When Donald Trump was first elected to the White House in 2016, Republicans held every lever of statewide power in Arizona, from the governor’s office to both US Senate seats and majorities in the legislature. Over the following decade, as Trump tightened his grip on the party, Democrats gradually chipped away at that dominance, turning the longtime GOP stronghold into a political battleground.
The November midterm elections completed that shift. Democrats swept every statewide office on the ballot, from governor to the obscure post of mine inspector, and secured a lawmaking trifecta unseen since 1966. The results leave Republicans firmly locked out of state-level power, a remarkable reversal for a party once home to Barry Goldwater’s rock-ribbed conservatism and John McCain’s maverick streak.S2
Several closely watched races went against Trump allies. Congressman Andy Biggs, a longtime supporter of the Make America Great Again movement, lost by more than 10 percentage points to Katie Hobbs, the Democratic incumbent once viewed as vulnerable. Alexander Kolodin, a Trump acolyte heavily involved in efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state, was trounced by Democratic incumbent Adrian Fontes in the race for secretary of state. Gina Swoboda, a former chair of the Arizona Republican party, had lost the Republican primary to Kolodin after running for the same post.S2
The losses reached down to local government as well. A 19-year-old sophomore at Arizona State University defeated a tenured Republican to become superior county clerk of Maricopa County, the fourth largest county in America, which handles court records, marriage licenses, child support and other filings. The Republican collapse in Arizona was part of a broader blue wave that also removed GOP officials in even redder states such as South Carolina and Texas.S2
Republicans now face a reckoning over how to rebuild. The party still holds a nearly 300,000 voter-registration advantage over Democrats, but independent voters make up the largest share of the electorate and often decide elections, and this year they broke hard against Republicans. Kirk Adams, a former Arizona House speaker who served as chief of staff to the last Republican governor, warned that without change the party faces minority status for a long time, adding that political parties tend to react to near-extinction events like this. Swoboda put it more bluntly: “I could see this coming. We weren’t talking to people, we weren’t listening to people.”S2
