Is Miami a Failure of the Assimilation Model?

Miami presents a challenge for conservative assumptions about politics and culture. No American city is more emblematic of recent GOP gains with Hispanic voters: Donald Trump carried Miami–Dade County in 2024 by 11 points, a staggering swing from Hillary Clinton’s 30-point margin in 2016. But Miami’s apparent incorporation into the Republican coalition has not settled the deeper question of whether the city’s Hispanic majority has assimilated into the American mainstream, or is merely a parallel Spanish-speaking community that happens to vote Republican.