There is a rematch happening this election season in Southern Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, between Republican incumbent Juan Ciscomani and the Democratic challenger he narrowly beat two years ago, Kirsten Engel.
This time around, like many politicians on both sides of the aisle, Engel’s campaign is focusing on reproductive rights and Ciscomani is focusing on the economy and border security. And they’re both focusing on how those issues play with specifically Latina voters.
León Krauze, Global Opinions contributing columnist for The Washington Post, says he recently spent some time traveling around Arizona's 6th Congressional District and talking to Latina voters. Krauze joined The Show to discuss, as he recently wrote in The Post, how what he heard he says should serve as a warning to Democrats.
Full conversation
LEÓN KRAUZE: I think that Kristen Engel has a very clear idea that the last few years since the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, have been very difficult in in Arizona and that women in Arizona have faced the threat of a series of of very punitive bans that have brought this this issue to the forefront and that a whole generation of of young women in Arizona, Latina women, women from similar minorities, have been specifically affected by by this sort of bans, not not only the threat of it in Arizona but in in in other states. And that's why she has taken this issue and made it her main banner.
Ciscomani, on the other hand, I think realizes he He insists that he knows the district very well, of course, any politician would say that, but he says that and according to him, what he hears time and time again is that the priority for voters is the economy and border security, rather than reproductive freedom. He recognises that abortion is important, but I keep hearing about the economy and about border security, that's what he told me repeatedly in the interview we had.
LAUREN GILGER: Yeah, yeah, And when it comes specifically to courting Latino and Latina voters, as you pointed out, that's really interesting. So, let's talk about some of the people that you met, these voters you met as you sort of traveled around this district. You were in Tucson. You were in more rural parts of the state as well, talking to people who kind of fit that profile, tell us about what they had to say.
KRAUZE: It was fascinating, it was fascinating. First of all, the difference between, and this is this isn't really surprising, but to see it in the flesh was revealing, the difference between people around, Tucson and the suburban area of Tucson and and people further south, like around Benson, for example, was very striking, right? I mean, the priorities for for the Latina voters that I found were very, very different.
The students that I interviewed in, in a couple of, of campuses that I went to, Pima Community College. They, most of them agreed that the main issue was reproductive freedom. But when you go to Benson, there I met a young mother, she said, “Listen, I'm a Christian, and for me, abortion just shouldn't happen. And what I care about is the economy and, and border issues”. So, I think that's where the, in this divide, I think that's where the election will be decided in the 6th District, and frankly, it could happen in all of Arizona and maybe even the country.
GILGER: Yeah, yeah, it's definitely emblematic of a bigger picture here. Tell us about this specific exchange. You wrote about where you were talking to a young Latina and her father kind of jumped in, right, which said a lot, I think.
KRAUZE: Yeah, that was, that was fascinating. I met this this young Latina, , who who was there with her father, and she very clearly said that I mean, she was very sophisticated. She had an opinion on, on most issues, but she told me, “Listen, for me, reproductive freedom is, is the most is, the most important issue”.
And as I was walking away, her father, a 72-year old Hispanic man who was born in Mexico, a Mexican immigrant, started screaming “Trump, Trump, Trump” and I obviously went back and said, “Wait, wait, tell me why, why are you yelling Mr Trump's name?” And then he said, “Listen, I'm going to vote for Trump” and they got into an argument, both of them on reproductive freedom and abortion. He was much more conservative, she, she described a bunch of counter arguments, and it was just so fascinating, so revealing to see them go back and forth because again, this, this paints a picture of also a generational divide, a gender divide, that is is on display there in Arizona, and again elsewhere.
GILGER: Yeah, and all within the Latino community there. I want to talk about immigration for a moment in particular because what you heard from folks and, and the way these campaigns are approaching the Latino vote on the border about immigration is so interesting because I think at one point we would have expected most Latinos to vote Democratic, right, because of immigration. But, that's definitely not what you're hearing from a lot of folks today, and we've seen this trend in the broader Latino vote. Tell us about what you heard from folks on the border.
KRAUZE: I think that in general, I mean in my experience, not only in my recent trip to Arizona, but in general, I think that the country is moving towards a more restrictive immigration approach. I, I wouldn't say it's moving to the right, it’s moving to a conservative position. I'd rather say it's moving towards a more restrictive approach, and I clearly saw that in Arizona.
I mean, even progressive voters, even voters who were, who were clearly going to vote for Kamala Harris acknowledged to me, and young voters acknowledged to me that this is a serious issue. I mean, most people would say that, “not all immigrants are bad people, there are many, many, many good people coming in, but there are, there's also the threat of bad people coming in.”
So, I mean, there were nuanced positions and, and for everyone I spoke to in Arizona, immigration is an important issue. The question is whether or not it will be a decisive issue in the election, but that it's important, I have absolutely no doubt.
GILGER: Yeah, let me end with one final question here about sort of your, your warning. I think for Democrats that you wrote in this column, right, they're expecting to win in states like Arizona because of abortion rights, they say. Tell us a little bit about your caution there.
KRAUZE: Well, it comes rather from my reporting, because what I, what I found is that even voters whom you would be single issue voters, or very clearly have had already decided to vote for the democratic option because of the issue of reproductive freedom, all of them again manifested other concerns.
And I think those other concerns are important enough and, and weigh on them enough for for this equation to offer a warning for the Democratic Party. Because, I, I do think that the key to, to winning the state, the district, the state and elsewhere is to balance the, the message. Don't trust that reproductive freedom, however important, and it's incredibly important and salient of an issue, will, will carry the day and the election. The message has to be, has to be more complex than that. Let me put it that way.
