Progressive strategist Ruy Teixeria said on Friday that Arizona is increasingly becoming more favorable to Democrats, and will likely be competitive in the 2020 presidential election.
“If you look at the 2018 election, clearly that was a big win for them with [Sen.-elect Kyrsten] Sinema [D],” Teixeria, a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, told Hill.TV’s Jamal Simmons on “What America’s Thinking.”
“The ongoing changes in Arizona, with the rise of the Latino population, which does vote very heavily Democratic, and then you see changes in voting patterns among whites in Maricopa County, and so on and in the inner suburbs,” he continued.
“There are several things going on in Arizona that are pushing in a direction that’s favorable to the Democrats, and I do expect Arizona to be quite competitive in 2020,” he said.
Rep. Sinema will serve in the Senate next year after beating fellow Rep. Martha McSally (R) in November. McSally herself will also serve in the upper chamber next year after being appointed to the seat held by the late John McCain (R), which is currently occupied by Jon Kyl (R).
Latino voters are expected to play a role in pushing Arizona further into the hands of Democrats.
The The Pew Research Center reports that Latinos make up 23 percent of the population in the traditionally Republican state and exit polls show that over a quarter of Latino voters said they were voting for the first time in 2018.
— Julia Manchester
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