The Latino vote proved to be a diverse electorate during the midterm election, and it may have been beneficial to the Republican Party. 

Leading into Election Day, the competitive elections in Colorado and Florida largely went in favor of the GOP. Florida's Republican Gov. Rick Scott won a second term against Democratic challenger Charlie Crist, while former governor of the Sunshine Shine. Meanwhile, Republican candidate Carlos Curbelo defeated Democratic incumbent Rep. Joe Garcia for Florida's 26th District. In Colorado, Republican Rep. Cory Gardner will become a senator after defeating Democratic incumbent Mark Udall.

In Colorado and Florida, the Republican Party had an "aggressive" outreach campaign that included Spanish-language advertisements. Colorado was home to Spanish-language phone banks by Republicans that featured the state's GOP chairman Ryan Call, who made the effort to learn the language. While survey results indicated most Latinos supported Crist to become Florida's next governor, the Latino turnout was significantly lower from 2012's rate of 17 percent to 13 percent. The lowered Latino turnout echoed sentiments that the Democratic Party has difficulty enticing its voters to vote during midterm elections.

In Texas, exit polling showed Republican candidate Greg Abbott, the state's attorney general, winning 44 percent of Texan Latinos' votes. Abbott won the Texas gubernatorial election against Democratic candidate Wendy Davis, a state senator from Forth Worth. Georgia was also highlighted despite its relatively small Latino electorate as more than 4 in 10 voter supported the GOP's senate candidate.

According to Pew Research Center's Hispanic Research Director Mark Hugo Lopez, Latinos have identified less with Democrats. Instead, Lopez claimed a "growing share" of Latinos have identified with Republicans.

"It's not a massive phenomenon," Lopez said via The Washington Post. He added that if the GOP select the right candidate, then Republicans could attract Latino voters away from Democrats even in states President Barack Obama won during the presidential elections.

According to the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), 25.2 million Latinos were eligible to vote in the 2014 midterm elections, which is a record rate and equates to 11 percent of all eligible voters in the U.S. The Washington Post, however, noted Latinos comprised 8 percent of the overall electorate on Election Day this year.

Based on polling conducted by Latino Decisions on the eve of Election Day, Latino respondents were asked if they consider themselves Democrat, Republican, Independent or other. With 52 percent, Latinos identified themselves as Democrats while Republican ranked third with 17 percent behind Independent's 19 percent.

As Latin Post reported, the majority of the Latinos participating in the Latino Decisions poll said the GOP "don't care too much" about Latinos. Latinos also claimed the Republican Party is "sometimes hostile" toward Latinos, which accounted for 23 percent of the poll. There were some Latinos that thought positively of the GOP as 22 percent of respondents said the GOP "truly cares" about the Latino community. Fourteen percent were unsure.

Despite the large support for Democrats in the Latino Decision poll, Pew Research Center reported Republican candidates won 40 percent of the Latino vote based on its exit poll data. Democrats were still the preferred choice for Latinos, especially in congressional elections with 62 percent to 36 percent for the GOP. In comparison to 2012 data, the Latino vote toward Democrats slipped from 68 percent while Republican support increased by 6 percent.

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.