Phoenix – President-elect Donald Trump has won Arizona – Returning to the Grand Canyon State after losing to President Biden in 2020 and completing a 2024 swing-state sweep.
With 67% of the votes counted, the Republican leads Vice President Kamala Harris, 52.1% to 47%, the Associated Press reports.
Trump’s victory in Arizona, with 11 electoral votes, follows his victory in neighboring Nevada, where he secured 6 votes. A feat that no Republican has accomplished in 20 years,
Both candidates made their final trips to the southwestern swing state on Halloween, and irritated Arizonans with their contrasting views of how scary America could be if their rivals win.
Trump unsettled voters in Glendale’s Desert Diamond area with a promise of “huge deportations” and reminisced about his time in office.
“We defeated ISIS, we have no war. We have the best economy in the history of our country,” he told the crowd Thursday.
Meanwhile, Harris promised progress to the Phoenix crowd, and urged voters to help “turn the page on Donald Trump.”
“Let me tell you that I am not thinking about gaining political mileage. I’m looking to make progress … Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe that people who disagree with me are the enemy,” the veep said Thursday.
However, throughout the campaign season, the border was a mainstay of candidates’ speeches in the Grand Canyon state, which has suffered hundreds of thousands of migrant encounters in recent years, and the fight has become a vehicle for smuggling of fentanyl and other drugs. Limit.
On the stump in Arizona, Trump promised mass deportations, while Harris’ talk focused on a congressional border bill that was rejected several months ago.
Trump and Harris both visited the southern border, including Harris’ notable trip to Douglas, Arizona, on September 27 following an investigation into his role in the Biden administration’s border policies.
“I will do more to secure our border, reduce illegal border crossings,” Harris said. douglas“I will take further action to keep the border closed between ports of entry.”
“People who cross our border illegally will be rounded up, deported and barred from re-entry for five years,” he said at the time.
Arizona’s economy was also a top issue, as price levels remain high following 13.3% inflation in 2022.
Mark Hernandez, a 25-year-old cattle farmer who voted for Donald Trump after supporting Biden in 2020, Told The Post that the economy motivated his vote.
“After graduation, I started working on my family’s cattle farm and the economy has been really tough for ranchers and farmers the last few years. Inflation has eaten up most of our profits and we have had to abandon some of our cattlemen. We also have the problem of rising water and electricity rates, Hernandez said.
However, Democrats cited Arizona’s growing population and economic opportunities as reasons to support the issue, such as the Boosting Chips and Science Act, which subsidizes the semiconductor industry that plays a major role in the state’s economy.
Abortion was also top of mind and a major campaign issue for Democrats in Arizona, where a proposal to amend the state constitution to recognize abortion as a “fundamental right” is also on the ballot at the state level.
When it came to the border and the economy, this led Democrats to appeal against the conservative policy leanings of many Arizonans on the issue. Harris also placed heavy pressure on a “Republicans for Harris” coalition focused on targeting supporters of former Republican Senator John McCain and those who voted for former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley after she dropped out of the 2024 Republican primary.
Meanwhile, Arizona was a sticking point for Trump’s efforts to build his big tent, as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped out of the race in August and endorsed the former president at a rally in Glendale hours later. He also attempted to attract young voters through a rally at Arizona State University’s Mullet Arena. last weekend tempe,
Harris also saw the state as an opportunity to rally Hispanic voters, including a culminating performance at a rally in west Phoenix with the band Los Tigres del Norte.
President Biden won the state by a narrow margin in 2020. In 2016, Trump won with 48% of the vote.
Early voting was heavily suppressed by both parties, including Trump, in hopes of “banking” the vote and speeding up the process of counting ballots.
Arizona GOP Chairwoman Gina Svoboda previously reported Post That early voting was key to the party’s strategy.
“As long as the Democrats don’t drastically change their (voting) behavior by Tuesday, I think we’re in a very good position to win at the top,” Swoboda said last week.
Polling indicated a strong victory in the state, but Trump had a slight lead in various polls in the weeks before the election.
(TagstoTranslate)Politics(T)US News(T)2024 Presidential Election(T)Arizona(T)Donald Trump(T)Kamala Harris(T)Swing States 2024(T)US Border
