Arizona elects its first Mexican-American Senator

Arizona Democratic Senate candidate Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz, speaks during a watch party on election night, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, in Phoenix. | Ross D. Franklin/AP

Arizona Democratic Party leaders and progressives expected a surge of women voting for abortion rights to carry Harris into the White House and flip both houses of the state legislature as well as a congressional seat or two. It didn’t happen.

The constitutional amendment to fully legalize abortion rights passed with 62% but failed to have the expected coattails. Arizona did, however, make history by electing its first Mexican-American Senator, Ruben Gallego, to replace outgoing independent, Kirsten Sinema.

Gallego, who has been a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus dropped some of his progressive positions, like single-payer Medicare for All, when he announced his Senate candidacy, but he is still expected to be a progressive voice in Washington.

Unlike most of the other so-called “battleground states,” the pollsters had Trump leading in Arizona throughout the 2024 campaign year, but it was a close lead in the polls and not the 5.5 percent lead Trump ended up with.  Instead of losing ground, the Republicans made small gains in the legislature and kept all their congressional seats including the two they had flipped in 2022.

The far-right legislature had placed eleven propositions on the ballot, all of which were acts vetoed by Governor Hobbs or which they felt would spur MAGA voters to turn out.  Voters rejected propositions aimed at reducing democratic and voting rights including one that would have made it practically impossible to get citizen initiatives on the ballot.

Voters did, however, pass a particularly racist, “show me your papers” proposition targeting immigrants, and another one against homeless encampments. Immigrant rights supporters already met last week to start planning resistance to any attempts to round up immigrants by state or federal agents.

Counting ballots in Arizona took 12 days, long even by Arizona standards. The extra-long list of candidates and propositions required a two-page ballot which took twice as long to tabulate. Results show that the Phoenix metro area where two-thirds of Arizonans live, moved slightly to the right and that rural Arizona voted heavier for Trump than previously.

The one bright spot for progressive voters was in Tucson. Democrats carried all Pima County offices and four out of five County Supervisors. Newly elected Supervisor Jen Allen will add a third progressive vote on the Board. County voters also reelected twelve Democratic state legislators and flipped one of the three remaining Republican seats. That makes 23 out of 26 Pima County offices up for election.

Also, in the small city of South Tucson, progressive forces allied with Casa Maria Soup Kitchen completed their takeover of the City Council. They won two of four seats up this time to add to three seats won in 2022 for a 5-2 majority. This was a nonpartisan race. There was little evidence of Mexican American voters shifting to Trump in Pima County.

A new Republican tactic emerging in Arizona, and probably elsewhere, is running right-wing Mexican-American candidates, especially in nonpartisan races. Previously the right wing would nominate no people of color for the legislature and very few for school boards except in Chicano majority districts. Voters in the Tucson Unified School District were able to defeat those attempts and reelect three progressive incumbents.

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CONTRIBUTOR

Joe Bernick

Joe Bernick is the Director of Salt of the Earth Labor College, Tucson, Arizona.