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      in US Politics

      'I can have a voice': Latino voters set for decisive role in key Arizona county

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      Even before she could vote, Imelda Quiroz Beltran had a goal for this election: to register as many Latino voters in Maricopa county as possible – and make sure they cast their ballots.
      Every day for months, she has gone door to door with the non-profit Mi Familia Vota, undeterred by the searing desert sun – zipping across Phoenix’s sprawling concrete-paved neighborhoods in search of eligible voters.
      And then the day came when Beltran registered herself – after she became a naturalized citizen this year.
      “Finally, I can have a voice,” she said. “And this year, it is so important that we all have a voice.”
      Maricopa – which includes Phoenix – is the fastest-growing county in the US. Of its nearly 4.5 million residents, one-third identify as Latino, according to census data.
      While Arizona has voted for the Republican presidential nominee in every election but one since 1952, this year, political strategists and pollsters are predicting that Latino voters in Maricopa could play a decisive role in electing Joe Biden to the White House and Democrats up and down the ballot.
      “Whoever wins the Latino vote, is going to win Maricopa county. And whoever wins Maricopa county is going to win Arizona,” said Joseph Garcia, director of Chicanos Por La Causa Action Fund, a non-profit based in Phoenix. “And whoever wins Arizona is likely to win the White House.” More

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      in US Politics

      The Arizona county that could decide the future of Trump – and America

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      For years, Carlos Garcia would grab his bullhorn each afternoon and head downtown to the office of Joe Arpaio, the brash, hardline, anti-immigrant Maricopa county sheriff who became known as “the Donald Trump of Arizona”.
      When Garcia’s protests began in 2007, just a handful of devoted activists joined him. A conservative firebrand, Arpaio was re-elected every four years by the mostly white residents of the state’s most populous county. He was seemingly untouchable.
      But as Arpaio’s crusade against immigrants intensified, the backlash grew. “We literally went from five to 200,000 people,” Garcia said of the protests.
      On 8 November 2016, the same night Donald Trump won the White House, Arizona finally ousted Arpaio. After nearly a quarter-century in power, the sheriff was undone by Latinos, young progressives and white voters who Garcia believes “felt shame over Maricopa’s reputation” as a hostile and intolerant place.
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      Just as Arpaio’s tenure foreshadowed Trump’s national rise, the same forces that expelled the sheriff in Maricopa county appear to have flourished across the country as the president pursued his own hardline agenda. And now, those forces – catalyzed by the coronavirus pandemic – may seal the president’s fate in next week’s US election.
      “We are a community that has suffered through Trump-like policies for such a long time,” said Garcia, who was elected to Phoenix city council in 2018. This year, Latinos and others are mobilizing to defeat the “Arpaio in the White House”.
      The future of America
      Maricopa county, which encompasses Arizona’s capital, Phoenix, and blossoming rings of surrounding suburbs, has nearly 4.5 million residents and dominates the state politically. One third of Maricopa residents identify as Latino, according to US census data. More

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      in Elections

      Arizona race could give Democrats extra Senate seat for supreme court fight

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      If he wins a US Senate seat in Arizona, the former astronaut Mark Kelly could take office as early as 30 November, an outcome which might jeopardize the launch of Donald Trump’s third supreme court nominee. The Democratic candidate has maintained a polling lead over the Republican Martha McSally, who was appointed to the seat held by John McCain, who died in 2018. Because the contest is a special election to finish McCain’s term, the winner could be sworn in as soon as the results are certified. Other winners in November’s contest, in which Democrats hope to retake the Senate, will not take office until January. Trump has pledged to nominate a replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who died on Friday, and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has vowed that the nominee “will receive a vote on the floor of the United States Senate”.If Kelly wins, when he takes office could be crucial in deciding the ensuing nomination fight. Republicans currently hold the chamber by 53 seats to 47. The prospect of falling to 52 could prompt McConnell to speed up the nomination process. With McSally in the Senate, four defections would defeat a nomination. A tie vote could be broken by Vice-President Mike Pence. Within hours of the announcement of Ginsberg’s death, McSally declared that “this US Senate should vote on President Trump’s next nominee for the US supreme court”. She has not elaborated on whether the vote should come before or after the election. But she highlighted the renewed stakes of her race in a fundraising pitch on Saturday. “If Mark Kelly comes out on top, HE could block President Trump’s supreme court Nominee from being confirmed,” McSally wrote. In the 2018 midterms, Democrats found success in Arizona, long dominated by the GOP, by appealing to Republicans and independents disaffected with Trump. The supreme court vacancy could boost McSally by keeping those voters in her camp. Kelly said late on Saturday: “The people elected to the presidency and Senate in November should fill this vacancy. When it comes to making a lifetime appointment to the supreme court, Washington shouldn’t rush that process for political purposes.” Arizona law requires election results to be certified on the fourth Monday after the election, which falls this year on 30 November. The certification could be delayed up to three days if the state has not received election results from any of its 15 counties. Mary O’Grady, a Democratic lawyer, said the deadlines are firm. “I don’t see ambiguity here,” said O’Grady, Arizona’s solicitor general under two Democratic attorneys general, adding that state law allows recounts and election challenges only under very limited circumstances. Former Senate historian Don Ritchie told the Arizona Republic, which first reported on the prospect for Kelly taking office early a day before Ginsburg’s death: “Usually, the secretary of the Senate’s office goes out of its way to accommodate the new senators coming in.“The old senator is out of their office there. I mean, they actually literally put a lock on the door so their staff can’t go in.” More

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      in US Politics

      Notorious former Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio loses bid to win back seat

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      Joe Arpaio, the former Arizona sheriff notorious for his abusive policing and hardline anti-immigration tactics, has lost his bid to win back the post he held for 24 years.An early Donald Trump supporter and proponent of the racist theory that Barack Obama was not born in the US, Arpaio lost the Republican primary for Maricopa county sheriff to a former aide, Jerry Sheridan. Sheridan will face off against Democrat Paul Penzone in the November elections.This is Arpaio’s second failed attempt to return to politics since Trump pardoned him in 2017, months after he was convicted of criminal contempt of court for violating a judge’s order to stop racially profiling Latinos. In 2018, he finished last in a three-way race for a Senate nomination in Arizona. This latest defeat likely signals an end to the 88-year-old’s political career.But Sheridan, a 38-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, has promised to carry on Arpaio’s legacy of harsh, anti-immigrant policing. Arpaio’s legacy also lives on in Trump. “Sheriff Joe” was a precursor to Trump, said Chuck Coughlin, a Republican consultant in Arizona, in a recent interview with the Guardian. Arpaio, who called himself “America’s toughest sheriff”, became infamous for his reality star showmanship and anti-immigration crackdowns long before Trump. “He birthed that nationalism narrative that Trump is now using,” Coughlin said.As the sheriff of Phoenix from 1992 through 2016, Arpaio created the “Tent City” jail that he compared to a concentration camp, where inmates were forced to work in chain gangs in Arizona’s 120F heat. His department racked up $147m in taxpayer-funded legal bills, and botched the investigations of more than 400 sex-crimes complaints.But he’s most well-known nationally for his anti-immigration tactics. Embracing a national program that allowed his officers to act as immigration agents, he invited camera crews along on raids. A federal judge in 2013 found that his department racially profiled Latinos, and his traffic patrols targeted immigrants.Voters eventually tired of his hardline tactics and voted him out in 2016. His campaign this year vastly outspent Sheridan’s, but to no avail. Though Sheridan has vowed to carry on some of Arpaio’s signature policies if elected, he has indicated he’ll do so without bombast and theatrics. Sheridan, like Arpaio, was found guilty of civil contempt of court for disobeying an order to stop racial profiling but was not charged criminal contempt.Penzone, who unseated Arpaio in 2016, is still regarded as the favored candidate in November. Political strategists believe that Arpaio’s fall from power in Arizona could foretell Trump’s fate in November.Arpaio’s nationalism, as well as Arizona’s infamous “show me your papers” law, which gave law enforcement sweeping powers to target Latinos, galvanized a generation of progressive activists – many of whom have been elected to serve into local and state office. “The state is becoming more diverse, and it’s becoming more Latino – and it’s becoming younger,” said Marisa Franco, the co-founder of the social justice advocacy group Mijente, in an interview with the Guardian. “It awakened an electorate that’s, I think, more justice-minded.”Moderate Republicans are also disassociating from the diehard nationalism that Arpaio – and Trump – represent, according to Coughlin. “All of our research shows that a majority of Republicans want real immigration reform,” he said. “[Trump has] a weapon in a way that doesn’t appeal to most Arizonans.”Agencies contributed reporting More