With the vote counting nearly completed, several conclusions can be reached about the results in Arizona.
- Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won Arizona. This is the first time a Democratic Ticket has won Arizona since Bill Clinton and Al Gore did it in 1996.
- For the first time since 1953 (when Barry Goldwater first won election,) there will be two Democrats representing Arizona in the United States Senate with Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly.
- Anna Tovar will add a second Democratic voice to the Arizona Corporation Commission.
- The Arizona Delegation to the House of Representatives will remain the same with five Democrats and four Republicans.
- Republicans will retain control of both chambers of the Arizona State Legislature. Only the composition of the Senate remains in question. It will either be a 16 to 14 margin or 17 to 13. The House composition remains at 31 to 29.
- Turnout across the state approached 80 percent. That is very impressive and a credit to the people that braved the pandemic and turned out to vote.
Please click here to see the numbers in the state and local races.
While the Democrats, thanks apparently in part to Mr. Trump campaigning without regard to public safety and galvanizing his rabid fringe base (which affected the local races, thanks to boundaries drawn after 2010, more,) did not achieve their goals in the Congressional Races, the Arizona State Legislature, and some County races in Maricopa County, the trend of shifting the Grand Canyon State to the Blue Column continues with the gains made last Tuesday.
Arizona Democratic Party Chairperson Felecia Rotellini issued a statement which read:
“Arizona Democrats have made history. The Grand Canyon State is now blue.
We now have two Democratic Senators, an achievement we have not seen in over 50 years. And Arizona has delivered its 11 electoral college votes to now President-elect Joe Biden.
We are a part of the broadest coalition ever assembled by a Democratic presidential nominee in Arizona. From leaders like our Congressional Delegation, our Mayors and our state legislators, to voters from all walks of life and every corner of our state, people of faith and conscience— we’ve built the kind of team we needed to succeed.
I want to thank the Arizona Democratic Party staff, Mission For Arizona and the Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee for their tireless work and our volunteers and community organizers for their commitment and perseverance in this election and in elections past.
I want to acknowledge our Democratic Counties and Legislative Districts for their resilience and leadership. Our teams across the state ran an extraordinary early voting program and an unprecedented “get out the vote” effort that led to Arizonans casting more votes in early voting than cast in all of 2016.
Thank you to all of our candidates, up and down the ballot, for continuing the fight for Arizona families. Your courage and fortitude paved the way for so many victories and this record voter turnout.
Finally, thank you to the voters of Arizona. These victories truly transcend party politics. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents came together to elect leaders that will put the people first. The future looks bright for our great state and nation.”
Democrats should celebrate the gains they made last week. They also need to examine where improvement is needed. Learning from both what went right and wrong, they can start to plan for the fights ahead in redistricting and the elections in 2022 so they can maintain the gains made last week and build on them.
Discover more from Blog for Arizona
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
I would hesitate to call Arizona blue when we have a Republican governor and state legislature. I am thinking about Mission for Arizona and how the state party, the county parties and the LDs signed up for Mission for AZ, which gave such short shrift to the down ballot races. I think maybe it would have been more truthfully called Mission for Biden-Harris-Kelly. I am being disingenuous, of course, because we know where the money is, but I hope that for the next election cycle we can concentrate on getting real info to the voters about the slates in their districts.
Yes, I agree that Arizona is not “blue” yet with the Governor and State Legislature (both Senate & House) dominated by Republicans. Only Democrats Katie Hobbs, Kathy Hoffman, Sandra Kennedy and soon Anna Tovar hold statewide positions. Yes, 2 US Senators are now Dems, as are 5 of the 9 Congressional seats, but take a look at the recent Arizona Supreme Court appointees and the soon to be formed Independent Redistricting Commission, which will establish new legislative districts after 2020 Census.
Down here in Southern Arizona, there was a blue wave of sorts in Pima County, with Republican Sheriff Mark Napier currently losing to former Sheriff Democrat Chris Nanos and all County offices in Dem hands, except for the long term incumbent Republican Treasurer Beth Ford. But provisional ballots still being counted till tomorrow, at least so things could still change. On the Board of Supervisors, District 1 is still a close race, but Dems won in 2, 3, and 5.
Legislative districts remained the same in either Dem or Republican hands: LD 2, LD 3, LD 9, LD 10, LD 11, LD 14. TUSD Governing Board went more diverse with 3 new board members who are Hispanic (Natalie Luna Rose), Indian/Asian (Dr. Ravi Grivois-Shah, also gay) and Black American (Sadie Shaw), and a half Japanese American-elect (Catherine Ripley) on the PCC Governing Board.