Republican Kari Lake faced off against Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego on Wednesday in a highly anticipated debate as they vie for a seat in the U.S. Senate representing Arizona. The debate, marked by sharp exchanges, was specially important for Lake, as she trails Gallego by 12 percentage points according to a survey by SoCal Strategies.
The forecast for the presidential election in the state, in the meantime, looks very different, as Donald Trump leads Kamala Harris by 1.3 percentage points, getting 48.1% of the support compared to Harris' 46.8%, according to FiveThirtyEight's polling average.
There is, however, another highly disputed race in Arizona: the State legislature. This November, all 90 state legislative seats are up for grabs, with Republicans clinging to razor thin margins in both the House (31-29) and Senate (16-14). But as Democrats are hoping to flip at least one of the chambers this November, there is one particular swing district that could prove to be crucial come election day, as KJZZ in Phoenix reports.
Legislative District 4 (LD4) in Arizona, which covers parts of Phoenix, Paradise Valley, and Scottsdale, has been politically divided in recent years, with electing both Republican and Democratic candidates in the 2022 election, part of a larger trend that has seen LD4 voters back candidates of both parties in recent years.
As Democratic consultant Stacy Pearson told KJZZ:
"This district has really been one that, despite having more red dots than blue dots, looks at the content of someone's character when they're voting."
Incumbent Senator Christine Marsh, a Democrat, is one of only two incumbents seeking re-election, the other being Republican Rep. Matt Gress. When it comes to the issues, education has been and still remains a central issue for LD4 voters, with debates over public school funding and the state's school voucher program shaping the campaigns. Other significant issues include border security, women's reproductive rights, and the economy.
Despite LD4's unpredictability in past elections, analysts note that voters in the district are less likely to support candidates from the far-right wing of the Republican Party, which could be a factor in the upcoming races. Pearson also chimed in on this issue by saying that LD4 "is a district that is done with national news stories about Arizona's insanity," citing Sen. Wendy Rogers, who has been accused of posting Nazi slogans online and associating with white nationalists.
Myles Morris, an LD4 voter, probably explained the district's tendency in the report:
"Not far left, not far right, but in the middle, which appeals to most people, I would imagine, as you talk to most people. They are more or less in the middle. Maybe a little right, maybe a little left."
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