Leadership for Arizona’s Democratic Party said they will bypass the financially strained state party for the upcoming 2026 midterms, an effort to calm donors and activists about dysfunction that could cost them major races in a top swing state.
Gov. Katie Hobbs, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, and Attorney General Kris Mayes — all Democrats who all are up for reelection next year — say that “grassroots organizing will be outsourced to a small county organization rather than the Arizona Democratic Party,” the Associated Press reported.
“The workaround comes as party disarray threatens to complicate Democrats’ efforts to hold on to a decade of successes in a state long dominated by Republicans,” the report continued. “Arizona has no Senate contest next year but will have at least two battleground U.S. House races, and the campaigns for governor, other top state offices and legislature could dictate how Arizona handles the 2028 presidential election.”
The national Democratic committees, as well as the Democratic Governors Association, reportedly agreed with the change of direction.
After President Donald Trump’s massive win over Kamala Harris, former Arizona Democratic Party Chair Yolanda Bejarano was let go, while the new chairman, Robert Branscromb, fired most of the senior staff.
The AP cited “behind-the-scenes tension” as being an issue after Branscromb “sent a letter to members of the state Democratic committee blasting Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, a highly unusual move against the state’s top Democrats.”
Each targeted leader responded with their own letter blasting Branscromb.
“I think the people are ready to solidify our democracy, and democrats are in a position to win up and down the ticket,” Branscomb said, according to the AP. “Because we’re focused on different areas doesn’t mean we’re not together.”
This shows how rudderless the Democratic Party has become in many parts of the country following Trump’s resounding win, especially after the significant role Arizona played in reshaping the map so Biden could prevail over Trump in 2020.
Does your state have Republican leadership?
It seems their grip on the electoral brass ring is slipping.
The ever reliably ruby-red state may be shifting back to its past demographics.
Or perhaps the new voters who turned the state purple have completely lost faith in the Democrat messaging.
Biden’s shallow, hollow, and corrupt presidency did not help the Democratic image among voters.
Hobbs is meanwhile continuing to veto bills in record numbers from a GOP legislature, despite having won her election by a razor-thin margin in 2022 against Kari Lake.
Her win was hardly a mandate to obstruct state leadership at every turn, something that has them on the verge of a government shutdown.
Yet as the nationwide Democratic Party continues to show support for lunatics like Zohran Mamdani and Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett of Texas, it’s no surprise their playbook lies in ruins and their compass is showing anything but true north.
Arizona’s red Republican roots are rising once again.
This recent display of radicalism among statewide officials might be just the thing to knock the state back into the GOP’s column for good.
That would make the climb to 270 electoral votes much harder — and more unrealistic — for Democrats in 2028.
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