Why Donald Trump could lose the traditionally Republican state of Arizona

  • Video report by ITV News Senior International Correspondent John Irvine


While Joe Biden might not have cut through nationally as perhaps he would have liked, he appears close to winning in the traditionally Republican state of Arizona.

The changing nature of the population was one factor and Donald Trump's handling of coronavirus is another why locals there voted for him.

And then there's what's been called the revenge of the Arizona Senator, John McCain - a fellow republican - whose war record President Trump belittled before he died.

John McCain was a beloved Republic Senator for Arizona for 31 years before his death in 2018.

Mr McCain spent years as a PAW in Vietnam and when he returned home he received a heroes welcome that Mr Trump didn't think he deserved.

He said: "He wasn't a war hero, he was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren't captured, ok I hate to tell you."

The enmity between Mr McCain and Mr Trump was such that Mr McCain's widow Cindy broke ranks with Republicans and supported Joe Biden.

The insults that Mr Trump levelled at the revered Senator McCain persuaded some Arizona Republicans to switch sides or stay at home on Tuesday.

Arizona is home to many defence contractors and former military personnel and it seems that a sizeable proportionate group, who traditionally vote Republican, felt alienated by Donald Trump.

Martin Rojas, who was a special forces soldier - a navy seal - told ITV News of why he has changed his vote this time round.

When ITV News Senior International Correspondent John Irvine asked him about Mr Trump's comments on fallen American soldiers, after he called them losers and suckers and whether that resonated with him, he said: "Very much so, it changed my vote."

"I'm going with somebody who actually cares about people."