Abortion. Fake electors. The border. Why Arizona is viewed as a 2024 political 'hothouse'
All eyes are on Arizona. National reporters, analysts and candidates are looking to see if this state will vote for Joe Biden or Donald Trump.
Which Republican candidates for Senate will come out on top? Kari Lake or Mark Lamb? Will Arizonans ditch both and go for Ruben Gallego?
The New York Times recently called Arizona a "political hothouse" and suggests that Arizona's pull away as a secure Republican stronghold is due to migrants from California and the children of Latinos.
"It is a border state bristling with active fault lines on abortion, inflation, immigration and election conspiracies, where vast demographic changes have shifted Arizona from reliably Republican and seldom contested in national politics to a desert hothouse," the article reads.
Is that a fair assessment? Maybe on a surface level. But Arizona has done things its own way for a long time. The breakdown of voters shows that this state prefers moderate candidates far more than hyper-partisan ones.
"One thing that I find really fascinating about Arizona is the registration numbers would suggest that Republican candidates should keep winning, and they're not. So despite the fact that we have more Republican voters than Democratic voters, Republican candidates are suffering a little bit," said Samara Klar, a political scientist and professor at the University of Arizona.
Joining The Gaggle's Ron Hasen and Mary Jo Pitzl from her office in Tucson, Klar dives into what is really making Arizona a purple state, what turns out Arizona voters, and what candidates should do to win over this state.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Poll: Arizonans like Trump but not Kari Lake. Is AZ turning purple?