Journalists’ Roundtable: DeSantis visits Arizona, Mohave County plans for hand count

It’s Friday, and that means it’s time for the Journalists’ Roundtable! Joining us for a look at the week’s top stories is Jeremy Duda of Axios Phoenix, Howie Fischer of Capitol Media Services and Nick Phillips of Arizona Capitol Times.

Top stories this week include:

• Ron DeSantis visits Arizona
• Mohave County votes to hand count presidential ballots
• Republican Party censures Rachel Mitchell

Arizona continues to be a big swing state in presidential races with Ron DeSantis visiting the border

Howie Fischer: “The fact that Donald Trump lost by 10,000 votes last time suggests how important this is. Now there’s only 11 electoral votes, we recognize that, but Arizona has proven to be a swing state as opposed to a flyover state. And the other piece of it is, we have a piece of the border here. If you haven’t had a photo opportunity at the border, you are not a presidential candidate.”

Is the border going to be a major swing issue?

Jeremy Duda: “The border is always gonna be an issue, especially here in Arizona and especially in Republican primaries. It matters to a majority of voters, and it matters to Arizona voters who deal with this on an everyday basis, and it’s gonna matter to primary voters everywhere so hence Ron DeSantis, probably Donald Trump’s leading contender, coming down here. I would imagine you see every presidential candidate, especially on the Republican side, coming down here to do similar things. The border has been probably the Republican’s biggest talking point for God knows how long going back in elections. This is something you hear, the refrain from republicans, ‘Every state is a border state.’ DeSantis is doing his best to prove that by shipping folks to various blue states and blue cities.”