For most of Arizona's historythat is, the period between statehood in 1912 and the passage of Proposition 106 in 2000the legislature controlled the drawing of congressional and legislative districts. Until 1941, however, there was no congressional redistricting to be done, as Arizona only had a single at-large seat. The
census of 1940 showed that Arizona's population had grown significantly enough to merit a second seat in the
House of Representatives; in the 1942 midterm elections, Arizona sent two representatives to Congress for the first time. The state gained one seat after each of the censuses in
1960,
1970,
1980 and
1990; following explosive population growth in the nineties, the state added two congressional districts. Arizona's rapid growth since the 1960s was previously the result of sustained internal migration from the
Northeast and
Midwest and more recently from the
Western United States to the
Sun Belt, as well as steady immigration. For 55 years, from Arizona's statehood in 1912 until 1967 politics at the state level were reliably Democratic, and evenly divided at the federal level, with Arizona's electoral votes going to Democratic presidential candidates in 7 elections, and to Republicans in 7. In the period from 1968 until 2018 Arizona was fairly reliably Republican in Presidential Elections, although at the state level Democrats held the majority offices during some periods, and Republicans held the majority others. The only Democratic presidential nominee to carry Arizona during this period was
Bill Clinton in
1996. In 2018 Arizona saw a "blue shift" statewide for Democrats with
Kyrsten Sinema's Senate win and additional statewide office wins by Democrats
Katie Hobbs,
Kathy Hoffman and
Sandra Kennedy. Additionally,
Ann Kirkpatrick's win in AZ-02 created a majority Democratic US House Delegation from Arizona. This shift continued in 2020 with Democrats adding seats in the state house and senate, as well as
Mark Kelly's Senate seat and
Joe Biden's win in
2020. The Hispanic population has risen by 46% in the last ten years. Due to this change, and other demographic changes, including relocation to Arizona from other western states, Arizona has become more competitive politically and President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign manager stated he believed Obama could win the state.
2010 redistricting Between 2000 and 2010 Arizona's population grew by 1,261,385 people, from 5,130,632 to 6,392,017, a 24.6 percent increase. This represented the second highest population growth rate in the country after
Nevada and far outpaced the national average, resulting in Arizona gaining a ninth congressional seat through
reapportionment. The AIRC for the 2011–2020 cycle started administrative meetings in March 2011 and held its first official mapping meeting on August 18, 2011. Through the spring and summer, the committee held meetings and public fora around the state to solicit public input. The AIRC approved draft congressional and draft legislative maps on October 3 and October 10 respectively and has completed two rounds of hearings gauging Arizonans' reactions to the draft maps. Population growth over the first decade of the century was concentrated in the exurbs of Phoenix. To Maricopa County's southeast,
Pinal County, once sparsely populated, grew by 100 percent, to 375,770. Communities to the west of the capital also expanded substantially. Demographically, "the Hispanic population grew by 46 percent statewide over the last decade – more than twice the growth of all other ethnic groups." The draft congressional map, which was approved by the commission by a vote of 3–1 with one abstention, was seen by outside observers as generally favorable to Democrats; neither Republican member voted in favor of it. Several Democratic incumbents, including
Raul Grijalva and
Gabby Giffords, were drawn into slightly more Democratic districts. Additionally, the 9th district, based in Tempe and comprising much of the old 5th district, would be competitive and possibly Democratic-leaning, having voted for
John Kerry in 2004 and
Barack Obama in 2008. In an unprecedented vote on November 1, 2011, the
Arizona Senate approved Governor
Jan Brewer's removal of the AIRC's independent chairwoman, Colleen Mathis, under allegations of gross misconduct. Mathis, who denied all wrongdoing, attempted to have the Arizona Supreme Court stop the Senate from voting to remove her, but the vote took place before the case could go forward. Brewer also attempted to remove both Democratic members of the commission in the same motion, While Brewer's office and Republicans in the Arizona legislature defended their actions as part of their constitutional prerogatives, Democrats and the authors of Proposition 106 contend Mathis's removal was politically motivated and not justified by any of the violations alleged by Republicans. In the following days, Arizona's two major newspapers,
The Arizona Republic and
Arizona Daily Star, penned editorials condemning the move, writing that though the allegations against Mathis merit investigation, they do not rise to the level of "gross misconduct." The
Star opined, "It appears that Mathis' real misdeed is putting out for public comment a map that the governor and fellow Republicans think is wrong." After these meetings and the continued deliberations of the committee, the AIRC submitted the final congressional and legislative maps to the
Department of Justice on February 9, 2012 and February 28, 2012 respectively for preclearance under the
Voting Rights Act. The Justice Department approved the maps on April 9, 2012 and April 26, 2012 respectively. ==See also==