David Stringer — A product of voter disconnect and the imperative of diversified grassroots movements
An Arizona state legislator, Rep. David Stringer, faces calls for his resignation after an audio recording of him suggesting to a group of Arizona State University students that African immigrants cannot properly assimilate into American society was published in the Phoenix New Times.
The Republican lawmaker, who represents the Yavapai County (LD-1), stated at a lecture about the 2018 Midterm Elections that “diversity is relatively new” in the United States, and that although European immigrants assimilated into society, it’s “not the case with African-Americans or other racial groups because they don’t melt in”. Specifically, he contrasted Polish and Somalian immigrants: “The difference between the Polish-American immigrant and the immigrant from Somalia is the second-generation Polish immigrant looks like every other kid. But the immigrant from Somalia does not.”
Such commentary has coupled with significant bipartisan backlash, including removal from subcommittees of the Arizona state legislature and a ban from the Humboldt Unified School District. On December 4th, the Prescott City Council voted 6 to 1 to pass a resolution in favor of asking for Stringer’s resignation. Government officials of his district have condemned his statements. Prescott’s Mayor, Greg Mengarelli, condemned Stringer as one who has “forgotten the moral compass of our great county”. Governor Doug Ducey released a statement that “this type of rhetoric should disqualify someone from serving in the Legislature”. Despite widespread and bipartisan condemnation, Rep. Stringer has no intention of stepping down, calling his actions “defensible”.
However, this unfortunately isn’t the first instance of Mr. Stringer’s anti-immigrant remarks. According to the Phoenix New Times, Rep. Stringer published an editorial that lamented about how growing diversity threatens white identity in October 2017. Furthermore, during his 2016 term, David Stringer has made public, racially-charged statements seen as consistent with white nationalism.
Yet, Stringer was overwhelmingly re-elected, receiving 67,023 votes in the most recent election — the second-highest of any member of the Arizona House of Representatives. Overall, voter turnout for primary elections of Arizona’s state legislature has surged to a record 33 percent during the November 2018 election. That still means approximately 66 percent of eligible voters lack representation in narrowing down candidates to be potentially elected for the state legislature (Table 2 — “Primary Election”).
In David Stringer’s case, the most polarized constituency was predominantly represented in Yavapai County, since candidates with far-right or far-left points of view, relative to the positions of most citizens and registered party members, have disproportionate likelihood of winning their respective party’s nomination. This remains to be a general trend in Arizona’s local elections. According to Arizona State University’s Morrison Institute, “low voter turnout over-represents the highly politically engaged and those who favor candidates from either the far right or far left on the political spectrum since they are the perennial voters who are most passionate about their beliefs and their candidates and, consequently, most likely to vote in primaries”. The lack of interest in local scale elections enable the extremes of the spectrum to largely determine local election, which shapes the county’s agenda for future policies. Specifically, ethnic minority voters have often had their interests excluded from local-scale policies and voter outcomes. Namely, even as Latinos now make up approximately 30 percent of the population in Arizona, their participation and representation a quarter of Arizona’s registered voters and only 18 percent of casted ballots. Overall, only less than 40% of Latino voters were contacted by a political party or organization about registering to vote during the lead up to the November 2018 elections.
Civic outreach and engagement are crucial to curbing the chances of politicians such as David Springer from stepping into office. Grassroots movements have been combatting this problem and induced a 27% increase of Latino, Native American, and African American ballots submitted for federal and state offices alike.
However, despite the strides made, work still needs to be done. Mobilizing local communities and connecting with diverse demographics could spur an upward trend of voter interest and participation. Electing politicians with divisive, toxic rhetoric only entrenches unhealthy political dialogue and subsequent hyper-polarization. Whether it is on the local, state, or federal scale, the interests of the people directly rely on the politicians who determine the nature and character of life in Arizona — currently without substantial input from the masses.
