10/29/2024 --dailykos
This story is part of a series of state-by-state previews of the 2024 election.Voters in Arizona have no shortage of competitive races to decide in the Nov. 5 general election, with control of the White House, the U.S. Senate and House, and both chambers of the state legislature in the balance.Arizona remains a major electoral battleground four years after President Joe Biden became only the second Democratic presidential candidate to carry the state in nearly 70 years. It is one of four states in the nation’s Sun Belt that has drawn much of the focus of both presidential campaigns in the final sprint to Election Day.Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump are in a tight race for the state’s 11 electoral votes. They and their running mates have made multiple campaign stops there since securing their parties’ nominations over the summer.Other competitive contests include the race for U.S. Senate, where Democrat Ruben Gallego and Republican Kari Lake are running to replace outgoing independent U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, and two Republican-held U.S. House seats in Phoenix- and Tucson-area districts that both went for Biden in 2020.RELATED STORY: Republicans line up to support Ruben Gallego and Kamala HarrisIn the state legislature, Democrats hope to take over the state senate for the first time since 1992 and the state house for the first time since 1966, the last time the party controlled the governorship and both chambers simultaneously.Voters will also decide high-profile statewide ballot measures on abortion, immigration, and two competing ballot measures that would either require or eliminate the use of partisan primaries in state elections. Under the state constitution, if two contradictory ballot measures both pass, the one with the most votes in favor would become law, although the matter would likely first head to court.