Democrats Push To Turn AZ Blue

The push to turn Arizona blue is ramping up this week as Chelsea Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Michelle Obama arrive to stump for Hillary Clinton.

Mail-in ballots just arrived, marking the beginning of early voting in the state; a measure Democrats hope to capitalize on this week.

Bernie Sanders will be in Flagstaff and Tucson Tuesday, Oct. 18 for early voting rallies being held by the Democratic Party.

The next day, Wednesday, Oct. 19, Chelsea Clinton will be at ASU’s main campus attending an Arizona Democratic Party Early Vote Rally; it is unclear if she will make it to Las Vegas in time for the third and final debate.

Michelle Obama will cap things off Thursday Oct. 20, when she speaks at an early voting rally in the state; the details regarding a location have not yet been released.

The attention from Presidential nominees during the general election is not something Arizona residents are used to, indicating the state is in play this November. A poll by Emerson College earlier this month found Clinton with a slight edge over Trump, 44 percent to 42 percent. Also, just last week election prediction expert Nate Silver, of FiveThirtyEight, gave Clinton a 53 percent chance of winning Arizona for the first time since 1996, when the state went for Bill Clinton.

With numbers tightening in Arizona, residents in the normally red state are faced with the reality that it may in fact go blue. However, some Arizona Republicans are helping that become a reality with their support for the Democrats in the state, most notably, Ann Kirkpatrick, running for the U.S. Senate.

The Democrats may also have a helpful push with two propositions on the ballots, which normally garner the majority of their vote from Democrat voters. Proposition205, legalizing marijuana and Proposition206, which would mandatorily raise minimum wage to $12 an hour, will also appear on the November ballot.