Arizona is starting to slip out of the grasp of the GOP. The state party elected a neo-fascist chair and fundraising evaporated. 2020 could be a good year for Arizona Democrats. One Republican state Senator saw what was coming and abandoned ship, first to become an independent and finally joining the almost-as-conservative Blue Dogs, Tom O'Halleran.
No one can put the Ocasio-Crowley primary in a box and sell it in other districtsLast week the New York Times published a lazy piece by Shane Goldmacher, The Ocasio-Cortez Effect: Wave of Challenges Hits Entrenched N.Y. Democrats, that defines superficial reporting.
Arizona's mammoth first district-- slightly bigger than Pennsylvania-- is centered on Flagstaff but is like a representation of the state of the whole state of Arizona. It includes the Grand Canyon, the Painted Desert, the suburbs south of Phoenix and north of Tucson, the huge a Navajo and Hopi reservations--and more native Americans than any other district in the country.
Tom O’Halleran, a 70 year old conservative Republican, served in the Arizona House from 2001 to 2006 and then served in the state Senate until 2009, when he lost his primary to fringe nut Steve Pierce.
Although the PVI of IL-12 is even, Obama won this district in the southwest corner of Illinois (across the Mississippi from St. Louis) twice-- 55-44% against McCain and 50-48% against Romney. When longtime conservaDem Jerry Costello finally retired in 2012, Obama's draw at the polls helped another DINO type, Bill Enyart, hold the seat for the Democrats.
