Democratic fundraising titans prepare for Arizona clash in 2020
Big-money national Democratic groups are gearing up for what could prove to be a watershed election in Arizona, investing millions in staff, advertising and canvassing efforts to swing key races and turn out likely Democratic voters.
Success would mean more than picking up a Senate seat and winning some congressional races, though that certainly wouldn’t hurt the Democratic cause. Key victories could be a testament to the contestability of once-staunchly Republican Arizona – in essence, the extension of an invitation to moneyed progressive causes that now have evidence of a return on their investments in the state. This has its own suite of implications – on local campaign strategy, candidate messaging and the efficacy of outside-the-party PAC fundraising against institutional party fundraising.
A litany of Democratic PACs with seemingly computer-generated names like NextGen America, the Progressive Turnout Project, Flippable, MoveOn, Arena, the FutureNow Fund and others have all announced large investments in the state, building on groundwork laid in the last election cycle, which served as a sort of coming-out party for the state in national Democratic circles.
The 2018 election cycle introduced many in this cast of characters to the state political scene – NextGen, founded and largely funded by now-presidential candidate Tom Steyer, spent $3.4 million in Arizona last year. FutureNow, founded by Pritzker Family scion Adam Pritzker, economist Jeffrey Sachs and former New York Assemblyman Daniel Squadron, spent heavily on the 2018 Senate race in LD28, in which teacher Christine Marsh fell short of unseating Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-Phoenix, by two-tenths of a percent.
Several consultants, strategists and PAC staffers on both sides of the aisle told the Arizona Capitol Times that the positive results in that cycle – which netted the Democratic Party several seats in the state House, four statewide positions and generated wave turnouts among typically low-propensity voters – opened the door for the influx of national interests that are already preparing for battle in 2020, even as primaries in most races remain heavily contested.
https://azcapitoltimes.com/news/2019/12/13/democratic-fundraising-titans-prepare-for-arizona-clash-in-2020/
