Are the Republicans ready to win back Arizona?

**Sarah Smith** (0:00)
Every vote matters, of course, in the upcoming midterm elections in November in the United States. You've got Democrats thinking that they could seize control of Congress, and that would be absolutely crucial for Donald Trump's future for the next two years.
But every vote in Arizona might matter a little bit more than others. It's an absolutely key battleground state. They've now just had their primary elections and chosen the candidates who are going to go into November's race. And Donald Trump on a pretty clean slate with all of his nominees going on to victory. But is that going to help them? Voters are increasingly unhappy with Donald Trump's performance in the White House. It's possible his endorsement isn't going to help his candidates in Arizona. Welcome to Americast.

**Anthony Zurcher** (0:47)
Americast from BBC News. You hear that sound? Oh, I think when I hear that sound, it reminds me of money.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:54)
We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it. This is a big cover-up, and this administration is engaged in it.

**Andy Biggs** (1:02)
This guy has Trump derangement syndrome.

**Jamie Raskin** (1:04)
I have four words for you.

**Zohran Mamdani** (1:07)
Turn the volume up.

**Sarah Smith** (1:13)
Hello, it's Sarah here in the BBC's Washington Bureau.

**Anthony Zurcher** (1:16)
And it's Anthony right here with Sarah in Washington, DC.

**Sarah Smith** (1:19)
We're recording this on Wednesday morning. And last night, voters in Arizona selected the candidates that are going to run in November's election. They finished their primary voting there. So we now know which Republicans and Democrats are going to be competing against each other for a number of elections there. And this matters, Anthony, doesn't it? Not just as a referendum on the president, but also because Arizona is a pretty crucial electoral battleground.

**Anthony Zurcher** (1:41)
It is going to be a crucial state in the November midterm elections. There are a handful of House of Representatives seats currently held by Republicans that Democrats are targeting to flip. And if they can win there, they will be able to take control of the House of Representatives if things break their way elsewhere in the country. But it will be a very good bellwether for how Democrats are doing if they do well in Arizona. The other thing is there are some statewide races, governors race, secretary of state, attorney general, ones that while are important to Arizona this year, next year are going to be really important because those are the people who are going to be in charge of the state in the 2028 presidential election. And Arizona is definitely one of the key battleground states in presidential elections now. Donald Trump won it in 2016 Joe Biden flipped it in 2020 Donald Trump won it in 2024 So it has picked the winner now going on 12 years. And it is going to be hotly contested in 2028 as well.

**Sarah Smith** (2:40)
And the person who won, I think probably Anthony, we could say is Donald Trump, isn't it?

**Anthony Zurcher** (2:44)
Well, his candidates won. We've talked about in the past, some states that have bucked Donald Trump's endorsements and gone with other candidates, Iowa being one of the biggest examples of that. But Donald Trump still clearly has sway in Arizona. And the candidacy he backed from the top to the bottom all ended up winning the Republican nominations. Now, whether they can win in the general election in November when they're going up against Democrats, I think that will be the real test of whether Donald Trump won the primary night or not.

**Sarah Smith** (3:15)
Yeah, because some of the reasons he was backing these candidates might not help them in the general election. You've got several who are election deniers, as it's called. These are people who still say that Donald Trump won the 2020 election. Some of them were actively involved in trying to overturn the 2020 election. So yeah, they go into this election with millstones around their neck, possibly hung there by Donald Trump himself.

**Anthony Zurcher** (3:37)
Yeah, it's an interesting collection of characters that the Republicans have picked. Andy Feely, who is a former NFL punter, journeyman punter, he had been around to various teams. He might be ended up running against a Democrat in that race, who was a team position on the New York Jets when Feely was a punter. So that'd be kind of an interesting face off. Andy Biggs, who is running for governor. He's a Republican member of Congress currently, as you mentioned. He supported Donald Trump's efforts to contest the 2020 presidential election. So from his seat in the House of Representatives, he voted against confirming Joe Biden's election victory.