Phoenix’s Blue Wave Pushes Arizona Toward Biden
2016
+3.5 Trump
2020
+0.4 Biden
Current statewide margin
The presidential race in Arizona remained too close to call on Tuesday evening, but Joseph R. Biden Jr. held a lead in the state’s biggest city. Phoenix and its suburbs swung to the left, making it possible that Mr. Biden wins Arizona, even as other areas shifted to President Trump.
Shift from 2016 in Phoenix area
![](https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/2020/10/29/election-early-battlegrounds/45579f3932d462157f286aa871565b51188d8426/az-phoenix-big.jpg)
Shift from 2016 in Phoenix area
ARIZ.
Arrows show shift from 2016
toward Trump or Biden in each
precinct.
Phoenix
Glendale
Scottsdale
Phoenix
Mesa
Tempe
![](https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/2020/10/29/election-early-battlegrounds/45579f3932d462157f286aa871565b51188d8426/az-phoenix-720.jpg)
Shift from 2016 in Phoenix area
ARIZ.
Arrows show shift from 2016 toward Trump or Biden in each precinct.
Phoenix
Glendale
Scottsdale
Phoenix
Mesa
Tempe
![](https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/2020/10/29/election-early-battlegrounds/45579f3932d462157f286aa871565b51188d8426/az-phoenix-Artboard_3.jpg)
Arrows show shift from 2016 toward Trump or Biden in each precinct.
Glendale
Scottsdale
Phoenix
Mesa
Maricopa County comprises 60 percent of the state’s voters and is home to Phoenix. Mr. Trump narrowly won the county in 2016, and support for Republicans has slipped there in recent elections. Voters there supported Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat, in the 2018 Senate race.
Margin of victory in Arizona counties since 2008
Each line shows margins in one county over time
Within Maricopa County, Mr. Biden won in most precincts with a majority Hispanic population, though often with smaller margins than Democrats saw in 2016.
Mr. Biden also won in many precincts that skewed younger.
The shift to the left in Maricopa County has helped put Mr. Biden ahead statewide. His reportedly strong support among Native Americans in the state has also been a benefit.
Margin in 2020
Biden
Trump
Still, as of Tuesday evening, Mr. Biden led by only about half a percentage point. A Democratic candidate for president has not won Arizona since Bill Clinton in 1996 — and he was the first Democrat to win there since Harry S. Truman in 1948.