Magda Barragan steps out of her truck sporting sunglasses and a yellow envelope at 10 a.m. Monday before Election Day.
“This is the first time I’ve done this,” she says, in Spanish, of filling out a mail-in ballot and turning it in at the polls. This is also Magda’s first time voting in a midterm election. She is a recently naturalized American citizen. Her first time ever voting in the U.S. was two years ago — in a presidential election that gave Republicans control of Congress and the executive branch.
She crosses the parking lot outside the Pima County Health Department building on Broadway Boulevard and slides her mail-in ballot into a drop box — casting her vote in a 2026 election that would reshape the country’s political landscape.
The following day — in a resounding rebuke of President Donald Trump — voters chose Democratic candidates across the nation, including in longstanding Republican strongholds in Texas, to take control of Congress. The last time the minority party flipped both federal chambers, then-President George W. Bush was in office. That was 20 years ago, amid voter backlash over the Iraq War.
In Arizona, Democrats were poised to take control of statewide offices, with key federal races in limbo, including Democratic candidate JoAnna Mendoza leading Republican incumbent Rep. Juan Ciscomani in Southern Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, according to unofficial results. By Thursday midday, Mendoza had secured that House seat for Democrats, according to AP estimates.
For Magda, the election represented something more personal, an opportunity to exercise a right she had worked to obtain as a new citizen and make her voice heard in the country she now calls home.
Magda is originally from Guadalajara, México. The 42-year-old mother is co-owner of Delicias de Michoacán, a small business inspired by her family’s experience operating ice cream shops in México. She became a legal permanent resident in 2015.
After an encounter with an immigration officer who told her “to go back to México,” she says she started thinking about becoming a citizen. She felt a final push at a personal development seminar when a speaker encouraged permanent residents to pursue naturalization rather than continue renewing their green cards.
Naturalization is the process by which lawful permanent residents who meet residency and other requirements become U.S. citizens and take the Oath of Allegiance.
Magda enrolled in citizenship classes and watched YouTube videos, studying American history, government and the questions she would face on the civics exam.
Five years after becoming eligible for citizenship — she completed the naturalization process in late 2023.
Magda is among the approximately one million Hispanic adults who became naturalized U.S. citizens between 2022 and 2026, gaining eligibility for the right to vote, according to a Pew Research Center Report. About 33.2% of all naturalized citizens who are eligible to vote are Hispanic, as of 2024.
For many naturalized citizens, the midterm election came amid growing concerns about immigration enforcement and their place in the country. An October 2026 survey by the U.S. Immigration Policy Center at UC San Diego and the National Partnership for New Americans found that 74% of Hispanic naturalized registered voters surveyed felt less secure in their citizenship than they did a few years earlier. And 85% said the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement had gone too far.
By Wednesday afternoon, Magda was still processing the election results.
“I was completely surprised. I couldn’t believe it, I swear,” she says.
Magda previously lived in Texas and Wisconsin. She was particularly struck by the Democratic gains in the places she once called home. Her voice picks up as she talks about the results in her previous home states.
“It’s something historic,” she says, excitedly. “In Texas, too. It’s something incredible.”
For the first time in the state’s history, a Latina, Democratic candidate Gina Hinojosa, was elected governor of Texas. She ousted longtime Republican Gov. Greg Abbott.
Beyond the celebrations and political victories, Magda says she is focused on what elected officials will do next.
“Now, I think the only thing we can do is wait and hope that those people who were elected across the country, not just here in Arizona, do their jobs well,” she says.
“And that this country continues to move forward, as it always has, instead of moving backward.”
Two issues stood out in the speeches she heard from candidates and newly elected officials — immigration and the economy.
“Everyone has one thing in common, which is immigration and the economy,” she says.
Although she does not believe the country is in a recession, Magda says rising prices are putting pressure on families, while immigration enforcement has created distress and uncertainty in communities.
“The economy really is struggling a little, and people are living with a lot of fear and anxiety because of everything surrounding immigration,” she says.
She wants the election to bring changes to at least one of those issues. Immigration policy affects more people than those directly targeted by enforcement, she says.
“If it’s not you who’s directly affected, it’s someone in your family,” she says. Her voice grows solemn.
“And people are tired of that.”
Financial pressures families face also shape her expectations of the incoming government.
“Everything is expensive — food, gas, everything,” she says. “How are people supposed to afford health insurance?”
Access to health care, education and jobs should also be priorities for elected officials, she adds.
“They should do their jobs the way they’re supposed to, just as they promised in all their proposals to the people,” she says. “Each one should take care of their city and their state, so we can have a prosperous and united country.”
“It was worth it”
Unlike her first experience voting in person in 2024, Magda says she approached this election more deliberately.
“I feel very good about having been able to exercise my right to vote,” she says. “I also feel a little different than the first time I voted because I gave myself time to analyze all the proposals and the candidates.”
Magda speaks confidently about her experience. Voting early gave her the opportunity to make those decisions without feeling rushed. “I did it very calmly,” she says.
She believes the election motivated people who had previously stayed away from the polls, including both younger and older voters.
“I really think it was worth it for all those people who had never voted before, both young people and adults,” she says.
Magda knew at least two people who had never cast a ballot in the U.S. The son of one of her employees and the daughter of a family acquaintance voted for the first time in this midterm election.
“We told them from the beginning, ‘It’s time for you to vote. You have to vote,’” she says.
She believes frustration with the current presidential administration and concerns about immigration and the cost of living helped push more people to participate. For Magda, the significance of the election goes beyond which candidates won. It’s a reminder that people have the power to make their voices heard.
“If this can help someone, or at least inspire someone to change their way of thinking, then all this work was worth it,” she says.
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