Hello, and welcome back to State of Emergency. I’m Jake Bittle, and today we’re going to shift the focus away from the storm-battered Southeast and take a look at one of the nation’s hottest battleground states.
Election Day is just two weeks away, and the high-octane race for president is consuming almost all the media’s attention — we’ll have a big package up on Grist tomorrow on the stakes of the election for all facets of the climate fight. Perhaps nowhere is the election intensity higher than in Arizona, a border state that has seen sky-high rates of inflation and a bruising debate over a restrictive abortion ban. Not only is the state a linchpin for the Electoral College, it’s also the site of toss-up races for the Senate and the House of Representatives. There’s also a pivotal contest for the state legislature, where Republicans hold one-seat majorities in both chambers.
