Harris leans on ‘McCain Republicans’ to close the deal in Arizona
Kamala Harris is aiming to defeat Donald Trump in battleground Arizona in the 2024 election by leaning on the John McCain Republicans who backed Joe Biden.
PHOENIX — Kamala Harris is staking her hopes of vanquishing Donald Trump in the pivotal state of Arizona by leaning on a familiar group of voters: moderate Republicans with an affinity for the late Sen. John McCain.
Concentrated in the suburbs of Phoenix, those voters were decisive in 2020 in delivering the state for Joe Biden, the first Democrat in a quarter-century to carry Arizona in a presidential race.
But Harris' history of progressive positions is complicating her path to replicating her boss' coalition in the former GOP stronghold.
“The McCain wing of this party is a conservative group. It just isn’t nuts,” Phoenix-based Republican consultant Barrett Marson said.
“It makes it hard to vote for someone like Kamala Harris, because she’s the antithesis of a lot of things John McCain advocated for throughout his life. But on the other hand, she doesn’t want to overthrow the government. She doesn’t want to institute a dictatorship. She doesn’t want to instruct the Justice Department to start arresting Republicans left and right,” Marson said, calling the contrast enough for him to cast his ballot for her. “So the choice isn’t a very good one for McCain Republicans, but it is also probably easier because of the actions of Donald Trump.”
Rating: 5