Heckling during President Biden’s State of the Union speech Tuesday was typical for the political climate that’s existed since Donald Trump decided to run for president in 2015.
Even at the most local levels, the attempts to shout out slogans loudly in the most visible venues, along with legislation that seems strictly meant to hurt the Democratic Party’s chances of winning elections, have created ongoing challenges and changes in the day-to-day machinations of politics.
Tuesday, U.S. Reps Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., yelled “Build the wall” during Biden’s speech.
This contention has led many people to address the political climate.
Sun City Democrats President Joseph Piccari believes some tactics used in recent years are part of a phase.
“I believe that civility will eventually return and prevail,” Picarri said. “I think that the heckling of the president at the SOTU is rude and uncivilized. Those who did it do not deserve to be a member of Congress.”
Other state, county and Sun City area political leaders from both parties didn’t reply to requests for comment for this story by press time.
According to one precinct chair, it’s the issues and legislation that have West Valley voters motivated to sign petitions and be even more proactive.
Mary Lynne Shroyer, a Democratic Committee person for the Sun City Precinct, stated that her work this month is focused upon collecting signatures in order to get statewide office candidates on the ballot. She’s seen the shift in area Democratic Party voters from wanting to evict Donald Trump from the White House to more attention on measures in the Arizona Legislature and in Congress — especially on voting rights.
“For four years, Democrats were really focused on keeping Trump out,” Shroyer said. “There are still voters concerned Trump could run in 2024. But now there’s also concern about what laws are being voted on right now.”
U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, who served in Iraq with the Marines, tweeted a response to Boebert’s and Taylor-Greene’s heckling during Biden’s mention of the hazards of combat-zone burn pits.
“As someone that lived next to a burn pit I don’t appreciate @RepMTG and @laurenboebert. To score a political partisan point, I had to interrupt the SOTU address where burn pits were mentioned for the first time. #trash.”
Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward didn’t praise Boebert and Taylor-Greene’s outbourst directly. However, she retweeted several tweets from Boebert herself and praise from author and filmmaker, Dinesh D’Souza.
“The emperor has no clothes, and two Republican women were gutsy enough to stand up and say it,” D’Souza wrote.
Shroyer, speaking fewer than 24 hours after Biden’s speech, said she’s not sure how much the exact public tactics matter to registered Democrats.
“We’ll have to wait and see if that becomes an issue for voters,” she said.
She added unlike 2020, when the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and Trump animosity brought some independents to sign petitions for Democratic candidates, it’s the things happening at legislative venues that seem to be resonating in 2022.
“The Jan. 6 insurrection, voter rights — that’s what’s on the minds of Democrats in my area,” Shroyer said. “And, of course, when I’m talking to Democrats, I know how many Arizona voters are not registered with any party.”
The Jan. 2, Arizona Secretary of State report showed that the state has 4.35 millions voters, which is about 130,000 more than in November 2020.
Voters registered as “other” than Republican, Democrat or Libertarian are nearly dead-even with the GOP in terms of percentage, each claiming about one-third. Democrats are just 200,000 votes behind Republicans with 1,364,000 registered voters.
Shroyer stated that Mark Kelly’s election to the U.S. Senate was a priority, as was Trump’s ousting. She stated that there are fewer people being discussed at the moment, and many issues being raised.
“There’s just an awful lot going on right now,” she said.
Shroyer has been going door to door in Sun City to sign statewide candidate petitions. Voters can sign a petition for any office in the state from anywhere they live, but redistricting could make it more difficult to petition the state legislature or congressional representatives.
That might not mean an individual voter’s concerns have changed, but that voter might now be grouped with fewer like-minded individuals — or more.
“I discovered that my home address has gone from being in Legislative District 21 to LD28,” Shroyer said. “That means getting to know some new people and their tendencies and priorities.”
Other than a highly charged environment there are door-to–door political activities in areas where there are few public areas and gated communities. Private property managed by large retail outlets, such as grocery and department stores, often don’t allow signatures to be gathered on-site.
“I also collect signatures for Outlaw Dark Money, and it’s the same challenge,” Shroyer said. “So we have to look for parks or other public spaces where we can collect signatures.”
Jason W. Brooks
Associate Editor
Daily Independent
[email protected]
He covers the Buckeye and Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. Brooks is an experienced journalist who has covered small American communities in all time zones. Brooks was born in Washington, D.C., raised in Los Angeles, and has covered community news in California, New Mexico, Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, and Nebraska.
By Jason W. Brooks
Mail | Twitter: @JasonWBrooks2
