LGBTQ Arizonans emerge as a voting bloc that could tip close races

Filed 2h ago · Via Arizona Mirror · The Buffoon Desk

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Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

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The Human Rights Campaign estimates 13.34% of Arizonans identify as LGBTQ, a bloc its spokesperson Ramiro Sarmiento says could determine outcomes in a state where recent races were decided by a single percentage point or, in one case, 280 votes. A survey cited found 92% of LGBTQ respondents plan to vote in the midterms compared to 68% of others.

A Republican-backed ballot measure would restrict transgender girls from joining sports teams, including private ones, and expose schools to lawsuits over bathroom and locker-room use. Gov. Katie Hobbs has vetoed similar GOP proposals, while gubernatorial candidate Andy Biggs and attorney general candidate Warren Petersen have both supported restrictive measures.

Petersen personally went to court to defend Arizona's trans sports ban after Attorney General Kris Mayes declined to. HRC's analysis found 54% of LGBTQ adults are under 35, which Sarmiento frames as a growing, durable voting bloc.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

An advocacy group insisting its constituency is electorally decisive is not exactly a shocking press release, but the underlying math — races decided by hundreds of votes — is real enough that both parties' calculations deserve scrutiny rather than applause. Whether Arizona Republicans read this as a warning or a rallying cry says more about their electoral strategy than their principles.

Source: Read the original at Arizona Mirror → Scored: Glee Club Polka · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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