He set out to mobilise Latino voters. Then the virus hit

In 2016, fewer than half of eligible Latinos cast ballots, as the country elected a president who promised to a build a wall at the US-Mexico border and repeatedly used Latin American immigrants as a foil in the debate over it. But if states such as California, Florida and Nevada were the proving grounds in elections past, North Carolina represents the future.

Like many Americans, Ricky Hurtado had different plans for his summer. He formally announced his first bid for public office in March and expected to spend sweltering days knocking on doors, clenching glossy campaign literature and making his case directly to voters. This was the summer he was going to prove that a 31-year-old son of Salvadoran immigrants could give Latinos a say - even in North Carolina, even in part of Donald Trump's America.

But this is a story about waiting - and the detours on the path to power. The novel coronavirus upended the Democrat's campaign for statehouse in an exurban district. Hurtado stopped door-knocking. The closest he came to potential voters was standing 6 feet (1.8 meters) or more away while volunteering at food banks or a virus testing site. And, still, he contracted the virus himself.

Across the U.S., the coronavirus outbreak is disrupting Latinos' long and difficult climb up the political ladder. The disease has disproportionately sickened Latinos, destabilised communities and impeded voter registration ahead of the November presidential election. In North Carolina, only 5,000 Latinos have been added to the voter rolls since mid-March, less than half the number added during the same period four years ago. The virus and the economic fallout it triggered is crashing down on Latinos just as they hit an electoral milestone. For the first time, there will be more Latinos eligible to vote than any other minority group - 32 million, the Pew Research Center projects.

Latinos have long seemed on the cusp of realising their potential at the ballot box, only to see their impact undermined by disappointing turnout and an Electoral College that favours heavily white states. In 2016, fewer than half of eligible Latinos cast ballots, as the country elected a president who promised to a build a wall at the US-Mexico border and repeatedly used Latin American immigrants as a foil in the debate over it.

But if states such as California, Florida and Nevada were the proving grounds in elections past, North Carolina represents the future. The state has 1 million Latino residents, many immigrants being drawn to work in manufacturing and agriculture. Yet two-thirds are not eligible to vote because they are either under age 18 or not citizens - the second-highest rate in the nation, just behind neighboring Tennessee. In Alamance County, among the housing tracts and thick forests reaching between Raleigh and Greensboro, there are three Latinos who cannot vote for every one who can.

For decades, those numbers meant one thing: Latinos' growing population in the state didn't translate into political power. Rather, it had the opposite effect of animating resentment and grievance, as politicians seized on immigration as a potent issue..