Gov. Doug Ducey speaks at a 2018 pre-election campaign rally in Prescott. He is flanked by U.S. Sen. Martha McSally, U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar, Attorney General Mark Brnovich, and Treasurer Kimberly Yee, among others. Photo by Doug Ducey's campaign | Flickr/CC BY-SA 2.0
Once upon a time, not long ago, in a land called Arizona, there was a group of Republican politicians who wanted to shed the state’s post-SB1070 nativist image.
Arizona politics had veered so far to the right and into the range of tinfoil hat conspiracy theories that our state had become a regular target for late-night comedians.
Joe Arpaio, Andrew Thomas, Russell Pearce.
These men used the issue of immigration and fear of the “other” as a tool to divide voters and win elections.