Politics
Call it the Bad Bunny Effect: Why Telemundo no longer is an underdog
A few years ago, some were predicting the demise of Spanish-language television.
Most of the Latino population growth over two decades has come from U.S. births, outpacing the arrival of immigrants. The thinking was that because most U.S.-born Latinos speak English and can consume a wide array of media, Spanish-language TV would recede in relevance.
But Telemundo has defied such forecasts to become one of the nation’s hottest news outlets.
The NBCUniversal-owned, Spanish-language network, a longtime underdog, has been notching viewership gains in advance of its highly anticipated coverage of this summer’s FIFA World Cup championships.
Last year, Telemundo increased its audience for its evening news, anchored by Julio Vaqueiro, by 11% over the previous year, according to Nielsen data. Its Los Angeles station, KVEA Channel 52, has surpassed entrenched giants Walt Disney Co.’s KABC and Univision’s KMEX, attracting more viewers for its local evening and late-night newscasts.
The Miami-based division has a strong social media presence. Its Telemundo Noticias (News) account boasts 16 million followers on TikTok, topping ABC News, CNN and Fox News.
Cultural and demographic shifts have helped fuel Telemundo’s rise. After more than a decade of immigration declines, border crossings surged during President Biden’s tenure — a tide that turned with President Trump’s return to the White House. Instead, Trump brought a torrent of significant news events, including immigration raids that reverberated through Latino communities.
“We are growing because we are telling the stories that are important to our audience,” Gemma Garcia, Telemundo’s executive vice president for news, said. “We are very audience-driven.”
When U.S. military forces seized Venezuela’s then-president Nicolás Maduro in January, Telemundo quickly flew its main news anchor, Vaqueiro, to report from Colombia, which borders Venezuela. The network interrupted its usual Sunday night fare for a news special that scored solid ratings.
Vaqueiro, 38, has become the fresh face of Spanish-language news after Jorge Ramos, who achieved prominence as a forceful advocate for Latino immigrants during his 40 years on the air, signed off from rival Univision in late 2024.
The younger journalist brings a softer tone to his reports. He was promoted to Telemundo’s main news anchor in 2021 after several assignments, including working at KVEA in L.A. He loves stepping out from behind the anchor desk in Miami to cover big stories.
Telemundo news anchor Julio Vaquiero
(Telemundo)
Vaqueiro traveled to frigid Minneapolis earlier this year after the deadly Immigration and Customs Enforcement shootings. He broadcast from anti-ICE protests and stopped by a church to interview a pastor and volunteers organizing a food drive for immigrants too afraid to go outside.
“We’re very focused on being out there and reporting on the ground,” Vaqueiro said in an interview. “Being close to our audience, that’s a big part of what we are doing at Noticias Telemundo.”
Another key to Telemundo’s momentum has been its commitment to the Spanish language.
Media companies a decade ago raced to engage young, bilingual Latinos by launching start-ups, including a joint venture between ABC News and Univision called Fusion that flopped.
Now Telemundo is the one with cool cred.
Call it the Bad Bunny effect: While the Puerto Rican artist’s Super Bowl halftime show in Spanish befuddled scores of viewers, millions of other fans, deeply proud of their Latino roots, were thrilled by his performance celebrating everyday workers.
“With Bad Bunny’s rise and the Super Bowl, it felt like a shift in values towards the Spanish language,” said Mark Hugo Lopez, Pew Research Center’s director of race and ethnicity research. “It has become a source of cultural pride … and it seems to be impacting the ways in which English-speaking Latinos also think about their identity.”
Bad Bunny performed the Super Bowl halftime show in Spanish in February.
(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)
That increased affinity suggests that Spanish isn’t going away anytime soon.
“Our data has shown that Latinos say it’s important that Latinos in the future speak Spanish here in the United States,” Lopez said.
A slow build to a news leader
Telemundo’s rise was a slow build, coming nearly a quarter-century after NBC bought the network for nearly $2 billion.
Years of effort took root after NBCUniversal agreed in 2011 to spend big for the U.S. Spanish-language media rights to the FIFA World Cup, dethroning Univision, which had long televised the prestigious soccer event. This year, Telemundo is poised “to deliver the largest coverage in Spanish-language media history,” the network said in a statement.
It will provide live coverage for all 104 matches, including on the Telemundo and Peacock streaming apps.
Being part of NBCUniversal has brought other benefits, too, particularly as Telemundo’s main competitor, Univision, has struggled under a succession of ownership groups.
NBCUniversal integrated its English and Spanish-language news units at its television stations. In Los Angeles, KVEA’s newsroom is in the same building on the Universal lot as KNBC-TV Channel 4. The same managers run both divisions.
“All of these things have evolved,” said Millie Carrasquillo, a Hispanic media consultant and former Telemundo research senior vice president. “It’s an alignment of the audiences, an alignment of how technology is evolving — and also the way that news is being delivered.”
Telemundo’s national newscast, anchored by Vaqueiro, averages 1.2 million viewers, its largest audience in years.
But audiences, particularly younger ones, are less likely to watch TV news, so network executives have tapped the potential of TikTok, Instagram and YouTube to boost their reach.
On TikTok, Telemundo reporters broadcast live from outside the U.S. Supreme Court last week as justices heard oral arguments on Trump’s push to end birthright citizenship for babies born to parents who are in the country unlawfully. Telemundo featured live coverage of the traditional Easter egg roll at “La Casa Blanca” (the White House) and frequent reports about NASA’s Artemis II mission, which scored millions of views.
“Radio and television hasn’t gone away,” said Mari Castañeda, University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Commonwealth Honors College dean. “But Telemundo has recognized that [cellphones] are where most of their audience is located and they leaned into that.”
Social media posts are easy to share, serving as a viral expansion of the network’s audience.
“Telemundo has emerged as a leader because it has modernized,” added Castañeda, a native of La Puente in Los Angeles County.
The U.S. Latino population nearly doubled between 2000 and 2024, rising from 35 million to 68 million, according to the Pew Research Center. Since the Great Recession, the growth has largely come from U.S. births, and the median age of U.S.-born Latinos is about 21.
The trend line bent during the Biden years as U.S. births roughly equaled the arrival of immigrants, Lopez said.
“Immigrants are still a very large part of the Latino story,” he said.
Noticias Telemundo anchor Julio Vaqueiro talks to a child living in a makeshift migrant camp along the Rio Grande near the Ciudad Juarez-El Paso border on Feb. 28, 2024.
(Telemundo)
‘This is a country we really love’
Telemundo’s brightest star — Vaqueiro — was born in San Juan del Río, north of Mexico City and came to the U.S. when he was 26 with his wife, who was also born in Mexico.
“We have three American kids,” Vaqueiro said. “All we know as a family is the U.S. This is a country that we really love and we’re grateful to it.”
In many ways, Vaqueiro’s journey is the story of U.S. Latinos.
“He’s Mexican but he’s also a U.S. Latino and he understands the context and issues that communities are feeling,” said Castañeda. “There’s a sense of authenticity and care that comes through.”
Vaqueiro wrote a book, “Río Bravo. México, Estados Unidos y el regreso de Trump, (Rio Grande: Mexico, the United States, and the Return of Trump),” to explore the political mood during a period of tumult and often tense relations between the countries.
Telemundo strives to stay out of the political fray, Garcia said.
“We don’t think about politics,” Garcia said. “We cover what is happening within our community, and now more than ever, we are on top of our community’s stories.”
Vaqueiro added: “We have to be very careful reporting the facts and verifying every information that comes to us.”
Political divisions course through Latino communities, including in South Florida where Telemundo is headquartered.
“We’ve always known that Latinos are not a monolith,” Vaqueiro said. “This is a complex community that is constantly growing. It’s diverse: geographically, culturally and generationally.”
Interest in news has swelled since Trump began his second term. Ratings are also up for ABC’s “World News Tonight with David Muir,” which is drawing 8.4 million viewers per telecast this season, outpacing NBC, Fox News and CBS.
In national news, Univision still tops Telemundo. In local news, Telemundo’s KVEA has continued to build on its lead this year, although KMEX remains competitive and Disney’s KABC remains dominant among English-language stations.
“I just hope that we meet the moment,” Vaquerio said. “This is a critical moment for Latinos who are navigating very difficult times under a lot of pressure.”
He has another goal, too.
“I want to lift Latino voices who are moving forward — opening new businesses and graduating from college,” Vaqueiro said. “I want to talk about the positive side of this community that brings huge contributions to the United States.”
Politics
DOJ expands indictment against SPLC, alleging $4M secretly funneled to KKK and extremist groups
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The Department of Justice last month announced an indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), alleging that the civil rights nonprofit defrauded donors by secretly paying informants associated with extremist organizations, including the Ku Klux Klan.
A federal grand jury in the Middle District of Alabama returned an 11-count indictment in April charging the SPLC with six counts of wire fraud, four counts of making false statements to a federally insured bank and one count of conspiracy to commit concealment money laundering, according to the Justice Department.
The superseding indictment retains those charges while expanding on the alleged misconduct.
According to the DOJ, the SPLC “secretly funneled” more than $3 million in donor funds between 2014 and 2023 to numerous individuals associated with extremist organizations, including the Ku Klux Klan, United Klans of America, the National Socialist Movement, participants in the Unite the Right rally and the Aryan Nations-affiliated Sadistic Souls Motorcycle Club.
NEO-NAZIS, ‘SADISTIC’ BIKERS AND CHARLOTTESVILLE ORGANIZER: 5 OF THE MOST SHOCKING SPLC INFORMANTS
The Southern Poverty Law Center has widespread influence in education. FILE: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, left, and SPLC interim President and CEO Bryan Fair are shown in a split image as the Justice Department pursues charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images; USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images)
The original indictment alleged approximately $3 million in payments between 2014 and 2023.
“The SPLC’s paid informants (‘field sources’) engaged in the active promotion of racist groups at the same time that the SPLC was denouncing the same groups on its website,” the indictment states.
Prosecutors further allege the SPLC opened bank accounts tied to fictitious entities in order to conceal donor funds that were allegedly routed to confidential sources.
MIKE DAVIS: SOUTHERN POVERTY LAW CENTER: A TALE OF A RACISM SCAM
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) building seen in March 2020 in Montgomery, Alabama. (Barry Lewis/InPictures via Getty Images)
According to the indictment, the SPLC began operating a covert informant network in the 1980s, and between 2014 and 2023 allegedly paid those sources in a clandestine manner.
The DOJ alleges an SPLC employee instead encouraged the pair to remain involved and offered them a monthly salary of $1,200.
The two subsequently agreed to remain in the organization, according to the indictment.
DR. BEN CARSON: I KNOW HOW BAD THE SPLC WAS, IT CAME AFTER ME AND PUT ME AT RISK
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche spoke during a press conference alongside FBI Director Kash Patel at the Department of Justice on April 21, 2026, in Washington, D.C., following the indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Prosecutors allege an SPLC employee instructed the individuals to claim they worked for a company called Rare Books and helped college students with research and writing assignments if anyone questioned the source of their income.
The indictment alleges donor funds were used to pay both individuals through SPLC accounts.
According to prosecutors, the pair were also reimbursed for expenses related to Ku Klux Klan activities, including cross-burning events and associated costs such as wood and fuel.
One of the individuals is also accused of recruiting new members using donor-funded payments. The indictment further alleges the SPLC knew donor funds were used to purchase materials for Ku Klux Klan garments.
In a statement to Fox News Digital, attorney Abbe Lowell, who represents the SPLC, denied the allegations.
A composite image shows Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche overlaid on photographs of the Department of Justice and FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. (Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“This apparent superseding indictment attempts to shore up the flaws in the initial charges, but it changes nothing,” Lowell said.
“The SPLC did not lie to its donors, it did not mislead banks it did business with, and its informant program prevented violence and saved lives,” he continued.
“It appears the Justice Department shared the indictment with media before it was unsealed by the court – another example of the government’s troubling handling of this case.”
“We will be addressing these irregularities with the court and look forward to presenting the truth at trial,” he added.
NONPROFIT REVENUE TOTALS SURGE AMID GROWING SCRUTINY AFTER MAJOR FRAUD CASES
SPLC interim President and CEO Bryan Fair speaks during a wreath-laying ceremony at the Southern Poverty Law Center Civil Rights Memorial in Montgomery, Ala., on March 5, 2026. (Jake Crandall/Advertiser / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)
The superseding indictment also notes that the SPLC’s reported revenue increased from roughly $38.7 million in 2010 to more than $129 million in 2023, an increase of approximately 233%.
According to the filing, the organization’s net assets grew from approximately $238 million to nearly $787 million during the same period.
The SPLC is a longtime nonprofit organization that says it combats white supremacy and extremism through research, reporting and monitoring efforts intended to assist law enforcement and the public.
During a news conference announcing the original indictment, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche alleged the SPLC paid members of extremist groups so it could generate “work product” documenting their activities.
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“To that end, [SPLC] was doing the exact opposite of what it told its donors it was doing – not dismantling extremism but funding it,” Blanche said.
Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch, David Spunt, Jake Gibson and Alec Schemmel contributed to this report.
Buoyed by a new Congressional map favoring their party, California Democrats were eyeing Tuesday’s primary elections as a critical first step toward flipping a handful of House seats and taking back power in Washington.
Results from California’s massive and slow-moving election process were not immediately clear late Tuesday, as polls closed and mail ballots continued to be processed and counted. Still, Democrats were bullish about their chances of advancing candidates to November’s general election in all five districts that were redrawn in their favor as a result of last year’s Proposition 50 ballot measure.
“The path to winning back the House starts with voting in the June 2nd primary,” the California Democratic Party posted online Monday.
Meanwhile, California Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin urged Republican voters to make their own voices heard too.
“Like President Trump said, we need to make it too big to rig,” Rankin said on “The Benny Show.” “We need to swamp the vote.”
One of the most closely watched races was in the redrawn 22nd Congressional District in the Central Valley, where incumbent Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford) is facing challenges from moderate Assemblymember Jasmeet Kaur Bains (D-Delano) and progressive college professor Randy Villegas.
Another closely watched race was in the redrawn 48th Congressional District in San Diego and Riverside counties, where Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Bonsall) decided to retire rather than run for reelection, and where Republican San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond — who is endorsed by Trump — is running against a pack of Democrats.
Prop. 50 — which Californians passed with nearly 65% of the vote a year ago — was California Democrats’ response to Texas Republicans redrawing their state’s Congressional maps in the GOP’s favor, at President Trump’s behest. It was also the only major Democratic counterpunch in the wider mid-decade redistricting brawl that has spread across the country in the last year.
Experts expect the redistricting battle to deliver a net gain of a handful or more House seats to Republicans. But Democrats could gain even more ground given Trump’s lousy approval ratings and the long history of midterm election losses for the president’s party.
Combined, those factors make the battle for control of the House incredibly close, which in turn makes the five seats up for grabs in California pivotal — and potentially decisive.
Tuesday’s primaries won’t determine if any of those five seats will indeed flip parties in November. However, the primaries will define those head-to-head races to come and better inform the odds of Democrats toppling Republican incumbents, experts said.
In addition to flipping the seats currently held by Valadao and Issa, Democrats are hoping to pick up three additional seats.
In the 1st Congressional District — which after Prop. 50 lost rural reaches of northeast California and picked up liberal North Bay communities — various candidates were vying for the seat long held by the late Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale), who died in January. They include Democratic state Sen. Mike McGuire and Republican Assemblymember James Gallagher, who is endorsed by Trump.
Voters from the existing district are also voting in a special election Tuesday to fill the remainder of LaMalfa’s term.
In the 3rd Congressional District, which lost an eastern rural stretch along Nevada and now holds more tightly to the Sacramento suburbs, Rep. Ami Bera (D-Elk Grove) — who currently represents a different district — is running to remain in Congress in a new seat.
Meanwhile, the 3rd Congressional District’s incumbent, Rep. Kevin Kiley (I-Rocklin), is seeking to do the opposite. He quit the Republican Party, became an independent and is now running for Bera’s current seat in Congressional District 6, which includes the city of Sacramento and Placer County suburbs.
In the 41st Congressional District, which became more liberal after Prop. 50 by losing voters in Riverside County and gaining them in Los Angeles County, a slate of candidates — including Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-Whittier), who currently represents a different district — are running to replace Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona). Calvert, a 17-term incumbent, decided to run in the neighboring 40th Congressional District instead.
In the 40th Congressional District, which covers a swath of inland Orange County and portions of San Bernardino and Riverside counties, incumbent Rep. Young Kim (R-Anaheim Hills) is now going head-to-head with Calvert, while also facing several Democratic challengers.
Other districts that were not part of the Prop. 50 shuffle are also attracting attention.
In the 11th Congressional District in San Francisco, several Democratic candidates are vying to replace Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), the retiring former House Speaker, including state Sen. Scott Wiener; tech millionaire and Democratic political operative Saikat Chakrabarti; and Connie Chan, a member of the San Francisco board of supervisors who Pelosi endorsed.
Democrats are also closely watching several races where younger Democrats and progressives are challenging older incumbent Democrats, and where newer Democratic incumbents are seeking to hold onto their seats in relatively competitive districts.
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LOS ANGELES — Outside a Bristol Farms market in LA’s Westchester neighborhood, residents who spoke to Fox News Digital all agreed that homelessness is a top problem facing the city, but disagreed on which mayoral candidate is the right choice to clean it up.
“Love him,” Shelley Zuckerman said about reality television star and independent candidate Spencer Pratt, adding that homelessness is a main motivator of her support for the reality TV star’s mayoral run.
“The fact that he’s not a politician, so he may or may not be a liar, we don’t know that yet, and I know that he wants to do something for LA that the politicians have been saying they’re going to do and then don’t,” Zuckerman added. “And I know politics works, that once you get in there you can’t always do what you want to do, but at least he’s got the passion.”
SPENCER PRATT SAYS HIS POLICY WILL FORCE HOMELESS OUT OF LA AND INTO CITIES LIKE SEATTLE
Los Angeles residents say homelessness is the top problem facing the city as they head to the polls for the mayoral primary. (Fox News Digital)
When asked if crime was a motivating factor to vote for Pratt, Zuckerman’s husband Saul responded, “Of course.”
The couple says they are supporting Republican Steve Hilton for governor.
Patrick Reynolds, who lives in the neighborhood, said he is “not happy with any of the candidates” and called Pratt a “clown” before saying he voted for incumbent Mayor Karen Bass “a little reluctantly.”
Homelessness has been a top-of-mind concern for voters in Los Angeles, and despite Bass being mayor for the last four years, Reynolds said he believes she’s the best choice on that front.
Reynolds, who said he is supporting billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer for governor, spoke at length about the problems with homelessness, including a local park he said has become “too dangerous” to visit in recent years.
KAREN BASS GRILLED OVER BROKEN HOMELESSNESS PROMISE, BLAMES BUREAUCRACY FOR SLOWED PROGRESS
Mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt hosts a campaign block party on 10th Avenue in Los Angeles on May 20, 2026. (Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
“Homelessness for sure,” a woman named Diane, who said she voted for Bass, told Fox News Digital, “That’s number one on my list, and I think she’s tried very hard to fix that problem. It’s a big problem, I know. And I just think she is down to earth. She’s not some rich billionaire, which I appreciate.”
Diane said she is supporting former Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Democrat who served in the Biden administration, for governor because he is a “good guy.”
“I like that he is an immigrant and that he has worked his way up in this world,” Diane said. “I think he has a good sensibility. I like also that he isn’t a billionaire. I can relate to him.”
Dan Madden, a resident of nearby Manhattan Beach, told Fox News Digital that if he could vote in LA proper, he’d go with Pratt.
WHO IS TOM STEYER? ANTI-ICE BILLIONAIRE IN CA GOVERNOR’S RACE FACES SCRUTINY OVER DETENTION INVESTMENTS
A Los Angeles city councilwoman and progressive candidate for mayor Nithya Raman, left, pictured alongside incumbent mayor Karen Bass, right. (Ronaldo Bolaños/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images; Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
“That’d be my man,” said Madden, who added that he is voting for Hilton for governor. “The last 20 years in Los Angeles has been screwed.”
“It’s getting worse,” Madden said about the homeless situation in the Los Angeles area. “They cleaned up here and there. Spots, especially along the beach, coastline, you see it cleaned up. Two months later, everybody’s back.”
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Pratt, a registered Republican running as an independent, faces off in a nonpartisan mayoral primary against incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, a Democrat, and City Councilmember Nithya Raman, a socialist.
Tuesday’s election will determine which two candidates advance to the November general election. If a candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, they will automatically be named the next mayor.
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