Arizona Democrats pivot away from abortion stance to prioritize water issues in rural regions
Arizona Democrats are shifting their focus to appeal to voters by highlighting the critical issue of water scarcity in the state. The party aims to address concerns amid debates on abortion and border security. Democrat officials Kris Mayes and Gov. Katie Hobbs are cracking down on farms with unlimited access to groundwater, a crucial step in engaging rural voters. Arizona Democrats are refocusing their efforts to resonate with voters by emphasizing the pressing matter of water scarcity in the state. Amid ongoing debates regarding abortion and border security, Democratic leaders Kris Mayes and Gov. Katie Hobbs are taking decisive action against farms with unrestricted access to groundwater, a key strategy to engage rural constituents.
Arizona Democrats are looking to capture voters mindful of one resource that is sparse in the desert state: water.
As political battles over abortion and the southern border hit close to home for some Arizonans, record-setting high-temperature summers and droughts worry many. Democrats look to rein in rural voters who have turned on the party by framing water as a “life or death” matter going into the 2024 elections.
“Water made me attorney general,” said Democrat Kris Mayes, the state’s attorney general. “This is exactly the kind of issue we can win back some of rural America.”
In tandem, Mayes and Gov. Katie Hobbs (D-AZ) have cracked down on controversial farms that had unlimited access to the state’s limited groundwater supply.
Last year, the pair ended a contract with a Saudi Arabian company, Fondomonte, that grew alfalfa in Arizona and then shipped the hay back to the Middle East. Under the contract from former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey, the company was given unlimited access to groundwater in Arizona.
Mayes has been canvassing in rural parts of the state that are worried about giant farms drying their water supply. In La Paz County, which lies in the western portion of the state on the border of California, the topic hits close to home. There, groundwater is being depleted to the advantage of companies such as Fondomonte.
In Wenden, Arizona, a town with a population of 469, over 150 people attended a talk Mayes hosted about water.
“You have been ignored for far too long,” Mayes said at the event. “Consider the fact that I’m here and the fact that I agree with you.”
According to the New York Times, Mayes also touted President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure legislation, which would fund drought relief projects. The attorney general also said she was exploring whether she would be able to sue large farms such as Fondomonte. Mayes said effects from the farms, including erosion and road damage, could give her reason to sue them.
Holly Irwin, a La Paz County supervisor and self-described “staunch Republican,” told the New York Times she was relieved to see support from the Hobbs administration that she did not see under Ducey.
“It’s a relief,” Irwin said. “We have a governor who’s listening, and paying attention to water.”
Residents are also frustrated with the quickly growing city of Phoenix and the outlying suburbs that rely on rural water access. Phoenix previously owned land in La Paz County but has since sold it and no longer has water rights there. The Maricopa County suburbs of Queen Creek and Buckeye, however, have both spent millions on water from rural areas to supply their own growing cities.
Queen Creek received a transfer of water from the Colorado River in Cibola, Arizona, to receive 2,033 acre-feet of water per year for a one-time payment of $24 million for the water rights.
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Some predict water from the Colorado River will increase in value as groundwater could dry up.
“With ongoing shortages on the river, driven by climate change, Colorado River water is going to become very valuable,” said Rhett Larson, a professor of water law at Arizona State University. “Anyone who understands this dynamic thinks, ‘Well, if I could buy Colorado River water rights, that’s more valuable than owning oil in this country at this stage.’”
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