On Saturday night, The Associated Press called Arizona for Donald Trump in the presidential election, securing his sweep of all seven battleground states and winning with 312 Electoral College votes.
In 2020, Joe Biden narrowly won Arizona by just over 10,000 votes, becoming the second Democrat to win the state since the 1940s (the other being Bill Clinton in 1992).
But this year, Trump made ground in Democratic strongholds and increased his margins in counties he won in 2020.
A review of the 2024 results show that Trump flipped or expanded his lead in several crucial counties.
In northern Arizona, Trump maintained control over traditionally Republican counties.
In order to ensure that Donald Trump won 312 Electoral College votes and swept all seven battleground states, The Associated Press called Arizona for him in the presidential election on Saturday night.
After Bill Clinton won Arizona in 1992, Joe Biden became the second Democrat to win the state since the 1940s when he narrowly defeated him in 2020 by just over 10,000 votes. However, Trump expanded his margins in counties he won in 2020 and gained ground in Democratic strongholds this year.
Two maps produced by Newsweek illustrate which counties saw Tuesday’s Democratic to Republican shift.
Trump flipped or increased his lead in a number of key counties, according to an analysis of the 2024 results. Phoenix and Maricopa, Arizona’s most populous county, saw a sharp return to Trump, who now leads Kamala Harris by 4 points with 89 percent of the vote counted. In 2020, Biden won Maricopa by two points.
Trump gained ground in all four of the Arizona counties that border Mexico when compared to 2020, indicating that the locals found his campaign’s emphasis on illegal immigration to be compelling. In 2024, a Democratic bastion on the border, Santa Cruz, shifted in Trump’s direction. In 2020, Biden won Santa Cruz by a margin of 35 points, while Harris won by 19 points.
Proposition 314 was also passed by the state, giving local governments the authority to enforce immigration laws. This further suggests that immigration was a factor in Trump’s victory. Its passage indicates that Arizona shares Trump’s view that tougher immigration laws are necessary.
In counties like Pima, where Tucson is located, where she leads by a comfortable 16 points, and Coconino, where she leads by 20 points, Harris did manage to hold onto Democratic control. However, she was unable to overcome Trump’s strength in the majority of the rest of the state because her performance in these areas was inferior to Biden’s, who won them by 19 and 24 points, respectively.
Trump was able to hold onto control of historically Republican counties in northern Arizona. With over 95 percent of the ballots counted, he won Mohave County by 56 points, Yavapai County by 35 points, and Gila County by 38 points. This strengthened his support among the rural areas of the state, which have been a vital component of his coalition since 2016.
According to the 2020 census, 30 percent of Arizona’s population is Latino, making up a sizable portion of the state’s electorate. More Latinos voted for Trump in 2024 than in 2020, according to national trends.
