Hustru till HD-domare pressade Arizonas politiker
Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, hustru till en av ledamöterna i USA:s högsta domstol, anklagas för att ha utövat påtryckningar mot politiker i Arizona i syfte att påverka utgången av presidentvalet 2020 till fördel för Donald Trump.
Enligt Washington Post har Thomas, gift med domaren Clarence Thomas, skickat mejl till 29 republikanska politiker i delstaten. Hon ska ha bett dem att omkullasta Joe Bidens seger genom att utse elektorer, ett ansvar som enligt delstatslagarna vilar på Arizonas väljare. Hon uppmanade dem bland annat att ”slå tillbaka mot fusk”.
Biden vann över Trump i Arizona med över 10 000 röster.
bakgrund
Presidentvalet 2020 i Arizona
Wikipedia (en)
The 2020 United States presidential election in Arizona was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, as part of the 2020 United States presidential election, in which all 50 states and the District of Columbia participated. Arizona voters chose 11 electors to represent them in the Electoral College via a popular vote pitting incumbent Republican President Donald Trump of Florida and his running mate, incumbent Vice President Mike Pence of Indiana, against Democratic challenger and former Vice President Joe Biden of Delaware and his running mate, United States Senator Kamala Harris of California. The Libertarian nominees were also on the ballot.
Trump carried Arizona in 2016 by 3.5%, and it was considered a vital battleground in this election. The state's bitterly competitive nature was attributed to diversification of Maricopa County, a traditionally Republican stronghold that holds 61.6% of the state's population. Maricopa County was seen as vital to either candidate's chances in the state–only one presidential candidate has ever won the state without carrying it. The county is home to Phoenix (the state capital and largest city), Mesa, Chandler, Scottsdale, Glendale, Tempe, and several other major cities. High turnout among Hispanic/Latino and Native American voters was also seen as vital. Polls of the state throughout the campaign generally showed a Biden lead, albeit by a slender margin. Prior to election day, 11 of the 16 news organizations making election predictions considered that Arizona was leaning towards Biden; the other five considered it a toss-up.
Biden ultimately won the state by some 10,000 votes over Trump, a 0.3% margin, marking the first time a Democratic presidential nominee carried Arizona since Bill Clinton in 1996, and only the second time since Harry S. Truman's 1948 victory. Arizona was the second-closest state in 2020, the only closer state being Georgia, marking the first time since 1948 that the Democratic nominee won both Sun Belt states (though Clinton won each state in separate elections). Arizona weighed in as 4.15 percentage points more Republican than the nation in 2020.
Per exit polls by the Associated Press, Biden won 59% of Latino voters, including 65% of Latinos of Mexican heritage, who made up the vast majority of the Hispanic electorate. Hispanic and Latino voters comprised 18% of the electorate, up from 15% in 2016 and 16% in 2008. He won 58% of independents and was even able to notch 9% of Republicans and 10% of conservatives. That support allowed Biden to narrowly flip Maricopa County, making him the first Democrat since Truman in 1948 to do so. He held his deficit among suburban voters to 51–48 despite Republicans having won them by double digits in 2016, 2012, and 2008. Biden won college-educated voters 53–46, a 17-point swing from 2016 when Trump won them by 10 percentage points. Additionally, Biden performed relatively well for a Democratic candidate among the state's Latter-day Saint voters, carrying 18% of their vote. Biden had touted his endorsement from Cindy McCain and leaned into his friendship with the late Senator John McCain in advertising. Trump disparaged McCain on several instances at rallies while campaigning and during his presidency, even after McCain's death, which some credited as the finishing blow to his performance among Arizona's moderate voter base.Even after the election had come and gone, the Republican-majority Arizona Senate established a Maricopa County-based taxpayer-funded inquiry into the voter fraud allegations by the former President and his supporters. The controversial audit was completed in September 2021, reaffirmed that there was no evidence of voter irregularities, and revealed Biden’s margin was larger than previously thought. This audit revealed an additional 99 votes for Biden, and 261 less for Trump–increasing Biden’s victory by 360 votes.
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