Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey says state will remain red despite COVID-19 inflow from blue regions

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey told Just the News that his state will remain red even as it takes in individuals from blue areas like California and Chicago.

The Republican governor described Arizona as "reliably red" and "the land of Barry Goldwater."

He noted that people depart California and Chicago "for a reason."

"We've put common sense good policy in effect," Ducey said. "We've held our taxes low. We've reduced our regulation. We've made it a great place to live, work and play, and we're gonna keep it that way.

With only one exception when the state went to incumbent President Bill Clinton in 1996, Arizona has remained reliably red during every presidential contest from 1952 to 2016. In the 2020 race for president, however, presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden currently leads President Trump by 3.7 points in the state, according to the widely cited Real Clear Politics polling average.

Arizona currently has one Democrat and one Republican senator. Incumbent Republican Martha McSally trails her 2020 opponent Mark Kelly by an average of 6.8 points, according to RCP, which rates the race a tossup.

During the interview with White House Correspondent Carrie Sheffield, Ducey also spoke about testing amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We have enough tests now in Arizona, but it's been a challenge for some time," Ducey said. "I'm grateful to the administration. They surged tests into two areas — South Mountain and Maryvale, two of our harder hit communities — 5,000 tests a day for 12 days. And because Arizona is heading in the right direction we didn't have the same demand for tests. We're now able to do 35,000 tests a month, 65,000 tests by this time next month, with a much quicker turnaround."

"President Trump has marshalled public and private sector resources to deliver needed supplies to Arizona," a White House press statement said. "Over 1.9 million N-95 masks, 12.1 million surgical masks, 5.8 million surgical gowns, and 380 million medical gloves have been shipped to Arizona so far."