--- title: Mitch McConnell: Trump May Alienate Latino Voters description: The Senate majority leader told CNN Thursday that Trump could alienate Latino voters with his rhetoric canonical: https://time.com/4355998/mitch-mcconnell-donald-trump-latinos/ author: Daniel White article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-02T23:41:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T22:22:03.822Z article:section: Politics og:title: Mitch McConnell: Trump May Alienate Latino Voters og:description: "I think that the attacks that he's routinely engaged in...was a big mistake" og:url: https://time.com/4355998/mitch-mcconnell-donald-trump-latinos/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5aae99e82f7b3198/69888b3d196cf46ddd03ac52/460559338.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: &lt;&gt; on December 16, 2014 in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Mitch McConnell: Trump May Alienate Latino Voters twitter:description: "I think that the attacks that he's routinely engaged in...was a big mistake" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5aae99e82f7b3198/69888b3d196cf46ddd03ac52/460559338.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mitch McConnell: Trump May Alienate Latino Voters by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jun 2, 2016 11:41 PM UTC  U.S. Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) pauses as he speaks to members of the media after the weekly Senate Republican Policy Luncheon December 16, 2014. U.S. Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) pauses as he speaks to members of the media after the weekly Senate Republican Policy Luncheon December 16, 2014.Alex Wong/Getty Images by [Daniel White](https://time.com/author/daniel-white/) ## Daniel White Jun 2, 2016 11:41 PM UTC Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Thursday that nominating Donald Trump [could alienate Latino voters](http://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2016/06/02/mcconnell-on-trump-politics-race-lead.cnn) from the Republican party. Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper, the Kentucky senator said that Trump’s rhetoric against minorities, particularly Latinos could hurt Republicans. “I think that the attacks that he’s routinely engaged in…was a big mistake,” McConnell said. “What he ought to be doing now is trying to unify the party and I think attacking people once you have won, it’s a time to be gracious and try to bring the party together.” McConnell compared Trump to [1964 Republican nominee Barry Goldwater](http://time.com/4253968/anti-donald-trump-ad-lyndon-johnson/), saying that the billionaire could have a similar effect in alienating Latino voters in the 2016 election as Goldwater did with African-Americans. McConnell did salute Trump was in regards to the [current Senate fight over choosing a nominee to the Supreme Court](http://time.com/4265434/mitch-mcconnell-merrick-garland-supreme-court/) to replace Justice Antonin Scalia, who passed away in February. “One thing Trump did that I do like is he came up with a list of very qualified, credible nominees from which he would likely pick Supreme Court vacancy,” he said. “I think that was reassuring, I think the Supreme Court is a big issue in this election.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4355998/mitch-mcconnell-donald-trump-latinos/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4355998/mitch-mcconnell-donald-trump-latinos/"},"headline":"Mitch McConnell: Trump May Alienate Latino Voters","datePublished":"2016-06-02T23:41:04.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:22:03.822Z","description":"\"I think that the attacks that he's routinely engaged in...was a big mistake\"","url":"https://time.com/4355998/mitch-mcconnell-donald-trump-latinos/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","Senate","Donald Trump"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5aae99e82f7b3198/69888b3d196cf46ddd03ac52/460559338.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Daniel White","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/daniel-white/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5aae99e82f7b3198/69888b3d196cf46ddd03ac52/460559338.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"<> on December 16, 2014 in Washington, DC.","caption":"<> on December 16, 2014 in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Alex Wong/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4355998/mitch-mcconnell-donald-trump-latinos/","name":"Mitch McConnell: Trump May Alienate Latino Voters"}}]}] ```