Arizona megathread

[Politician]

The AZ GOP really seems to be imploding rn, especially if Lake wins.

They aren't even making a half baked effort to appeal to voters outside their base which even in a good year overall for the GOP they'll likely still need.

I wouldn't be suprised if soon AZ has 2 D senators, a 5D-4R House delegation, dem majorities in both chambers, and Dems in most row offices. Ofc Rs will likely hold the state supreme court for a while which is quite conservative and 7-0 conservative majority. One thing I am unhappy about is the new AZ congressional map doesn't give Dems a lot of room to grow past 5 representatives.

With the main difference of slightly lower education and just being more historically conservative, AZ is quite simillar to CO demographically, and geopolitically, being a mostly urban state with a lot of conservative suburbs and exurbs.

Yes, I'm sure Democrats are going to win AZ-1, AZ-6 and the state legislature in a R+6 environment with Biden deeply unpopular because "muh candidate quality"

This forum is such a Democratic wishcast it's not even funny. Nobody cares about what some Republican said months ago when the economy is sh**t

[Politician]

I'd say Hobbs is a mediocre candidate - better than Garcia, but she also comes with her own baggage. Her response to the Talonya Adams scandal was inelegant and it may foreshadow trouble dealing with negative press on the campaign trail. That being said, few people expected her to win back in 2018. If she can make this campaign about abortion + Lake's excesses and tie herself to someone like Mark Kelly, she has a decent shot of winning.

I'm still confused as to how this is the thinking though? Lake is an extremist while Hobbs is a moderate Democrat incumbent in a purple state that is trending blue.

Extremism isn't unpalatable to swing voters anymore.

This. Swing voters vote on perceived "authenticity", not on ideology.

(Not that Lake isn't a problematic GE candidate)