Tucson (AZ).- With a fifth of the Arizona electorate, Latinos are torn between abortion and migration when it comes to voting for Donald Trump or Joe Biden this November, in a state bordering Mexico that in 2020 gave a great surprise by granting victory to the Democrat amidst the Republican’s false accusations of electoral fraud.
What had traditionally been a “red” state loyal to the Republican Party this year can define with its 11 electoral votes the path to the White House and dominance of the Senate, which is being disputed by the Trumpist Kari Lake and the Latino congressman Rubén Gallego.
In Arizona, the Trump-Biden rematch is mired, as in much of the country, in abortion and migration, and with Latinos in the crosshairs of close races like those expected in this state.
Some 855,000 Latinos will vote in Arizona, 20% of the state’s total electorate, according to projections from the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO).
An average of recent polls indicates that former President Trump (2017-2021) leads the state by about 4 percentage points over Biden.
“We don’t know who the people are who are answering these surveys, but we do know that it will be a very close race so our community cannot afford to stay without voting,” Betty Villegas, a Democratic state legislator from Arizona, told EFE. .
“We cannot allow Trump to occupy the Presidency again,” he added.
“Without a doubt, Arizona is a decisive state, more than ever the Latino vote counts,” he emphasized.
NALEO estimates that in the 2020 presidential elections, Hispanics represented a quarter of the total electorate that went out to vote.
However, Latinos like Carmen Salazar, who has always voted Democratic, aren’t sure she will.
“There has been no immigration relief for our community, something we have been waiting for for decades,” said the mother of two.
Salazar considers that neither Biden nor Trump have the well-being of Latinos in their plans.
Meanwhile, Karla Sánchez, of Mexican origin, says she will vote for Trump by criticizing Biden’s immigration policy and the high cost of housing and the family basket.
“It is not a betrayal of other Latinos, it is my right to choose the person that I believe is best for my family and my country,” Sánchez told EFE.
“I support migration, however under Biden we have seen that they are letting in gang members, people with a criminal record and yet they do not support undocumented migrants who have been in this country for years working and paying their taxes,” he said.
Abortion and Latinas
According to the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, nearly 6.7 million Latinas (43%) of all Hispanic women of reproductive age live in one of the 26 states with abortion restrictions.
In Arizona, where abortion is prohibited after 15 weeks, Latinas also experience inequalities in access to health care, including preventive reproductive health care.
Latinas Arizona, Texas and Florida, where abortion is prohibited, represent one-third of all Latinas of reproductive age in the country.
For state legislator Stephanie S. Hamilton, one of the authors of a law that temporarily repealed an 1864 Arizona measure revived this year that virtually eliminated abortion, this issue is crucial in the election.
The Democrat called to vote for Biden considering that any fight can be reversed by Trump.
“These efforts could be useless if Trump is elected president again, we know that he is against abortion and with a single signature he could end the protections that are achieved,” Hamilton told EFE.
Groups that defend abortion rights are collecting signatures in Arizona so that voters can decide on the ban.
Amanda Zurawski told EFE that in 2023 she was denied an abortion under a Texas law when she had complications at 18 weeks of pregnancy. “I was very close to death, I went into septic shock before doctors gave me the medical care I needed,” she said at a Biden campaign event in Tucson, Arizona.
The laws that restrict abortion in several states have come into force after in 2022 the US Supreme Court, with three conservative judges nominated by Trump, eliminated the ‘Roe v. Wade’ ruling that had protected rights for half a century. reproductive organs of women.
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