Arizona is one of our highest priorities for 2024. The state has 11 electoral votes, and we want them!
Our goal is to raise $40,000 for Worker Power that will fund a boots-on-the ground team for three weeks.
Biden-Harris won by roughly 10,000 votes out of 1,672,143 cast (0.3%). There’s an open Senate seat and a promising Democratic candidate, Ruben Gallego. Gallego is likely to be challenged by crazy-eyed Kari Lake, whose ethics are as out of focus as her on-camera appearances. This, of course, is the seat besmirched by Kyrsten Sinema. We need Arizona in order to hold the Presidency and we need the AZ Senate seat.
To do that, we need to up our ground game. And we’re starting now. Our Balloon Juice donations will help with voter registration now, before it gets too hot for people to be going door-to-door, and then we’ll fund a GOTV team in the Fall.
Our goal is to raise $40,000 for Worker Power that will fund a boots-on-the ground team for three weeks. The voter registration team will be focused on two Legislative Districts in northern Maricopa County, District 2 and District 4. Why focus on these two districts? It’s all about strategy! And bang for the buck!
These two districts will help us flip the U.S. House of Representatives. Both state legislative districts are within House District 01. It’s an R+2 district, and the Republican incumbent, David Schweikert, is vulnerable. He squeaked out a victory in 2022 against Jevin Hodge, a young newcomer Balloon Juice supported. Hodge is not running again (the primary is in July), but Schweikert is in trouble. Here’s what the Arizona Republic says:
While the area leans Republican, newcomers to the district are changing its political composition. The district is expected to become bluer in the future and some experts say that change is happening faster than anticipated.
Also, Schweikert is an unprincipled asshole. He has already racked up $175,000 in campaign finance violations, and was sued for homophobic ads aimed at a primary opponent. This is a strong potential pickup – and a very rewarding one, at that!
Remember, as part of our strategy, we’re only focusing on local races if there are national implications. Flipping at least one of the chambers most certainly would have national implications.
But we’re micro-targeting this effort even more. The Arizona Legislature is narrowly-divided, with Republicans holding a two-seat lead in both chambers. Worker Power sees a strong potential to pick up two AZ House seats and one AZ Senate seat in these two districts.
AZ is trending blue for many reasons – increased immigration, priced-out Californians, an increasingly extreme Republican state party, etc. Not to mention part-time West Virginians! And the state Republican party is a shambolic mess. They can’t win the battle through messaging – they have to do it through voter suppression.
The Republican party in Arizona has been on a tear trying to pass voter suppression laws and chip away at Arizona’s popular “permanent” vote by mail list. Flipping even one chamber will thwart these efforts to impede Arizona’s trend to blue.
Topping the list of Bond Villains in Arizona is AZ State Senator Shawnna Bolick in District 2.
- She’s an election denier.
- She introduced legislation that would have allowed the state legislature to invalidate Presidential election results.
- She’s active in the Charter School movement.
- And wait, there’s more: Clarence Thomas is her son’s godfather.
The other two Representatives on the villain list, Justin Wilmeth and Matthew Gress, are also vulnerable.
All in all, micro-targeting these districts serves multiple purposes, and we have to get boots on the ground quickly before it becomes to ungodly hot to canvass. Canvassing started on March 11, and our $40k will fund one of those teams for an additional 3 weeks.
Open thread.
Boots on the Ground in Maricopa County!Post + Comments (175)