Arizona

BATTLEGROUND SERIES: Arizona's 11 electoral votes hinge on key swing county Biden won by a hair in 2020

Published

1 year ago

October 15, 2024

BATTLEGROUND SERIES: Arizona's 11 electoral votes hinge on key swing county Biden won by a hair in 2020

MARICOPA COUNTY, AZ – Arizona is expected to be one of the most closely watched and highly competitive swing states in the upcoming presidential election and the state’s largest county will play a critical role in deciding who wins that state and ultimately the White House.

Maricopa County, which surrounds Phoenix in south central Arizona and is home to over 4.5 million people, is widely considered one of the key battleground counties in the United States due to its diverse political breakdown and will deliver 11 crucial electoral votes to either former President Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Maricopa County is our largest and most populous county in Arizona,” Arizona GOP Chairwoman Gina Swoboda told Fox News Digital. “It contains over 60% of our voters statewide. It’s about a third Democrat, a third Republican, and a third Independent. That fluctuates a bit. But essentially, we’re a third, a third, a third.”

“We have what I would call a dense urban core in Phoenix. And then we have suburbs and it’s growing. It’s consistently one of the highest growing counties in the United States. It’s a diverse county just because of the makeup, we’ve got urban and then we’ve got the suburbs and then we have what were kind of little, little towns becoming cities very rapidly. So when you have that kind of growth, that puts a lot of pressure on a community and because it’s 60% of the vote of the state, it gets a lot of attention.”

IN ARIZONA SPEECH, VANCE SAYS NEXT PRESIDENT MUST PUT AMERICANS FIRST, SLAMS FEMA MONEY FOR MIGRANTS

Arizona’s 11 electoral votes will be critical in deciding who wins the White House in 2024 (Fox News )

Swoboda told Fox News Digital that if you’re looking to run for office in Maricopa County you’ve got a “broad swath of the electorate” and you “have to speak to their issues.”

Those key issues during this election cycle, according to Swoboda, are the economy and immigration.

“Inflation is number one and when we say inflation in Arizona, we’re one of the hardest hit states in the country for our prices going up,” Swoboda said. “But part of that is affordable housing. And that’s a huge issue in the state of Arizona, particularly in rapidly growing Maricopa.”

President Joe Biden won the state of Arizona by less than 1 half of 1 percent in the 2020 election and the results in Maricopa County were also slim with Biden beating former President Trump by 2 %.

The Harris-Walz campaign has been active in the county over the last few months and the Arizona campaign team told Fox News Digital that they have knocked on 90,000 doors, made over 1.7 million phone calls, and have 15,000 volunteers that have completed a shift in the county.

ENIGMATIC VOTER GROUP COULD SPLIT TICKET FOR TRUMP, DEM SENATE CANDIDATE IN ARIZONA

Signage directs voters to a ballot drop box for early voting outside of the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center ahead of the Arizona midterm elections in Phoenix, Arizona on November 3, 2022. ((Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images))

“Vice President Harris, Governor Walz, Second Gentleman Emhoff, and Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz all visited Arizona in September,” the campaign said. “Recently, Vice President Harris visited Douglas, Arizona to tout her policies to keep Arizona’s border secure, marking her eighth visit to Arizona this year.”

Polling has increasingly shown that Trump leads Harris with low propensity voters which has become an increased focus in the Trump ground game. The same is true in Arizona, specifically Maricopa County, where Turning Point Action, which has taken the lead in organizing Trump’s GOTV efforts, has launched programs like “Commit 100” and “Chase the Vote” to mobilize those voters.

A spokesperson for Turning Point Action told Fox News Digital that it is actively targeting 400,000 low propensity voters in Arizona and that Republican voter registration efforts in Arizona over the last two years has “put the state in a very difficult mathematical spot for Democrats.”

Immigrants line up at a remote U.S. Border Patrol processing center after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border on December 07, 2023 in Lukeville, Arizona. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

A spokesperson for the RNC told Fox News Digital that Republicans have “doubled” the GOP voter registration advantage in Arizona since 2020 and that the RNC has almost a dozen offices across the state as part of its Trump Force 47 initiative to “meet voters where they are.”

Nationwide, immigration is one of the most important issues to voters according to the polls and that’s no different in Arizona where voters who spoke to Fox News Digital said immigration is a top concern despite differing opinions on which candidate would best handle the unfolding crisis.

“We have to have swifter incarceration at the border,” Mary from Phoenix told Fox News Digital. “And if there’s a suspicion that they’re going to commit a crime, lock them up.”

Mary said that it was “infuriating” that the recent bipartisan border deal died in Congress and said that if Harris is elected, “She will get it signed.”

Nick from Sun City West told Fox News Digital that Harris’ immigration policy has been “dismal at best.”

Former President Trump and vice presidential candidate U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, appear on the first day of the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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“Control the border,” he said. “At least keep the border safe. Keep people from being able to get in that aren’t supposed to be able to come in unless they come in through the regular normal channels.”

Trump holds a razor-thin two-point edge over Harris in battleground Arizona, according to a recent public opinion poll.

Fueling the former president’s margin appears to be support from voters age 50 and over. Trump stands at 49% among likely voters in Arizona, with Harris at 47%, according to an AARP poll conducted Sept. 24-Oct. 1 and released on Tuesday. According to the survey, Green Party candidate Jill Stein grabs 1% support, with 3% undecided.

“In some ways, it’s like a state of its own because 65, 68% of our entire state population in Arizona resides in Maricopa County,” Arizona GOP Senate candidate Kari Lake told Fox News Digital. “It’s one of those mega counties. I frankly also think it’s a mega county, but it’s a mega county. And so it’s a really important county. What happens in Maricopa County can affect the entire country and really the entire world, because we know whatever way Maricopa County can take the whole country that way, because it’s so massive, it can take the whole state that way. And so it’s an important county.”

Fox News Digital’s Paul Steinhauser and Hannah Ray Lambert contributed to this report

Andrew Mark Miller is a reporter at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.

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Arizona

Here’s how to give public comment on future Colorado River plans

Published

6 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Here’s how to give public comment on future Colorado River plans

PHOENIX — After years of negotiations, Arizona still doesn’t know what its long-term water future will look like, and now the federal government is preparing to step in.

States across the Colorado River Basin have failed to reach a deal on how to share the shrinking river after current operating rules expire in 2026. With no state-led agreement in place, federal officials are moving forward with their own plan, one that could bring steep cuts to Arizona’s water supply.

And for Arizonans, the clock is ticking to weigh in. Public comment remains open until March 2. To submit your comment on what the government should do, send your comments in email to crbpost2026@usbr.gov.

Additional information is available online. The project website can be accessed here, along with links to YouTube videos published by the government, recorded in January and February which walk through of the options available.

Many Arizona leaders have already offered their public comments, which are overwhelmingly negative.

“We were very disappointed with that document,” said Brenda Burman, the Central Arizona Project General Manager “If any of those alternatives were implemented, it would be very difficult, and perhaps devastating for Arizona.”

Arizona’s top Colorado River negotiator, Tom Buschatzke, echoed those concerns.

“None of those alternatives are very good for the state of Arizona,” Buschatzke said. “I’m not seeing how we’re going to break that stalemate.”

Congressman Juan Ciscomani also criticized the proposals, saying the impacts of Colorado River cuts extends into Pinal, and Pima counties.

“That’s not an acceptable solution for us,” Ciscomani said. “We want to play ball, but we want to make sure everyone across the board uses less and becomes more efficient.”

Some of the federal alternatives would reduce Arizona’s Colorado River supply by 40%, 50%, or in the most extreme case up to 70%.

Experts at ASU Kyl Center for Water Policy say part of the problem lies upstream.

“The reason for this current impasse is because the upper basin states have refused to take cuts in their Colorado River use,” said Sarah Porter, the center’s director.

Upper Basin states like Colorado and Utah rely on different water rules than Arizona and other Lower Basin states, complicating negotiations that have dragged on for years.

Arizona has already been living with cuts for several years. Since 2021, the state has faced an 18% reduction in Colorado River water deliveries due to a Tier 1 shortage declaration. Most of those cuts have fallen on Central Arizona Project users, including agriculture and some tribal communities.

Buschatzke argues that pushing Arizona into deeper reductions would violate long-standing Western water law.

“We will be protecting the state of Arizona,” he said. “And if that has to be litigation, it will be litigation.”

That means a lawsuit against the federal government, or upper basin states is now a real possibility if the final plan moves forward unchanged. The state legislature has put $3 million in a state fund for potential litigation on the Colorado River.

After the comment period closes, the federal government is required to review public feedback and issue a formal ‘Record of Decision’, likely sometime this summer. Advocacy groups say public feedback matters.

“I just encourage Arizonans to look at this document, understand what that means for your family, your businesses, and what it means for the future,” said Kyle Roerink of the Great Basin Water Network. “Then figure out if you want to advocate for one scenario over another.”

A new operating plan must be in place by October 1, setting the rules for how the Colorado River will be managed for years to come, and shaping Arizona’s water future in the process.

This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

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Arizona

Arizona Lottery Powerball, The Pick results for Feb. 28, 2026

Published

18 hours ago

March 1, 2026

Press Room

Arizona Lottery Powerball, The Pick results for Feb. 28, 2026

The Arizona Lottery offers multiple draw games for those aiming to win big.

Here’s a look at Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026 results for each game:

Winning Powerball numbers

06-20-35-54-65, Powerball: 10, Power Play: 4

Check Powerball payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning The Pick numbers

09-12-15-25-31-35

Check The Pick payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Pick 3 numbers

6-1-8

Check Pick 3 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Fantasy 5 numbers

07-10-22-30-36

Check Fantasy 5 payouts and previous drawings here.

Winning Triple Twist numbers

08-09-14-17-30-41

Check Triple Twist payouts and previous drawings here.

Feeling lucky? Explore the latest lottery news and results

What time is the Powerball drawing?

Powerball drawings are at 7:59 p.m. Arizona time on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

How much is a Powerball lottery ticket today?

In Arizona, Powerball tickets cost $2 per game, according to the Arizona Lottery.

How to play the Powerball

To play, select five numbers from 1 to 69 for the white balls, then select one number from 1 to 26 for the red Powerball.

You can choose your lucky numbers on a play slip or let the lottery terminal randomly pick your numbers.

To win, match one of the 9 Ways to Win:

5 white balls + 1 red Powerball = Grand prize.
5 white balls = $1 million.
4 white balls + 1 red Powerball = $50,000.
4 white balls = $100.
3 white balls + 1 red Powerball = $100.
3 white balls = $7.
2 white balls + 1 red Powerball = $7.
1 white ball + 1 red Powerball = $4.
1 red Powerball = $4.

There’s a chance to have your winnings increased two, three, four, five and 10 times through the Power Play for an additional $1 per play. Players can multiply non-jackpot wins up to 10 times when the jackpot is $150 million or less.

Are you a winner? Here’s how to claim your lottery prize

All Arizona Lottery retailers will redeem prizes up to $100 and may redeem winnings up to $599. For prizes over $599, winners can submit winning tickets through the mail or in person at Arizona Lottery offices. By mail, send a winner claim form, winning lottery ticket and a copy of a government-issued ID to P.O. Box 2913, Phoenix, AZ 85062.

To submit in person, sign the back of your ticket, fill out a winner claim form and deliver the form, along with the ticket and government-issued ID to any of these locations:

Phoenix Arizona Lottery Office: 4740 E. University Drive, Phoenix, AZ 85034, 480-921-4400. Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, closed holidays. This office can cash prizes of any amount.

Tucson Arizona Lottery Office: 2955 E. Grant Road, Tucson, AZ 85716, 520-628-5107. Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, closed holidays. This office can cash prizes of any amount.

Phoenix Sky Harbor Lottery Office: Terminal 4 Baggage Claim, 3400 E. Sky Harbor Blvd., Phoenix, AZ 85034, 480-921-4424. Hours: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Sunday, closed holidays. This office can cash prizes up to $49,999.

Kingman Arizona Lottery Office: Inside Walmart, 3396 Stockton Hill Road, Kingman, AZ 86409, 928-753-8808. Hours: 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, closed holidays. This office can cash prizes up to $49,999.

Check previous winning numbers and payouts at https://www.arizonalottery.com/.

This results page was generated automatically using information from TinBu and a template written and reviewed by an Arizona Republic editor. You can send feedback using this form.

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Arizona

Kansas Jayhawks at Arizona Wildcats odds, picks and predictions

Published

1 day ago

February 28, 2026

Press Room

Kansas Jayhawks at Arizona Wildcats odds, picks and predictions

The No. 14 Kansas Jayhawks (21-7, 11-4 Big 12) visit the No. 2 Arizona Wildcats (26-2, 13-2) Saturday afternoon for a 4 p.m. ET (ESPN) tip from McKale Memorial Center in Tucson, Arizona. Let’s analyze BetMGM Sportsbook’s NCAA basketball odds around the Kansas vs. Arizona odds and make our expert college basketball picks and predictions for the best bets.

Kansas got back in the win column on Monday with a 69-56 victory over Houston, covering as a 2.5-point home underdog with the Under (137.5) hitting. G Tre White led all scorers with 23 points while F Bryson Tiller (11 points, 10 rebounds) added a double-double in the much-needed victory after the Jayhawks had dropped 2 of their previous 3.

Arizona has won 3 in a row after taking down Baylor 87-80 on Tuesday, narrowly failing to cover as a 7.5-point road favorite with the Over (154.5) hitting. G Jaden Bradley scored a team-high 25 points, G Brayden Burries added 24, and F Tobe Awaka (10 points, 13 rebounds) added a double-double.

– Rankings: USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll

Watch NCAA basketball on Fubo!

Kansas at Arizona odds

Provided by BetMGM Sportsbook; access USA TODAY Sports Scores and Sports Betting Odds hub for a full list. Lines last updated 9:40 a.m. ET.

Moneyline (ML): Kansas +400 (bet $100 to win $500) | Arizona -550 (bet $550 to win $100)
Against the spread (ATS): Kansas +9.5 (-110) | Arizona -9.5 (-110)
Over/Under (O/U): 149.5 (O: -115 | U: -105)

Kansas at Arizona picks and predictions

Prediction

Arizona 76, Kansas 69

PASS.

There is minimal value on the Wildcats (-550) to win at home on Saturday against a Jayhawks team that is 5-4 on the road this season.

BET KANSAS +9.5 (-110).

The Jayhawks are 18-10 ATS this season, including 9-3 ATS over their last 12. They are 3-1 ATS over their last 4 on the road, as well, and are coming off a massive win over No. 5 Houston to build momentum heading into another tough contest.

The Wildcats have failed to cover in 4 of their last 5 games, including each of their last 4 as favorites and back-to-back games at home.

With a near double-digit spread, the advantage belongs to the road squad.

BET UNDER 149.5 (-105).

The Wildcats have hit the Under in 7 of their last 10 games, including 3 of their last 4. They have scored 78 or fewer points in 4 of their last 5 games while allowing 68 or fewer in 5 of their last 10, including 2 of their last 3.

The Jayhawks have hit a 19-9 Under record this season and have also hit the Under in 7 of their last 10. They have scored 69 or fewer points in 3 of their last 4 while allowing 75 or fewer in 7 of their last 10.

For more sports betting picks and tips, check out SportsbookWire.com and BetFTW.

Follow SportsbookWire on Twitter/X and like us on Facebook.

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