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 democracy.

mr. riley, good morning. guest: good morning. host: the center, what does it involve itself with and what is your role? guest: i'm a professor in the school of public affairs. the center is a nonpartisan thing take that focuses on nonpartisan governance as well as the role of the independent voter, why people are leaving the two-party system. a deep dive into the independent voter. host: when it comes to the political dynamics of the state how would you describe it in its current day? guest: in its current state? it has intraday purple stage. for a long period of time it was pretty solidly red. in the last couple of elections that has been changing host: can you explain why? guest: i think there are several reasons why we see arizona moving from this reliable red state to a purple state.

one is the rise of the independent voter. we look at voter registration and we consider the small amount of minor parties, unaffiliated voters and these small parties edge out republicans as the largest voting bloc. this group of voters are in -- are notoriously unpredictable. and they are ticket-splitters. that has been adding to some of the mood arizona has becoming more purple. the second area i would suggest is the latino voters coming-of-age. if we look at young voters in particular, those gen z voters, those under the age of 30, about 31% of those registered are latino. that about mirrors the state at 33%. so, for a long time there was discussion about this young population of latinos and as they come of age to vote what

impact it might have on the electric. and while older latino voters are not as reliably d, younger voters tend to be a bit more progressive. a couple of other factors that are impacting the state's move toward a purple state. one is that in the rural areas, which are reliably read, the population is decreasing. and the growth is in the urban areas, particularly maricopa county. that tends to be a bit more blue or progressive. and we also have had migration, rtularly from california, which is the larstumber of individus moving into this really fast-growing area, particularly in maricopa county. last year we had about 75,000 individuals from california move here. i know we don't know all about their political affiliation but

there has been some discussion perhaps that this is moving the state, perhaps more away from this reliably-red, to blue. then the last area i would suggest is probably the rise of the maga movement. for the last couple of elections the primaries, particularly in the republican areas, have kind of been a duel between maga and more moderates. the maca -- the magas have won at the primary levels. but they have not done as well at the general election. there are john mccain republicans, libertarians perhaps you have not voting for the republican candidate. i think all of those areas are country waiting to arizona. moving to a purple state now, and probably for the foreseeable future. host: as far as those dynamics, it was in 2020 that president

biden, barely winning the state. do you see that closeness again this time around? perhaps for vice president harris? guest: in 2022 we had a close race. the rest of the states have moved on and we were counting ballots. that is because we had super close races. and actually 2022. so, whether we will repeat that or not, the last two elections we have had, in 2022 have had these close elections. we may very well see that, particularly at the presidential level. there were a couple of congressional seats. there is two, possibly three that we might see produce close measures. moving down ballot both the state senate and statehouse are controlled by republicans just by one vote in each chamber. and then we have some

potentially pretty interesting ballot initiatives that may come in pretty close. in addition to that the legislature has reduced the threshold of an automatic recount to 5% of 1%. so, a lot of people asking, why aren't we getting results on election night? part of that are the rules governing automatic recount. but that also has to do in arizona, a lot of individuals, particularly maricopa county, vote early. that is a combination of mail-in ballot, which is 50% of that, and the remaining people dropping off their ballots so they can drop them off at voting centers. but for a sizable portion in the last two elections they have waited until election day, right?

instead of voting in person they have dropped them off, and that accounts for some of the way -- because you have to do signature verification, etc. host: thom reilly joining us for this conversation, taking a look at arizona. if you want to ask questions about it, if you support the trump-vance ticket it is (202) 748-8001. if you support the harris-walz ticket it is (202) 748-8000. if you support other candidates, (202) 748-8002. if you are an arizona resident and you want to ask our guest questions, that is (202) 748-8003. you can post a text to that number as well. when it comes to those independent candidates is there a sense of how they will break this time around? either for the vice president or former president? is there polling that suggests where it will all go? guest: pulling for independent voters has been all over the

place, particularly on the democratic side. -- when they change candidates on the credit side. they tend to be motivated by some of the same issues. the economy. reproductive rights. and abortion is kind of the top three issues. but there has not really been a lot of specific data on where exactly they are falling back and forth. it has been pretty close for this group are voters. the largest group of voters historically have not been loyal to party. so, they have not been voting party ticket. i think what we are seeing in some of the polling that may suggest this is that they may vote for different candidates at the senate level versus the presidential level. i would suggest perhaps that look at the presidential level, the u.s. senate race, the congressional races and some of the ballot initiatives, that

they are kind of running on separate tracks due to this ticket splitting and also some shifting party coalitions. so, it will be an interesting race, right? to see how this all falls out. but clearly arizona historically has not been a constituent that actually votes down ballot for one party or another. host: what do you think about how both the vice president and former president in their travels to the state and they are sarah goetz as well, what do you think about their efforts in reaching out to these candidates? do you think they are effective? guest: good point. both candidates have been employing various different strategies on their campaigns. the harris campaign, for example, has been looking to broaden, perhaps, their coalition of traditional democratic voters. there has been a specific outreach to the lds community.

that is about 6% of the vote in arizona. there has been two high profile lds leaders, former u.s. senator and current ambassador jeff flake, and mesa sitting mayor john dials, that have come out and endorsed harris. she has also formed a committee around that in order to attract that group of voters. as well as to try to reach out more to some of the more moderate republicans, or mccain republicans, to see if she can pick off folks there. both candidates are focusing on these top issues of the economy, reproductive rights, particularly the harris campaign. immigration, particularly the trump campaign. turning point is a group that the republican has actually outsourced some of their ground

game two. they are located here in phoenix. they have been making a particularly -- a particular effort to reach out to low-propensity voters, particularly young male voters. what impact that might have will be interesting. but camino, suffice to say that we have been getting a lot of love in arizona, right? we have candidates and all of their extended family coming in here multiple times and appealing to various segments of the population. so, we can definitely say at least individuals who are interested in the presidential race and others, that they are getting a lot of attention. host: let's hear from randy. randy is in michigan, calling about this battleground series. randy, you are on with our guest. ahead. caller: good morning. we can take care of this drug war all at one time. all we have to do is start taking hair samples.

it'll tell us every drug a person everyday. there will be more of this, steal from a pothead so they can have treatment. all we have to do is take those narcotics officers, stick them behind the desk, and take them dna samples and have them test all murder cases and rape cases. host: ok, we will leave it there. mr. reilly, when it comes to the love you spoke of, as far as the state is concerned, have we heard anything from the mccain family concerning this? guest: we have. one of john mccain's sons has come out and endorsed harris. i basely john mccain's wife serves under the biden administration, so both of them have voiced their support for

the harris campaign. host: thom reilly joining us from arizona state university for this discussion. this is barry up next. in new jersey, a supporter of the harris-walz ticket. ahead. caller: thank you, c-span. these border states, what concerns me is that the amount of legislation that has been brought to the floor of the house that has not been acted on. in 2013 the senate approved a border bill that was approved 68-32 in the senate. they delivered it to john boehner, and john boehner refused to bring it to the floor. again, in february 2024 the senate put together a bill to fund, correcting the border issues, but donald trump again said that the republicans want

to maintain this as an issue for the election. in the most recent border bill that was approved they had a provision for these fentanyl sensors. apparently these sensors are sitting in a warehouse someplace but cannot be used because they have not been validated. the money was put in the latest bill to do that. my question is, why hasn't this been elevated to public discussion in states like arizona and texas, where the border is a permanent issue? host: ok, barry in new jersey. guest: that is a good question. being a border state, immigration is a top issue. these topics you bring up, the harris campaign has brought this up quite a bit, about some of the legislation that did not pass, particularly recently in the u.s. senate. so, you know, i think at times we tend to look at being a border state and everyone views

border issues in a monolithic position. and that is just not the case. it is a top issue for many individuals. for many, particularly in the latino community, the border issue is important because they want a pathway to citizenship. they want fair treatment of those who come into this country as dreamers and under the daca program. there is a lot of interest about this, and even when we talk about water security, whether that is the wall or additional border security officers, a lot of these discussions have been discussed and debated in arizona. i think both the campaigns have highlighted some of the differences in their strategies in dealing with this. host: what is your sense that if you are a young latino voter, beyond the fence in arizona by you look at the propositions such as proposition 314 being on the ballot, what faces the voter

on that front? guest: that is a good question. we had done some interviewing of gen z registered voters under the age of thursday -- age of 30. right before president biden had decided not to run and vice president harris had jumped in. at that time the majority of the gen z voters were not very enthusiastic about the two candidates at the time. there has been increased enthusiasm since there has been a change. but we did ask about some of the ballot issues. about two thirds of the group said they were highly motivated to show up at the polls in november. and what motivated many of them were the ballot initiatives. but more so the ballot initiatives around reproductive rights, which is on our citizens initiative, as well as open primaries.