Members of the Navajo and Apache Tribes are slowly but steadily pushing the AZ-02 race closer to the Democratic column and toward a Democratic majority in the House.
Charlie Cook had rated the race as likely Republican, but relented on Wednesday and moved it to leans Republican. He is something of a trailing indicator as FiveThirtyEight already has it a toss up. Nate Silver has Republican Eli Crane leading Incumbent Tom O’Halleran by only four-tenths of a point. [Late Breaking: Nate moved it to dead even 50-50 this morning.]
The district has the largest Native population in the U.S. and indigenous people are fighting hard to keep “their” member of Congress. O’Halleran has worked hard to get funding for cleanup of abandoned uranium mines on the Navajo Nation as well as bring water and electricity to the one-third of Native homes that do not have utility services. He has also made sure that Tribes get the funding they need for better Internet service. The tribes know that whatever challenges they face, and they face many, they have a representative in Washington who will work diligently to help them. Constituent services for the off-Reservation portions of the district are also very good.
One of the important parts of the campaign is an effort to enlist matriarchs to get their families to vote.
Women elders have a very important role to play in the tribes and often a woman leader decides how an extended family will vote. In Cibecue, on the White Mountain Apache Reservation, Democrats have won as much as 98% of the vote. Even with that lopsided outcome, residents wanted to know why their percentage was not higher.
Here is a link to the Matriarchs program. Family Votes
With the help of DailyKos supporters, we were able to purchase 100 of these 4’ x 6’ signs to be placed on Arizona’s reservations. They should be here next week.
We have 100 of these 4’ X 6’ foot signs on order to place on the reservations of Arizona.
We are next working on an $8,000 radio buy to get voter registration, early voting and get out the vote information on Navajo Radio Station KTNN. The reservation is the size of West Virginia with much of it in Arizona’s second congressional district. KTNN has towers throughout the vast area and radio is the best way to reach people.
Congressman Tom O’Halleran talks with Robert Miguel, chairman of the Ak-Chin Indian Community, before the White Mountain Apache parade in Whiteriver earlier this month.
If you can help us with this project, please give at ActBlue . Or you can mail a check to Arizona Deserves Better, c/o Eric Kramer, 1910 Douglas Fir Dr., Pinetop, AZ 85935
We will also try to get these spots onto radio stations for the other tribes. They mostly have public radio stations so there is rarely a cost for getting out non-partisan information.
Crane is doing some damage to himself as he becomes better known. Living in Tucson, far from the district, he has done little to introduce himself to the district. He came out against supporting Ukraine, aligning himself with the pro-Putin faction within Q-Anon.
Crane is not getting the attention of Senate candidate Blake Masters who upped his name recognition a bit by coming out in favor of decapitating the American military. He wants to fire all the generals and promote Trump-loyal colonels. I haven’t heard what he wants to do with the admirals. Maybe no one told him the U.S. has a navy.
Eli’s not coming. FiveThirtyEight shows the race for AZ-02 moving from a substantial GOP lead to dead even.
In the state offices, things are starting to look good. If we can get Katie Hobbs across the finish line ahead of the bizarre Kari Lake, Democrats may sweep all the statewide offices for the first time since dinosaurs were beginning to evolve in the swamps of the Petrified Forest.
We have to get Democrats to remember to vote for two candidates on the Corporation Commission. Not sure why “Vote For Two” seems to be such a hard concept.
A bit more Breaking News. First reported here on DailyKos. Democrats now have a better chance of taking the House than Republicans have of taking the Senate, according to FiveThirtyEight. Nate now gives Democrats a 31% chance of taking the House, and the GOP’s chances in the Senate are down to 29%. I don’t know that these numbers are hugely important, but it has been fun to watch the steady movement in our favor. I’m hoping that we will soon be at 33%, and then quickly move to 50%.
We are still trying to figure out why our Voting Rights initiative did not get on the ballot, and what we should do next. We had 475,000 signatures and needed 238,000. We are meeting with the lawyers to try to get a better explanation. It may come down to some of the circulators did not put their apartment number on some form. We will keep you informed.
If you would like to help us purchase the radio time, please donate at ActBlue .
