High mountains and plateaus cover more than half of Arizona.
Arizona is a prime example of how abortion could affect the midterms.
Just ask Republican Senate candidate Blake Masters. He understands the power of the issue. Since August, he’s backpedaled on his anti-abortion stance and scrubbed his website to try to make himself appear more “moderate.” Still, Masters’ original words about abortion remain -- calling the original Roe v. Wade “a horrible decision” and throwing his support behind a law that saying “that unborn babies are human beings that may not be killed”which would result in a total abortion ban.
Arizona voters have a choice, of course. Sen. Mark Kelly, running for re-election, supports a woman’s right to choose. Earlier this year, he voted for the Women’s Health Protection Act, legislation protecting access to abortion care throughout the United States by writing into law the landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
Masters has a right to be running helter-skelter away from his public stance on abortion. According to the Brookings Institute, state data shows that voter registration is climbing, and most new voters are women. Tom Bonoir, a political consultant wrote in the New York Times that the finding that 69% of new voters in Kansas were women was “… more striking than any single election statistic I can recall , discovering throughout my career.”
To underscore the importance of this trend in Arizona, a recent poll by Center Street PAC, a nonpartisan political action committee, shows that voters in Arizona say they will vote for Democratic candidates over Republican candidates who have taken extreme positions.
Three House Races in Arizona also may benefit from the Republicans’ misstep on pushing their antiabortion agenda and their propensity to elect extremists. Dems are looking to flip AZ-01 (Jevin Hodge), hold AZ-02 (Tom O’Halleran) and AZ-04 (Greg Stanton), and capture the open seat in AZ-06 (Kirsten Engel).
Hodge’s Republican opponent is given an A+ rating from SBA Pro-Life America. O’Halleran is running against Trump-endorsed Eli Crane, who proudly posted a photo of himself with the Knights of Columbus at the March for Life. Stanton, whose race was upgraded to Likely D by the Cook Political Report, is facing Kelly Cooper, who states on his campaign site: “The unborn will have a friend in Congress when I am elected.” (I guess Cooper didn’t get the Repub memo on staying away from the abortion issue). And in AZ-06, Engel is running against Juan Ciscomani, a father of six who is fully anti-abortion
On-the-ground groups in Arizona like Mission for Arizona,are registering voters, mobilizing volunteers, and promoting Democratic candidates since the 2020 election. Mission for Arizona is teaming up with Together We Elect to show just how volunteers from out of state can work remotely to help Democrats up and down the ballot.
At a free Zoom event on Tuesday, Sept. 20 from 7 to 8 p.m. EST, Congressmen Stanton and O'Halleran will make appearances along with Hodge, who is running to defeat David Schweikert in Arizona 01. In addition, AZ State Senator Raquel Teran, chair of the AZ Democrats, will appear live, as will Adrian Fontes, who is running for AZ Secretary of State. The event will also provide links to volunteer opportunities.
You can sign up here for Arizona Now: A Call to Action.
