Swing state, no more. Moderate Democrats have already turned Arizona blue
Wins by Mark Kelly, Katie Hobbs and Adrian Fontes show what the demographics tell us: Arizona has already made the switch to a blue state.
www.azcentral.com
There was a rugged ol’ white guy who’s big on the military and pragmatic about priorities. There was a steady white woman who drew centrist support from the party of opposition. And there was an ambitious Latino, hellbent on making sure everybody gets an opportunity if they play by the rules.
And they’re all moderate Democrats, just like the Arizona electorate is and will be in the generations to come.
People keep moving here from blue states
The state has been growing exponentially over the last 20 years with newcomers pouring in from liberal enclaves in California and Washington state, according to state-to-state migration data from the U.S. Census Bureau.They’re being lured by jobs and tax breaks.
The newcomers have the look and feel of liberal elites, a notion bolstered by the reality that Maricopa County is regularly among the national leaders in annual population growth, and cities like Phoenix and Tempe are Democratic strongholds.
The state, again according to Census data, is also more ethnically diverse than it’s been historically, prompting Republican strategists to resort to tricks like election denial and voter ID laws designed to make voting more difficult to limit turnout.
Trumpublicanism hasn’t worked in Arizona since 2016.
And based on what we know of the state’s population growth demographics, I wouldn’t expect his politics to play well here moving forward.
The red reputation only pops up in state and local politics, at this point. I expect that to diminish as the state’s new voters become more engaged after wading into the big races.
The prediction was purple, which mostly held up, according to the results.
But if you really look at what’s been happening here in terms of population growth and recent voting trends, it becomes clear: Arizona is a blue state.
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