whenever and wherever it matters st, we'll be there. >> cox supports c-sp and other services giving you a front row seat to >> on this tuesday, more alive campaign 2024 coverage on c-span. at 6:30 p.m. eastern, tim walz is joined by former president barack obama at a campaign rally in madison wisconsin. and then at 4:00 p.m. eastern, senator jd vance speaks at a campaign event in arizona. at 7:00 p.m. eastern, former president donald trump will hold a rally in greensboro, north carolina. you can also watch these events on c-span now and online on c-span.org. next seven days, the washington journal is

looking at battleground states across the united states. we are t with political reporters and experts on issues of why these battleground states are this year. since 2020, what public policy issues are motivating voters, recent political trends that could give us clues on how the state might vote. we are focusing on arizona. joining us first is camryn sanchez, a political reporter with kjzz radio in phoenix who is getting up very early for us this morning. thank you for doing so and thank you for being on the program today. guest: thanks for having me. host: most people would consider that usually that is a red state. how would you describe it this year? guest: purple. it was red, but now it is sort of changing direction quite a bit. you can see that because all of the big players, national candidates are coming in here pretty much every other day to try to with up. host: what are the factors that

you would say that make the state purple this year? guest: it was red, going for republicans in the presidential elections before trump. five times in a row at least. trump changed the game, or rather things changed along with trump. it went for trump in 2016, more slightly than anyone expected it to. he didn't have a landslide victory by any means. democrats haven't held a lot of statewide offices. now, fast-forward to 2024, trump narrowly lost arizona in his last election, and now we have a democratic governor, attorney general, secretary of state, mayors in major cities. it has been a shakeout. part of that is because we have a lot of people moving to arizona. the population has changed. also, the nature of the republican party has shifted a lot. host: it was joe biden winning

the state 49.4% in 2020, 40 9.1% for former president trump. you talk about the demographics. what are the things that you are looking for specifically in those demographics causing the change? guest: what you can see with the candidates is who they are targeting. latino voters and people coming into arizona who hadn't lived here before. we have a high rate of people moving in and changing things up. it is something that i think republicans resent. there is a lot of joking about california transplant. i am also a california transplant, so i guess i am a perpetrator of people moving to arizona. there has been a lot of focus on getting the independent votes in arizona because the shakeup is roughly one third republican, one third democrat, one third independent. it is almost exactly even. when you look at voting trends.

does the state do early voting? if it does, what are the trends showing and what does that suggest for what happens on election night? guest: they definitely do early voting. it is very popular. it is very convenient, obviously. there was some shifting and messaging from the republican party if they would encourage people to do that, but now they absolutely are. the candidates are telling people to get out and vote and do it now. democrats may be like in a little more because of the changing messaging from the republican party, but typically on election night the democrat results are the first wave. the democrats tend to have a lead on election night and as more results come in from election day it changes back towards republicans. host: if you want to ask her questions about arizona being a battleground state, call the lines. for those who support the trump-pence campaign, --

trump-vance campaign, (202) 748-8001. the harris-walz campaign, (202) 748-8000. (202) 748-8002 for those decided voters or for those supporting others. arizona residents there is a line specifically for you. (202) 748-8003. you can also text us your thoughts at that number as well. camryn sanchez, we have been showing individual state naps at people have been talking about these battleground states. what would you say are the areas of the state where both candidates have to pick up voters? guest: i wou say they both had the foresight to try to go all over the place. maricopa county is our largest county with the majorityf the population. that is the phoenix metro area. it's not exclusively democratic, but it is heavily democratic, as is in every state the urban

areas tend to be more liberal and rural tend to be more republican. tucson is near the border, obviously near a border state, so they have been campaigning. the trump campaign lawyer so than the harris campaign, trying to convince voters that both of the candidates will care about the border and border security. those couies, cochise county, saa cruzounty, they are all important areas to try to pick up voters. host: would you say that as issues go immigration is at the top of the list for both most voters, or is there other things? guest: probably in the top three. the economy, the border, abortion. abortion has been the issue for the democrats. they have been pushing that incredibly hard since roe v. wade was overturned. the border was the counterpoint,

almost, for the republican party. it's the redmeat issue. the one that speaks to the base. the one that is the most popular. there are two ballot measures this year which are, depending on which party you belong to, increase turnout. the economy is always a top contender. it has been consistently in the top three for the past few years now, especially with inflation. when we've been talking to voters, regardless of which party, the economy is always something that people mention. host: we have a viewer from yuma, arizona calling. good morning. caller: good morng, folks. hey, camryn, right? yeah, i am here in yuma and i can chime in on why the state is turning purple. the majority of the people from california are leaving because

of that they can afford to live there anymore, so they are coming here and bringing their politics with them. guest: thank you for getting up so early. i respect it. second of all, yeah, totally. i think that that is definitely a factor. people moving into arizona and texas are really changing the makeup of it. a large amount has to do with affordability issues. phoenix was considered to be more affordable and arizona was considered to be more affordable and that is changing because prices have gone up and housing supply has gone down. arizona now is considered to have a deficit of housing. host: the unemployment rate is 3.4%. the viewer talked about the economy. overall, what are you thinking in how the economy is doing in arizona and how that might impact people in how they vote? guest: it is not doing horribly

except for inflation. jobs-wise, it could be worse. but i think that people are concerned. affordable housing in particular is lumped in with finances. that's a top issue for voters in arizona because even people who are homeowners still have kids, family members, friends who are concerned they will never be able to buy a home. who are concerned with the prices of groceries and rent they can't save money to buy a house. it's definitely a concern for people who want to be in arizona long-term when they are trying to plan their future and economically are not making ends meet. host: the vice president talking about issues of affordable housing. is that resonating with those types of voters on that issue specifically? guest: i would expect cell, yes that expect so, yes.

speaking with voters at their doors, or casually at the mall, or even at rallies for trump and harris, it is something that comes up consistently with native arizonans. affordable housing is one of their top issues when they are talking about the economy. host: marvin joins alice from the shape -- joins us from michigan. you're talking about arizona. go ahead. caller: i like some of the stuff that she is saying. things are never going to stay the same. she is saying that we have a democratic governor, democratic mayor, trying to make things better like harris and wall -- walz are trying to do. and when donald trump was in office, when gas was $1.09, that

was great, but when is that ever coming back? we have to go forward for our future and our grandkids so that we can see people like human beings. that is what i have to say to the young lady. host: that is marvin in michigan. any response, if you wish. guest: i was going to say thank you for your comment, and yes, everything is always changing. i think the people are very motivated by what they see at the moment. the price of gas, groceries, housing is high. they may vote based on that and not care for the long-term style of economics in constant flux, but we'll see. host: a survey of battleground states today shows that in arizona former president trump has a slight lead, 49% to 46%. i suppose that you've probably seen similar polls.

what goes through your mind when you see those polls, especially when you are reporting on these issues? guest: back when it was going to be trump v biden, trump had a substantial lead. when biden dropped out and endorsed harris and she became the nominee there was a spike in enthusiasm from democrats and some independents, people who were more enthusiastic to vote for harris than biden. the frenzy and flutter of having a new candidate to talk and think about. there was a minute when harris surged, and then things settled back down and trump has a little lead in the polls consistently. he has been up for a while now. it makes sense. one thing that is interesting about that is comparing it to some of the other republican races that are competitive in arizona, the congressional and senate race. host: let's talk about that.

the senate race, where does it stand as of today? guest: the congressman is a democrat going against kari lake who is a top-endorsed republican who ran unsuccessfully for governor against our current democratic governor. lake lost in arizona by a larger margin than trump had. they are very tight, the same camp, the same playbook. they are both what we would call maggie republicans -- what we would call maga republicans. that her election day was stolen in some way and has gone to court over it. now she is campaigning for the senate against gallego. gallego is up. harris is down. gallego, the democrat is up by larger margin. that has been a hot topic for the last two months of the

election cycle. people are trying to scratch their heads and say, why is that? who are the voters that are going to vote for trump but then gallego or not vote in the senate race at all or vote for someone besides lake? i think that what it boils down to is the difference in the candidates and maybe lake trying to out trump trump without being trump. gallego is a different political candidate than harris. he has a long-established presence in arizona. host: let's talk about some of the others. arizona -- guest: schweiger, who is maybe a familiar name to everybody, he has been in congress for i want to say 14 years. has been there for quite a while. he is known for being a fiscal conservative for having concerns about financial issues, t national debt.

but he has been investigated over his own funds, investigated by the house ethics committee. schweiger has won a race a few cycles ago by 60%. a pretty heavy lead. it is a republican-leaning district. it is competitive because his lead has been going down every challenge the past few election cycles. last election he only won by less than 1%. 50 point something percent against his democratic challengers. now shaw, i think there are about five candidates this year. he stood out and established himself. he credits it an aggressive door-knocking campaign he has been doing. something like 30,000 doors.

will that be enough for the general election? i think it's a different game winning the primary against democrats versus winning a general election versus the republican incumbent. it is a tossup. we will see. host: from indiana, a supporter of the trump-vance ticket. caller: i would like to ask the young lady something about i think that the main concern that we have in a lot of these border ground game states is that we have had so many deaths from fentanyl that it's a little overwhelming for the democrats. how they don't feel a little bit guilty about all the deaths. i've had three family members die from fentanyl.

i know that there are millions of people out here that's been affected by it that definitely won't vote for these open borders. i think it's going to be probably one of the biggest issues in this campaign. it is a little overwhelming, you know, for the whole united states. i know there are a lot of people who are older people that probably doesn't really affect them that much, but all the younger people that has family members that are young, and all they do is they will think they are just taking a xanax or hydro pain pill and it is laced with

fentanyl. host: we will leave it there. thank you for the call. camryn sanchez, when it comes to immigration border policy, what is the general approaches from the former and current vice president? guest: for the caller, i am sorry for your experience. it is an issue in arizona, definitely why border security as may be top of mind. i think that there are a few degrees of separation between anyone you would talk to and a bad experience between someone and drugs, opioids in particular. the policy for the republicans, the trump-vance campaign comes off as being very tough. trump has alleged to close the borders. he said he will finish building the border wall on the southern border. they said they would support the republicans' agenda in the state

legislature here and be very tough on crime and less lenient when it comes to asylum-seekers. the harris administration is saying that they agree that there needs to be changes at the border and that they want to fund more officers for security, but they still want to account for asylum-seekers and have a more open approach not in terms of having wide open borders, but in terms of immigrants coming in who they don't see blanketly as criminals. host: one of the things that happened after the 2020 election, as you clearly know, is that arizona contested the results of that. remind viewers of how they went about that. does that still linger in this campaign cycle? guest: i think linger is an understatement. it is everywhere all the time

and it has been since 2020. it came up again in the 2022 elections for local races. it obviously wasn't a presidential year. when trump lost arizona it was by about 10,000 votes. the republican-led senate led an audit of the maricopa county ballots, our most populous county. essentially, it took a lot of money and a lot of time. they looked over the ballots with tons of volunteers. it was covered to high heaven by the media. they discovered that biden did win and by a tiny bit more than originally thought. essentially, the results were accurate and there is no evidence of widespread fraud, but there were claims about how the fraud could have occurred and how the computers could have been hacked and how the ballots were made out of dangerous material -- bamboo, or people being given the wrong kinds of

pens that would change their vote and the ink would bleed through the paper in such a way. there were ballot rules. there were all sorts of theories. the fallout of that has continued every day. the audit itself took quite a long time. when 2022 hit, the republican candidates who were in the trump camp who lost their state-white elections, they all claimed that there elections had also been negatively affected. i wouldn't always say fraud, sometimes stolen or cited issues on election day that could have disenfranchised voters who may be thought that things were bad even if they had other options. this led to more court cases, more media coverage, although there was not another audit.

kari lake is still fighting it in court as she is campaigning for senate. she is still saying that she is the rightful governor of arizona. we've had republicans time and time again refused to say that they think that the elections are taken care of and they will accept the results in 2024. we are holding our breath to see what happens. it depends on who wins and who loses as to how the republican party response. host: on the front page of the wall street journal there is a story based out of phoenix saying that across the state election workers have gone through active drills and learned to barricade themselves against armed mobs. on the ready our trauma kits with tourniquets and bandages. is that when you have seen reported? guest: it has been tricky to get election officials who are qualified, because there has

been a lot of fear and vitriol and threats. not even from arizona, necessarily, but also from people outside of arizona, even across the world who have threatened our election workers and election officials. one of the county supervisors, he and his family faced so many death threats and threats of abuse that he says that he suffers from ptsd. it has been a lot of personal attacks. you can see it in the maricopa county reporter. the reporter plays a role in the election administration. the republican incumbent was outstanding, seen as an enemy of the party by the maga republicans who accused him of having a hand in fraud which he has fought back against time and time again. the election workers, the secretary of state's office, they have all taken precautions over the past two years for this election in particular, gearing

up for whatever the fallout may be. hopefully there is no danger, but there is the possibility of people thinking that something is happening, elections are being stolen, and taking drastic action. the election workers have been gearing up for some time. host: to what degree will we see outside poll watchers this time in arizona? guest: again, it is always a possibility. we've had people who want to install guards, sometimes armed guards, who are really citizens with a concern about election security, outside of ballot drop boxes and polling places. i think that republicans, at least on the leadership for the party here, have discouraged -- well, they are trying to encourage people to be peaceful and not give democrats, for example, a reason to say that they felt intimidated because

they have been clear that if it is voter intimidation if a voter feels scared even if someone is essentially there to protect them. host: in connecticut, a supporter of the harris-walz ticket. caller: you mentioned policies. does trump ever talk of his policies about affordable housing or stopping price gouging? guest: trump has made a lot of claims about how he is going to change tax policy and how he will protect, for example, shift workers and people's benefits. when it comes to price gouging, from what i can recall the last few rallies that i attended, i remember harris saying that she would go after that. that is not to say that trump wouldn't, i just don't think that he mentioned it most recently in arizona. host: you mentioned some of the propositions up for vote.

proposition 139, abortion being the topic. guest: right. pretty much the second that roe v. wade was overturned people scrambled to get together. it had just a tidal wave of support. the people who turned in the signatures to get the measure on the ballot broke records with the most amount of signatures to ever be turned in for any citizen initiative ever. it is consistently polled in a way that people expect it to win. it would essentially codify roe v. wade and that it would allow abortions up to fetal viability come up to 24 weeks. arizona's ban is up to 15 weeks. this would allow for more abortions. it has a provision that would allow for abortions for the physical or mental health of the mother, depending on if the care physician, the care provider,

thought that that was necessary. proponents of the measure say that it goes too far. that is one of their slogans. the part about the health of the mother will be a catch-all that providers will use to perform abortions even if they are not necessary. host: arizona proposition 314. guest: that is our border measure. that is not a citizen initiative it was put on by lawmakers. republicans hold a majority in the state legislature by one seat each in the house and senate. with a democratic governor now, there has been some friction and struggles for them to get their policies through. they sent this one straight to the ballots to voters. it has been shown in polling that people are expecting it to pass. it is a popular measure. it is somewhat based on the texas sb-4 law, and there is some concern from democrats about the constitutionality.

it would make it a state crime to enter arizona illegally outside of a port of entry. this would make it so that local law enforcement sheriffs would be able to arrest people for the same crime and it has provisions for things like fentanyl. it was already challenged in court on the single subject rule, that you can't have a law or measure that addresses a bunch of different areas of the law, different topics that -- different topics at once, but that failed. again, it is expected to pass. host: camryn sanchez with kjzz radio in phoenix. you can see her work at>> "wash" continues. host: we continue our look at arizona with thom reilly of arizona state university. he is codirector for the center for sustainable deac