Election Day Special
Nov. 3, 2020
National Election
Horizon ends election night with a one hour special. Host Ted Simons dives into the national and local election, and joining him are key political players to help analyze the results. First reactions as results flood in are the surprising numbers the Democrats are doing. Chuck Coughlin, CEO of HighGround Public Affairs, gives his opinion on it.
“Wow, when am I going to stop underestimating the current occupant of the White House. This will come down to the wire, in terms of Arizona, even though it was called for Biden on a state level. Legislatively and county wise, Maricopa area, we have interesting things swinging in the face of the Democrats.”
Most of the analysis is the discussion of Arizona turning blue and what this means for future elections. Even though previously, Arizona voted red in the last election. The Chair of the Democratic Party in Arizona, Felecia Rotellini, speaks out about the win as well.
“We know that Independents and Republicans and Democrats want people that will work for us. To understand the real suffering that we are in right now. There are so many crises that we are experiencing from the pandemic and health care. Frankly, his failure has not played in the messaging, and these are failures to folks who suffered the pandemic, lost loved ones and their jobs.”
Local Election
Karl Gentles, from the Gentles Agency, and Bettina Nava, owner of OH Strategic Communities discuss the shocking lead for Hiral Tipirneni. In a district that’s leading Republican, this is more surprising for Arizona. Karl and Bettina think that the lead will hold and that there’s a chance she might win. What does this have to say about the district? Are they leaning Democratic now?
Kelli Ward, Chair of the Arizona Republican Party, discusses her thoughts with Ted as well. Kelli believes that Republicans will win this election and Arizona will vote for Trump down the ballot.
“I think our safety is on the ballot. What President Donald Trump promised, he delivered it for us. That’s what people are voting for, and that’s why we will go red.”
As the ballots are counted, Horizon looks more at each District and the local elections. Amongst the Sheriff elections, another surprising lead for another Democrat. Bettina and Ted discuss that this obviously means Arizona no longer wants another Arpaio. Despite the fact that Arizona seemed to be happy with Arpaio, the results of the election speak otherwise.
For more election analysis, tune into Arizona PBS.
Karl Gentles – Gentles Agency, Chuck Coughlin – CEO of HighGround Public Affairs, Jason Barraza – Director of Veridus, Bettina Nava – Owner of OH Strategic Communications