Traditionally conservative members of the Church of Latter-day Saints in Arizona are being turned off from former President Donald Trump, in part because of his language around immigrants.

With around 400,000 Mormons in the battleground state — roughly 6 percent of its population — both Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris have sought to win them over in the hope of securing Arizona’s 11 Electoral College votes, but the key issue of immigration has become divisive.

Tyler Montague, a political consultant with the Public Integrity Alliance and a LDS member, told Newsweek that while many members of the church will vote for Trump, a growing number will either leave their presidential vote blank or swing all the way to Harris.

He pointed to LDS’ immigrant-friendly attitude, highlighted by the missionary programs many young Mormons take part in.

“A lot of them are in Latin America, a lot in Africa, Asia, so you have people exposed to these other cultures and other languages and they develop understanding and empathy,” Montague said. “So, you have a group that’s sympathetic toward immigrants, legal or otherwise.”

A growing discomfort around Trump’s immigration rhetoric

The Arizonan said that Trump’s rhetoric on immigration – promising mass deportations and characterizing migrants as criminals or those stealing jobs – did not sit well with those who had connections to countries where immigrants were from, or who worked and lived alongside them in their communities.

The Harris campaign has sought to tread a line between tightening border security, while also avoiding demonizing migrants writ large.

The LDS community in Arizona has voiced its opposition to anti-immigrant legislation in the past, including legislation in 2010 known as the “show me your papers” bill, which the church rejected parts around enforcement.

Some Evangelical Christians have also expressed discomfort around the lack of empathy for refugees and immigrants within the GOP, as Newsweek reported earlier in October, though the voting bloc is still expected to go for Trump by wide margins.

Are Mormons switching to Harris?

Montague told Newsweek that discomfort is going to matter among a group that sees voting as its civic duty, which could swing results in a state which was decided on around 10,000 votes in 2020.

“It’s not just the immigration issue. The culture of the church, the culture of Christ-like service-style leadership is just in contrast with the braggadocio style of Donald Trump,” Montague said. “That’s off-putting.

“The thing that keeps people in his camp, there are plenty of people that don’t like him, but they’re turned off by the abortion issue, which Kamala Harris is touting.”

Mormon support across the U.S. for Republican candidates has dropped in recent decades, according to the Pew Research Center in 2016, with George W. Bush receiving 80 percent support in 2004, compared to 61 percent for Trump in 2016.

That does not mean those votes are automatically going to the Democratic Party, though, with some feeling issues like abortion leave them with no viable presidential candidate.

Montague pointed to high-profile LDS members who could sway members of the church, including Mitt Romney, the senator from Utah who ran against Barack Obama in 2012, and former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers. Both Romney and Bowers have openly voiced their opposition to Trump.

An appeals court says we must pay more in state sales taxes than we earned in 20 years selling auto parts to Arizonans, even without a local store.

I am president of RockAuto, a Wisconsin-based online auto parts store that my family and I started in 1999. 

We ship parts to DIY and professional mechanics worldwide.

Since 2019, when a new law taxing out-of-state businesses took effect, RockAuto has paid Arizona sales taxes, even though we have never had an Arizona store. 

Unsatisfied, the Arizona Department of Revenue recently convinced an appeals court that we were physically present in Arizona before 2019 without knowing it and owed millions of dollars in taxes under the old law. 

Arizona wants more money than we earned

Somehow, according to the ruling, every Arizona factory and wholesaler selling parts to us became our branch office when we asked them to ship directly to our customers. 

Address labels became stores, refrigerator magnets became salespeople and, magically, RockAuto was in Arizona.

No previous court case has found a retailer “physically present” without employees or assets or someone making in-state contact with customers. 

The revenue department’s own publications even say that “drop-shipping” from Arizona suppliers — asking manufacturers or wholesalers to ship their products directly to a retailer’s customers instead of to the retailer’s store — does not create tax liability. 

Still, the department persists in demanding six years of taxes (which we didn’t collect from customers) plus interest and penalties — far more money than we earned in 20 years selling auto parts to Arizonans.

We’ve petitioned the Arizona Supreme Court to review the case. The Arizona Tech Council and state Rep. Michael Carbone have written letters pointing out that tax laws come from the Legislature, not the revenue department’s imagination. 

RockAuto may have to stop selling in Arizona

Because Gov. Katie Hobbs did not create this situation (it began before she took office), thousands of our Arizona customers have appealed to her to restrain the department.

Empowered by the appeals court, however, the revenue department has not responded.

To protect the livelihoods of our families from future attack, we’ve stopped buying from Arizona suppliers. We may be forced to stop selling to customers in Arizona. 

Dismantling relationships that took decades to build is heartrending. But we can’t work for free or live in fear of the next random, retroactive ruling. 

Other online retailers that bought from Arizona suppliers in past decades or today could be next on the department’s hit list. 

Do you or your business depend on any of them?

Jim Taylor is president of RockAuto, an online parts store based in Madison, Wisc. Reach him at service@rockauto.com.

Former Alabama All-American Jonah Williams is on his way back for the Arizona Cardinals. But another Alabama alumnus is out with the New York Jets.

The Jets released safety Jaylen Key from their practice squad on Wednesday, the same day that Williams returned to practice for the Cardinals.

Williams sustained a knee injury in Arizona’s season-opening 34-28 loss to the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 8. He’s missed seven games on injured reserve.

With Williams’ return to practice, the Cardinals have 21 days to restore him to their 53-man active roster or leave him on injured reserve for the remainder of the season. Arizona already has switched Williams’ designation to “injured reserve/designated for return.”

New York released Key for the third time this season. After playing four seasons for UAB and one for Alabama, Key joined the Jets as the final pick in the NFL Draft on April 27, earning the Mr. Irrelevant title for 2024.

New York waived Key when it reduced its preseason roster to the regular-season limit on Aug. 27. But the Jets brought him back for their practice squad as soon as he cleared waivers.

New York released Key from its practice squad on Sept. 25, then signed him again on Oct. 9.

Five other players from Alabama high schools and colleges were on the NFL’s transactions report for Wednesday:

· Defensive tackle Shakel Brown (Troy) signed with the Miami Dolphins’ practice squad. Brown spent last season on injured reserve with the Tennessee Titans as an undrafted rookie. This season, Brown spent the offseason, training camp and preseason with San Francisco and was with the 49ers’ practice squad for a week before being released.

· Detroit Lions defensive tackle Brodric Martin (Northridge, North Alabama) returned to practice. A 2023 third-round draft pick, Martin has spent the season on injured reserve because of a preseason knee injury.

· Baltimore Ravens defensive tackle Michael Pierce (Daphne, Samford) went on injured reserve. Pierce sustained a calf injury in Sunday’s 29-24 loss to the Cleveland Browns. On Wednesday, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said he did not think the injury would be season-ending. But by rule, Pierce will have to miss at least the next four games.

· Jacksonville Jaguars running back Keilan Robinson (Alabama) returned to practice. A 2024 fifth-round draft pick from Texas, Robinson has spent the season on injured reserve after sustaining a toe injury at training camp. Robinson ran for 254 yards and two touchdowns on 39 carries for the Crimson Tide in 2019 before transferring to the Longhorns.

· Outside linebacker Jamie Sheriff (South Alabama) was released from the Seattle Seahawks’ practice squad. The Mississippi Beerman’s Cinderella story as an undrafted rookie this season has included going to the Carolina Panthers as a waiver claim after being cut by the Seahawks at the end of the preseason. After playing in the Panthers’ season-opener, Sheriff was waived, and he returned to Seattle as a practice-squad member. He played in the Seahawks’ Week 6 game as a practice-squad elevation.

FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE NFL, GO TO OUR NFL PAGE

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.