Dems see Arizona desert blooming blue
By Reid Wilson - 03/27/19 06:00 AM EDT
PHOENIX — Coming off their best election season in more than a generation, Arizona Democrats see a path to the White House that runs through the Valley of the Sun, if their party’s presidential nominee makes a concerted effort to win the state’s electoral votes.
Democrats see an opportunity in Arizona’s rapid growth, which has doubled the state’s population to more than 7.1 million people since 1990. Cranes dot Phoenix’s skyline, and new developments are again under construction after a pause during the recession.
That growth was once driven by retirees seeking sun and dry weather and delivering Republican votes to Phoenix’s booming suburbs. But increasingly, new growth is coming from a younger generation in search of good jobs and low housing costs — and bringing more progressive values with them.
“There’s a lot of young people moving to the southeast valley,†said Athena Salman, a Democratic member of the Arizona state House. “We are, demographically, a state that’s changing, but demographics aren’t destiny.â€
Between 2001 and 2014, Arizona added a net 537,000 people from other states, about half of whom came from California, according to a report from Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business.
Between 2012 and 2017, more people moved to Maricopa County — 221,000 — than to any other county in the country.
Democrats have long counted on a surge of Hispanic voters who could change Arizona’s political hue, and there is some evidence to suggest those voters — especially among younger cohorts — are a growing political base.
Voters aged 18 to 29 made up just more than 10 percent of the electorate in 2018, a 4-point increase over 2014, the last midterm election year, according to the Democratic data firm TargetSmart.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/435948-dems-see-arizona-desert-blooming-blue
