Hillary Clinton is campaigning in Arizona less than a week before the general election. Clinton to campaign in Arizona next week

Hillary Clinton will campaign in Arizona next week, her campaign announced Friday, culminating a long push by Arizona Democrats to turn the state into a swing state.

Arizona Democrats have pressed Clinton’s campaign for months to devote more resources to Arizona, arguing that Hispanics voters’ disgust with Donald Trump would motivate them to turn out in high enough numbers to turn the state blue.


Those efforts began to pay off in August, when Clinton campaign directed additional resources to Arizona. The campaign ramped up its efforts earlier this month, sending another $2 million to the state for TV ads, digital ads and mail in and deploying its top surrogates: Bernie Sanders, Chelsea Clinton and Michelle Obama.

Now Clinton herself is heading to Phoenix to stump on Wednesday.

“For us, it’s huge,” said Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, who has been a leaders in pushing national Democrats to devote more resources to the state. “We’ve been building up to this, working to this forever.”

No Democrat has carried Arizona since Bill Clinton won the state in 1996. And Clinton’s visit will be the first time a Democratic presidential nominee has campaigned in the state in the general election since John Kerry made a swing through the state in 2004.

“Arizona ain't an indulgence,” tweeted Brian Fallon, a Clinton spokesman. “It's a true battleground. Perhaps even more favorable-looking right now than some other places we've been on TV.”

The Trump campaign seems to agree. Trump is heading to Arizona again on Saturday, following a rally in the state earlier this month and another in late August.

Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, defended the decision to hit a state previous Republican nominees easily carried in a Fox News interview on Friday. “Well, we haven’t been to Arizona for a while and we’re making a stop there while we’re in the West,” Conway said.

“We know we are going to hold Arizona,” she added. “We have a great team there on the ground.”

The most recent polls show one of the closest battleground races in the country. A Monmouth poll conducted several days ago found Trump leading by a single percentage point, while a Saguaro Strategies poll found Clinton with a 2-point lead.

“I think it’s up for grabs on the presidential level,” said Brian Murray, a Republican consultant in the state and a former executive director of the Arizona Republican Party.

GOP Sen. John McCain is running well ahead of his Democratic opponent, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick. But Trump’s weakness could threaten Republicans further down the ballot, Murray said. “When you look at control of the state Senate, it’s in play,” he said.

Democrats are hopeful that Clinton’s investment in the state will help them in battleground House races, too. Democrat Tom O’Halleran is favored to hand onto Kirkpatrick’s swing seat. And Democrats say Matt Heinz is doing better than expected against GOP Rep. Martha McSally, who has a huge fundraising advantage over him.

“Matt Heinz is looking very competitive right now, and I think nobody would have said that a couple of months ago,” Gallego said, adding that around 10,000 more Democrats have returned early ballots than Republicans in the district.

The resources that Clinton has sent to the state have been crucial to bolstering Democrats’ field operations there, said Alexis Tameron, the Arizona Democratic Party’s chairwoman. But while the field efforts may have more of an impact, it’s the TV ads that have helped to convince rank-and-file Democrats that this year is different.

“It reminds people that, yes, we are competitive,” Tameron said.