Arizona Turning Into A Swing State Impacts Latinos

As we’ve reached Election Day for the 2020 presidential election, Arizona’s signs of turning into a swing state could be historically impactful, particularly to the Latino community.

According to the Arizona Secretary of State records, Arizona has not voted for a Democratic presidential candidate since the 1996 election. A recent poll conducted by Monmouth University shows that as of Oct. 13, Arizona is leaning 50% supporting presidential candidate Joe Biden, and 44% supporting Donald Trump. Democratic Senate candidate Mark Kelly, also holds the lead against his Republican opponent, Martha McSally.

The expanding diversity in Arizona’s demographics is part of the reason for these changes in political preferences. As of 2019, the U.S Census Bureau estimated Mesa’s population to be around 518,012 of which 135,566 are Hispanic. With Mesa being one of the fastest growing diverse cities in Arizona, the changing political preferences will greatly affect the way the next four years play out for people of color.

President and CEO of the East Valley Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Frankie Jo Rios said that she believes the outcome of this upcoming presidential election has a lot of potential to benefit the Latino community in Mesa and across the state.

“There was no integrity in this administration at all. I think that with COVID-19 coming in, and all the lies, and now with the tax records being unveiled, I think people are finally seeing the light, and they are going to the other side,” she said.

Rios said that one of the biggest issues Latinos are currently facing in the East Valley is keeping up their small businesses amidst the COVID-19 outbreak.

She was disappointed to have seen the Trump administration overlook small businesses when giving out the first stimulus package, and believes the money did not benefit those bigger corporations the way it would’ve benefitted small businesses. If Biden is elected president, Rios hopes that he will deliver more stimulus packages that will provide funding for small businesses and women-owned businesses around the country.

The Center for Disease Control shows that Hispanic/Latinos have a 2.8x higher rate of COVID-19 cases compared to white non-Hispanics. Rios said she also hopes that Biden will provide PPE needed for immigrants, particularly Arizona’s undocumented immigrant workers who continue to work throughout the pandemic, and were not offered PPE or any COVID-19 relief strategies.

Director of the Hispanic Institute of Social Issues Eduardo Barraza said that after decades of Republican-run legislation in Arizona, he believes that switching to a Democratic-run state will be positive as long as leadership creates legislation that is going to benefit not just Latinos, but minorities in terms of housing, education, discrimination and employment.

“Living in a border state, we also need legislation that is going to be realistic and address the issues that have not been addressed for decades,” Barraza said.