Kamala Harris gives Arizona Democrats warm, fuzzy feeling at DNC

After months of anxiety over the presidential contest, Arizona Democrats basked in a far more optimistic vibe as the party’s national convention opened Monday.

“Excited, invigorated and happy,” was how delegate Llama Habern of Cornville described the mood now that Vice President Kamala Harris is atop the ticket, reversing a downward spiral before President Joe Biden dropped his reelection bid.

“How excited everyone is in general is very motivating, very encouraging,” Habern said.

Other Arizona delegates echoed the point. They supported Biden to the end, lauded the courage it took to step out of the race – and said the handoff to Harris has reignited Democrats.

State Sen. Priya Sundareshan of Tucson, co-chair of the Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee – a coalition focused on winning statehouse seats – said Harris’ momentum has bolstered Democrats’ chances to take control of the Legislature.

New polling from The New York Times and Siena College shows Harris leading former President Donald Trump among likely voters in Arizona, 50-45, a major reversal from May, when Trump led Biden.

“There is definitely a lot of enthusiasm and excitement for the top-of-the-ticket races, but at the same time, the work of the state legislative flip effort remains the same,” said Sundareshan, one of the 91 Arizona delegates to the four-day Democratic convention in Chicago.

Swing voters care deeply about reproductive freedom, public school funding and water security, she said, pointing to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ended federal abortion rights.

“So much decision-making authority and power now rests in the states,” Sundareshan said. “We need to make sure that voters know enthusiasm at the top of the ticket has to translate down.”

State Sen. Eva Burch of Mesa said Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are candidates who can work across partisan lines and are “committed to getting things done.”

“On social issues, sometimes we are just not going to agree,” Burch said about working with Republicans. “There are a number of things that we do … that require bipartisanship. I’m sure we are all committed to that.”

Figures from the Arizona secretary of state’s office show that registered Republicans outnumber registered Democrats by about 250,000, and the gap has widened in the last two years. Biden defeated Trump by only about 10,000 votes in 2020 in Arizona, and the state’s 11 electoral votes are critical for both sides.

“This is still a close election. Arizonans know this,” said Mark Robert Gordon, a Phoenix lawyer and member of the Democratic National Committee.

But, he said, once Biden stepped aside and the party elevated Harris as its nominee for president, “there is a real momentum change.”

“There is now new energy in the party. We saw that arena in Glendale and how filled it was,” Gordon said, referring to a rally Harris held on Aug. 9. “This is something special.”

A large pro-Palestinian protest delayed buses ferrying delegates from their downtown hotels and the McCormick Place Convention Center to the United Center, home to the Chicago Bulls and Blackhawks and for this week, the Democratic convention.

Gordon shrugged aside the disruptions.

“Democracy is in action here,” he said.