Thread by @VaughnHillyard

I regret not sharing these lines during this MSNBC hit just a moment after we projected Mark Kelly the winner of Arizona's Senate seat.

But.

In covering 2020, we would often not focus on the early years of this last decade that led to this political moment.

A rough timeline:

https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1324758722367918080

But the 2011 Tucson shooting shook Arizonans.

U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords was long viewed as the Senate candidate that Mark Kelly became in 2020.

6 died:
-Christina-Taylor Green
-John Roll
-Gabe Zimmerman
-Phyllis Schneck
-Dorwan Stoddard
-Dorothy Morris

https://twitter.com/MSNBC/status/1324758722367918080?s=20

As a Human, I think of Christina-Taylor Green often. She'd be 19 years old now.

I was living in Phoenix when I got a text message about the shooting.

It made one angry because it was an attack on decency.

For one, Giffords represented that Arizona independence.

Pres Obama said at Tucson memorial service:
"For all our imperfections, we are full of decency & goodness & that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us. That’s what I believe, in part because that’s what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed."

Giffords, and Kelly, then advocated for the Manchin-Toomey bill in 2013. It failed.

Days later, I filmed Kelly in D.C. as he announced the creation of Americans for Responsible Solutions.

That gave way to @GiffordsCourage.

The point: Years led to this moment.

The attacks on Mark Kelly's business ventures didn't resonate enough to cut the trust that most Arizonans held in this family.

When Giffords was shot, that was the same year as the signing of SB1070/Arpaio's "sweeps."

There were Qs about Dem Party's stature in AZ at that time. Little national Dem $$ here til '18.

But Latino & labor orgs mobilized ground efforts like "Adios, Arpaio." Young folks, like Maria Hernandez at age 19, got involved, registered voters.

Today, national implications.

In 2014, Democrats, again, lost all statewide elections. It's a conservative state.

But by 2016, Arpaio was booted by 11% & Trump narrowly won. (McCain outperformed Trump by 10%)

The uniting of AZ's middle & its grassroots efforts were meeting.

In '18, Sinema won in by 2.5%.

In 2020, Cindy McCain & Jeff Flake, who wrote 'Conscience of a Conservative' (nod to Goldwater's 1960 guide) to reject Trump's GOP, cut closing-week Biden ads.

+ those grassroots groups mobilized hundreds of thousands.

And now, AZ just sent its 2nd Dem to U.S. Senate in 2 yrs.

The Arizona GOP chose not to change directions after its 2018 losses.

Instead, it booted McCain allies from state party & placed in the likes of Kelli Ward, who tried to primary McCain in '16.

It doubled down. McSally stood by Trump's side just last week. #s with Inds dropped.

Did GOP surge its pro-Trump voter turnout? Absolutely-but so did Dems. And Independents, which went Trump barely in '16, shifted to Biden.

These are realities.

Do I still think AZ is conservative-ish/libertarian-ish state? Sure. But does Trump's GOP represent that to Arizonans?

And of course, this is a story that transcends just this last decade (i.e. farm workers' movement). Some day we'll do a whole Arizona doc.)

[...know AZ already elected its first Latino governor? Back in 1970s--gentleman from U.S.-Mexico border community of Douglas--Raul Castro.]

And for a short video look on what’s happened in Arizona in 2020, here’s this.