Few states will have more influence over the country’s political future than Arizona. Once a ruby-red Republican stronghold, it is now a south-western battleground and the stakes couldn’t be higher for Arizonans – or Americans.
In 2020, Joe Biden carried Arizona by just over 10,000 votes, becoming the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state in nearly a quarter-century. Two years later, Democrats won statewide races for governor, secretary of state and attorney general and re-elected the Democratic senator Mark Kelly to a full six-year term.
Now, Arizona is at the center of the battle for the White House and for control of Congress, with a marquee Senate race and a pair of closely contested House races. At the state level, Democrats are attempting to wrest control of the Arizona legislature for the first time in decades. Republicans presently hold one-seat majorities in both the state senate and the state house.
To win in Arizona, Democrats say they must reassemble the coalition of moderate Republicans, suburban women, Latinos and young people who powered nail-biting victories for the party in recent election cycles. They also must confront widespread economic discontent in a state that saw some of the worst levels of inflation in the country last year. Frustration over high prices and housing affordability has hurt Biden’s standing in Arizona, where he trails Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner, in a number of swing state polls.
As Democrats attempt a repeat of their successes in Arizona next year, Yolanda Bejarano, the state party chair, will play a crucial role in turning out the vote in what is expected to be another closely fought election.
In an interview, Bejarano, a longtime union organizer and Arizona native, previewed Democrats’ strategy for winning her state. The Guardian’s interview with Bejarano has been edited for clarity and length:
Tell us how you got involved in politics.
I was a union organizer for 18 years and I got involved in politics after Arizona passed SB 1070, which was the racial profiling bill. I started volunteering for candidates that I believed in and I thought would make a difference in making sure that racial profiling was not something that we were OK with. I became vice-chair of the state party a couple years ago and then our chair [Raquel Terán] finished her term and then I decided to run.
Recent polling shows Joe Biden struggling in Arizona, with voters unhappy over his handling of the economy and immigration. What can Biden do to improve his standing in the state?
The best predictor of how voters are feeling is how voters are voting. And we saw in the 2022 and 2023 elections when the Democratic party puts in the time, money and resources behind the president’s agenda, it really is a winning message. President Biden is creating more jobs more quickly than the rest of the world. He’s providing relief in Arizonans’ pockets and it’s our job to continue to do what we do best and to communicate that widely across the state – to communicate President Biden’s accomplishments from bringing back good union jobs like manufacturing jobs, decreasing inflation, expanding broadband, lowering the cost of internet and lowering the cost of prescription drug prices. Folks care about these issues, these kitchen table issues and we’re going to continue to communicate that across the state.
Democrats may find themselves in a three-way race for Kyrsten Sinema’s Senate seat. Sinema was elected to the seat in 2018 as a Democrat but left the party to become an independent after the 2022 midterms. She has not decided whether to seek re-election. The Democratic congressman Ruben Gallego launched his campaign for the seat last year and Kari Lake, the former local TV anchor who ran unsuccessfully for governor in 2022, is likely to be the Republican nominee.
In 2022, Democrats portrayed Lake as a threat to American democracy. In a three-way race, could Arizona end up electing a Senator Lake?
When we talk about Kari Lake and just everything she stands for – she calls abortion the “ultimate sin” – she’s dangerous for our state, dangerous for Arizonans. Now she’s trying to rebrand herself, trying to appeal to moderate Republicans and it’s just not working. She’s just a failed candidate. She kept saying she was the governor even though she’s running for Senate. Arizonans don’t like her and we’re going to make sure she doesn’t win.
What’s your best guess: does Sinema run for re-election?
I don’t know if she runs again. I haven’t spoken to her in years. Who knows what she’s going to do. We are laser-focused on making sure that our Democratic nominee wins in November 2024.
The state is roughly evenly divided between Democratic, Republican and independent voters. What is Democrats’ message to moderate Republicans, independent and swing voters who they will need to persuade in order to win in 2024?
The number one thing is making the persuasive argument that Democrats want to protect our democracy; Republicans want to destroy our democracy. Democrats are helping working families bringing back jobs, Democrats are supporting small businesses, Democrats are bringing back manufacturing jobs, fixing our infrastructure, lowering the price of prescription drug prices that affects everybody, regardless of party affiliation. So I think it’s that we Democrats believe in our democracy, Democrats believe in protecting our institutions and Republicans are trying to tear down everything and privatize things and it’s just not good for our state.
Arizona is a border state and immigration is top of mind for voters. How are Arizona Democrats navigating concerns over border security with the concerns of immigrant communities?
I grew up near a border town in a place called Roll, Arizona. It’s in Yuma county. My dad was a farm worker. We were pretty poor. We didn’t have healthcare so we would drive across the border to San Luis Río Colorado and go to the doctor, see the dentist. Americans would go there for the pharmacies or to go eat. Mexicans would come across the border to work. It was like an exchange of commerce and people.
That being said, I 100% agree that the border needs to be a safe, secure and welcoming place. Our Arizona Democrats from Governor [Katie] Hobbs to our congressional delegation, they’re multi-focused on this issue. It’s a complicated issue. And Democrats are working towards a solution that prioritizes the economics, the safety, the humanity, treating people humanely, people who are suffering and trying to find a better life.
Democrats are trying to find a solution while Republicans are weaponizing the border and they’ll continue to weaponize the border. I truly do not believe that they want a solution because they will use the border to dehumanize people, to scare people.
It appears likely that a measure enshrining abortion rights into the state’s constitution will appear on the ballot next year. At the same time, the state’s supreme court is considering the legality of a territory-era ban that could effectively outlaw the procedure in the state. How are Democrats working to leverage the issue in next year’s election?
This is a mobilizing issue for us. When abortion is on the ballot, like we saw in Kansas, we saw it in Ohio, what happened in Virginia, people do not want the government interfering with their decisions to grow or start a family. People in Arizona and across the country believe that everyone should be free to decide how and when to start and grow a family free from political interference. This is a big issue. It’s going to get on the ballot and we’re going make sure that a woman’s right to an abortion is enshrined in our constitution.
How central is abortion to Democrats’ campaign message?
In 2022, we elected pro-choice Democrats up and down the ticket: our attorney general, our secretary of state, our governor. They were talking about abortion and it is what got them across the finish line. So it’s huge.
The economy and inflation are top of mind for voters in Arizona and across the country. How are your candidates confronting frustration over the economy and Biden’s handling of it?
We are starting to see the economic progress made with Bidenomics. In our wallets we’re seeing decreased energy prices, and there’s a consistent drop in inflation. And it wasn’t just the United States that had an inflation problem. It was something across the entire world.
So what we’re doing is letting folks know that the reason why they’re seeing their energy bills decreasing is because of our Democratic policies. The cap on insulin at $35 a month for Medicare recipients, that’s because of Democratic policies. Our infrastructure, our improved roads are thanks to a Democratic policies. So we’re messaging that to Arizonans across the state.
In 2020 Arizona became “ground zero” for Donald Trump’s stolen election lies. Though Arizona voters largely rejected election-denying candidates in 2022, two Republican officials were recently indicted on charges of conspiring to delay the election. How is the party confronting pervasive and ongoing election denialism in the state?
Arizona is a testing ground for Republican election conspiracy theories. We saw in 2022 militia men hanging outside of ballot drop boxes with their rifles to try to intimidate people. We saw Maga mobs showing up to our county recorders’ offices when they were counting ballots in a very transparent manner. People can see how they were counting the ballots but we have mobs outside.
Our state where Democrats have been working diligently to protect our democracy, making it clear that if you hold up a certification of our elections, you will be indicted. That just happened to two Cochise county board of supervisors. Our statewide Democrats are laser-focused on making sure that our everybody’s fundamental right to vote is protected. We are prepared to communicate clearly about what’s at stake in this upcoming election.
I think this is something that crosses party lines. People need that assurance, that stability, that when you vote that your elections are fair and they are transparent and that is what is happening. And we have people on the Republican side that are still perpetuating this “big lie” and the election conspiracy theories that hurt our democracy and hurt our democracy.
Several recent polls show Donald Trump ahead in Arizona. With the caveat that much can change in a year, why do you think Trump is winning over some of the Arizonans who turned against him in 2020?
People know that Trump’s judgment is totally compromised. He is not someone who Arizonans will support. Ah. What can I say about Donald Trump? He is dangerous. Arizonans will want progress over chaos, they want stability, and they don’t get that with Donald Trump. They get more chaos.
So you don’t think the polls capture where Arizona voters will be come election day 2024?
I do not think the polling captures where people will be in a year, correct.
