Split-ticket voters go for Ducey, Sinema
Governor and senator-elect collect most votes in many parts of Valley
The election showed a more purple Arizona than in the past because voters in suburban Phoenix precincts split their ballots between Republican red and Democratic blue candidates.
Democrat Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Doug Ducey appealed to tens of thousands of the same voters across swaths of Ahwatukee Foothills, Chandler, and other portions of the East Valley, as well as farflung precincts in the north Valley, Peoria and areas west of Glendale.
Sinema and Ducey also shared support from many of the same voters in the so-called purple precincts that fall within Arizona’s 9th Congressional District, which she has represented for six years.
Like Democrats across the country, Sinema courted swing voters with a message that centered on issues, not partisan politics, and blocked Republican Martha McSally’s path to the U.S. Senate.
Ducey offered these ticket-splitting voters a steady hand at an uncertain time, focusing on kitchen-table issues such as jobs and the economy. And he helped address widespread concern over teacher funding against the backdrop of mass teacher walkouts.
Broadly, Sinema and Ducey handled the issue of border security and illegal immigration in a similar manner. They both agreed that more resources should be sent to the border to address illegal activity while centering their messages around the safety of Arizonans.
In more than one in five precincts in Maricopa County, the Democratic senator-elect and the Republican governor both received the largest share of the votes, an analysis of unofficial votetabulations found. The crossover precincts mostly appear as buffers between precincts where Arizonans voted along party lines in the Senate and governor races.
Ahwatukee, south Mesa, west Chandler, north Glendale, portions of north Phoenix and parts of Paradise Valley showed the strongest patterns of voters casting ballots for both Sinema and Ducey.
These purple areas are generally home to the types of persuadable swing voters who tend to be, on average, more affluent and more educated.
analysis shows for the first time how suburban voters responded to Sinema and Ducey’s campaigns.
Republican Jake Rolph, a 35-year-old engineer from Mesa who supports Republican President Donald Trump, split his ticket.
“I look more towards someone’s character and what they’ve done in the past than their parties,” he said.
In the end, he trusted Sinema more than McSally. And while he doesn’t have children of his own, his nieces and nephews are in school and he liked how Ducey navigated the teacher pay-raise debate earlier this year.
“I trusted her,” Rolph said of Sinema. “... And I’ve always liked Ducey. I’ve always thought he was a good guy.”
Sinema and Ducey were disciplined in their political messaging.
Sinema avoided talking about Trump but told voters she would work with “literally anyone” if elected.
McSally, who cozied up to Trump throughout her candidacy and campaigned with him here in October, lost Maricopa County.
Ducey kept his distance from Trump, appearing with him only when politically necessary.
Ducey showed a willingness to negotiate with lawmakers, particularly on education-funding. He played up the impact of balancing Arizona’s budget, as well as the Republican-led tax reform on families, messages that resonated with families in these precincts.
Crossover voting for both Ducey and Sinema was most common in Ahwatukee, Chandler, east and north Phoenix, north Glendale and areas north of metro Phoenix.
Voters in precincts on the outskirts of metro Phoenix — including two precincts in Buckeye to the west, and an eastern precinct near Leisure World and the Superstition Springs Center shopping mall — also crossed party lines for Sinema and Ducey.
Most purple precincts showed each candidate with decisive victories over their opponents. However, a few precincts showed either Sinema or Ducey with narrow margins of victory.
East Valley: In the Ahwatukee Foothills precinct that includes the Ahwatukee Country Club west of South 48th Street, Sinema showed a 17 percentage point lead in the Senate race, and Ducey a 6 percentage point lead over his Democratic challenger David Garcia. In Chandler’s Comstock precinct, located a short drive northeast of the Chandler Fashion Square north of West Elliot Road between North Alma School Road and North Arizona Avenue, Sinema had a 12 percentage point lead and Ducey a 9 percentage point win over Garcia.
North Valley: In the Sierra Pass precinct, an area that includes neighborhoods surrounding the intersection of Loop 101 and State Route 51 and the Musical Instrument Museum, voters elected Sinema with a 5 percentage point margin over her Republican challenger, and elected Ducey with a 15 percentage point margin. Voters who live in the Mummy Mountain precinct, which includes the Paradise Valley Mall and the Stonecreek Golf Club, elected both Sinema and Ducey with more than a 10 percentage point lead over their respective challengers.
West Valley: Several precincts immediately east of Luke Air Force Base showed strong support for Sinema and Ducey. Sinema led 5 percentage points over McSally and Ducey had a 10 percentage point lead over Garcia at the Luke Field precinct, located immediately east of the base and north of West Bethany Home Road. Sinema’s margin of victory was larger in the adjacent Airline Canal precinct, which extends east of the base to El Mirage Road, where the senator-elect had more than a 10 percentage point margin on McSally, and Ducey secured a 9 percentage point margin over Garcia.
In the Sahuaro Ranch precinct, southwest of the West Peoria Avenue and North 59th Street intersection in north Glendale, voters supported Ducey by a 16 percentage point margin, and Sinema secured a 6 percentage point lead over McSally.