Arizona Legislative District 8 is drawn through a rural desert region about 100 miles north of the Mexican border. The local economy is spurred mostly by agriculture and mining, and sturdy, middle-class jobs are precarious. But no one was talking jobs during the district’s most recent Republican primaries [as if open borders has nothing to do with jobs]. It was all immigration. Second-term incumbent T.J. Shope’s two challengers demanded the state do more to secure the border — call in the National Guard! Shope, or as he’s been called by some right-wingers, legistraitor, disagrees. It’s a federal issue, he says; he’d rather focus on the economy and education.
Turns out that’s what district residents, 35 percent of whom are Hispanic, cared most about too, since they re-elected him. “I’m not a hyper-partisan guy,” the 30-year-old grocery store manager says. “I learned quickly it’s all about relationships, being close to the community.”
Luckily for Democrats, not everyone learns so quickly. For years, the alarm bells have been sounding in Arizona. The demographic and political tides are turning, and if the GOP doesn’t do something to connect with Latino voters, it could lose a state it’s long had solidly under its thumb. “There is a tsunami sea change coming to Arizona politics,” says Joe Garcia, director of the Latino Public Policy Center at Arizona State University. One study predicts the state could turn blue as soon as 2025. ...
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