2008 United States presidential election in Arizona

Primaries

• 2008 Arizona Democratic primary
• 2008 Arizona Republican primary

Campaign

Predictions

There were 16 news organizations who made state-by-state predictions of the election. Here are their last predictions before election day:

Polling

Main article: Statewide opinion polling for the 2008 United States presidential election#Arizona

Opinion polls taken from February through to October 2008 showed McCain leading Obama by margins of between 1% and 21%. The final RealClearPolitics average gave the state an average of 53.8% for McCain, compared to 45.0% for Obama.

Fundraising

John McCain raised $7,448,622. Barack Obama raised $5,491,056.

Advertising and visits

Obama and his interest groups spent $1,510,900 in the state. McCain and his interest groups spent just $751. The Democratic ticket did not visit the state. Arizona native John McCain visited the state 5 times in the election campaign.

Analysis

Arizona has long been a Republican-dominated state. At the time, it was represented in the Senate by two Republicans (John McCain and Jon Kyl). After 1948, Arizona did not vote Democratic in a presidential race again until 1996, after which it did not vote Democrat again until 2020. In addition, both the Arizona Senate and Arizona House of Representatives are controlled by Republicans. However, the Governor was Democrat Janet Napolitano, and both parties held four House seats each before the election.

Arizona was McCain's home state and gave its 10 electoral votes to its favorite son. However, he won just under 54% of the vote. By comparison, he'd been reelected in 2004 with 77% of the vote, one of the largest margins of victory for a statewide race in Arizona history. This led to speculation that the race would have been far closer without McCain on the ballot. One major factor is the growing Hispanic vote in the state, a voting bloc that tends to favor the Democrats, although both George W. Bush and John McCain held moderate positions on illegal immigration.

Arizona politics are dominated by Maricopa and Pima counties, home to Phoenix and Tucson respectively. Between them, these two counties cast almost three-fourths of the state's vote and elect a substantial majority of the legislature. Maricopa County, a Republican stronghold since 1948, gave McCain an 11-point victory. This alone was more than enough to make up for Obama's narrow victory in Democratic-leaning Tucson. McCain also did well elsewhere throughout the state, winning the more sparsely populated counties by double digits.

The election also saw Republicans making gains in the state legislature, as the GOP picked up one seat in the State Senate and three seats in the State House. The Democrats, however, managed to win the open seat in , with former state representative Ann Kirkpatrick cruising to victory over Republican Sydney Hay, giving the Democrats a majority of the state's House seats for the first time in 60 years.

Results

Constitution Party nominee Chuck Baldwin, Boston Tea Party nominee Charles Jay and independent candidate Jonathan Allen were registered write-in candidates in Arizona.

By county

By congressional district

McCain won six of Arizona's eight congressional districts, including three districts that elected Democrats.

Electors

Technically the voters of Arizona cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the Electoral College. Arizona is allocated 10 electors because it has 8 congressional districts and 2 senators. All candidates who appear on the ballot or qualify to receive write-in votes must submit a list of 10 electors, who pledge to vote for their candidate and their running mate. Whoever wins the majority of votes in the state is awarded all 10 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than their candidate is known as a faithless elector.

The electors of each state and the District of Columbia met on December 15, 2008, to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.

The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All 10 were pledged to John McCain and Sarah Palin:

1. Bruce Ash
2. Kurt Davis
3. Wes Gullett
4. Sharon Harper
5. Jack Londen
6. Beverly Lockett Miller
7. Lee Miller
8. Bettina Nava
9. Randy Pullen
10. Michael Rappoport

References

References

1. "RealClearPolitics - Election 2008 - Arizona".
2. (2009-01-01). "D.C.'s Political Report: The complete source for campaign summaries.".
3. (2015-05-05). "Presidential".
4. (2009-04-22). "Vote 2008 - The Takeaway - Track the Electoral College vote predictions".
5. "Electoral-vote.com: President, Senate, House Updated Daily".
6. Based on Takeaway
7. "POLITICO's 2008 Swing State Map - POLITICO.com".
8. "RealClearPolitics - Electoral Map".
9. "CQ Presidential Election Maps, 2008".
10. (2008-11-04). "The Electoral Map: Key States". The New York Times.
11. (2008-10-31). "October – 2008 – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs". CNN.
12. (April 27, 2010). "Winning The Electoral College". Fox News.
13. "roadto270".
14. "Election 2008: Electoral College Update - Rasmussen Reports".
15. "Arizona: McCain vs. Obama". [[RealClearPolitics]].
16. "Presidential Campaign Finance: AZ Contributions to All Candidates by 3 digit Zip Code". [[Federal Election Commission]].
17. "Map: Campaign Ad Spending - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN.
18. "Map: Campaign Candidate Visits - Election Center 2008 from CNN.com". CNN.
19. [[Chuck Todd. Todd, Chuck]] and Gawiser, Sheldon. ''How Barack Obama Won.'' [[New York City]]: [[Vintage Books. Vintage]], 2009.
20. (2008-12-01). "STATE OF ARIZONA OFFICIAL CANVASS: 2008 General Election - November 4, 2008". [[Secretary of State of Arizona]].
21. (December 15, 2008). "Presidential Results by Congressional District, 2000-2008". Swing State Project.
22. "Electoral College". [[California Secretary of State]].
23. [http://www.azsos.gov/election/2008/general/fulllisting.htm Full Listing] {{webarchive. link. (February 14, 2012)
24. [http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/byauthor/99693 Az presidential electors include ex-governors, activists - Tucson Citizen Morgue (1992-2009)]