eligible electorate, but Los Angeles-based civic organizations and national Latino groups are working to increase participation far beyond the state.
Los Angeles still has a role in that national political landscape.
It comes through the people and organizations that have spent decades helping Latino and immigrant communities understand elections, register to vote and take part in civic life. Some are rooted in Los Angeles but work nationally. Others are focused on California, building relationships and experience that help communities that have often been overlooked during elections.
A voter in Los Angeles cannot cast a ballot in a Texas or North Carolina Senate race. But an organization based in Los Angeles can have a national reach. And the experience local organizations have built helping people navigate elections can become part of a much larger civic network.
California has more Hispanic eligible voters than any other state.
Pew Research Center estimates that about 8.7 million Hispanic adults in California were eligible to vote based on 2024 population data. Texas had about 6.7 million.
That gives California enormous weight in the national Latino electorate, even when the most competitive races are happening somewhere else.
In other reportings we have looked at that changing electorate, including the record number of potential Latino voters expected to be eligible to vote in November.
But the 2026 Senate map creates an important contrast: California has a huge Latino electorate, while some of the races that could determine control of the Senate are outside the state.
The Senate battle has become highly competitive, with several races carrying the potential to determine which party controls the chamber. Cook Political Report currently describes the fight for the Senate as a true toss-up, with Democrats needing a net gain of four seats to take the majority.
Texas and North Carolina are among the states drawing national attention, while the broader competitive map includes several other states.
For Latino civic organizations, that creates a different question from the one facing California voters:
How do you reach eligible voters in communities where the outcome may be close, even when those communities are thousands of miles from Los Angeles?
Los Angeles has spent decades building organizations that work with Latino and immigrant communities.
The NALEO Educational Fund is one of the clearest examples. The nationally focused, nonpartisan organization has been headquartered in Los Angeles since 1987 and works to increase Latino participation in the American political process. Its work includes voter information, civic engagement and support for Latino public officials.
NALEO says its programs have reached millions of Latinos nationwide with election information, including more than 3.2 million people through text, mail and digital outreach.
CHIRLA provides another example of civic infrastructure rooted in Los Angeles. Its civic-engagement program works with immigrants, Latinos, new voters and others who can be difficult to reach, with an emphasis on voter education and participation in California.
The organizations do not all have the same mission or geographic reach. That is important.
The point is not that every Los Angeles organization is working on Senate races around the country.
It is that Los Angeles has developed a deep network of organizations with experience helping communities connect to elections and civic life. Some of those institutions have national reach.
That national reach is becoming more visible during the 2026 election cycle.
UnidosUS, the LULAC Institute, Mi Familia en Acción and the Latino Victory Foundation have announced a coordinated Latino civic-engagement effort covering more than 40 states.
The coalition says it plans to reach more than 5 million Latino voters and register 250,000 new voters. Its work includes voter education, registration and efforts to increase participation.
The coalition’s announcement illustrates how Latino civic participation can stretch across state lines.
The voters themselves still have to vote where they live.
But information, organizers, nonprofit partnerships and voter-education programs can move across those same borders.
What Los Angeles Can and Cannot Do
It would be an overstatement to say Los Angeles will determine who controls the Senate.
The evidence does not show that.
What it does show is more specific.
Los Angeles is home to one of the country’s largest Latino communities and to organizations with decades of experience in voter education and civic participation. Some have national reach. Others, such as CHIRLA, are more focused on California while still having a history of broader civic engagement.
At the same time, national organizations are investing in reaching Latino voters across the country.
The connection between those facts is not a prediction about which party will win.
It is about infrastructure.
California’s Latino voters will decide California races. Texas voters will decide Texas races. North Carolina voters will decide North Carolina races.
But the organizations helping people understand how to participate in American democracy do not necessarily stop at state borders.
For Los Angeles, that may be the more important story.
California may not be a Senate battleground this year. But the civic infrastructure built in Los Angeles is part of a much larger effort to help Latino voters get information, register and participate; one community at a time.
