Arizona’s population has exploded over the past three decades, thanks, in part, to movement from states under the control of Democrat politicians.
The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) recently shared data from the Internal Revenue Service, showing that between the years of 1990-2021 almost 1.5 million individuals have migrated to Arizona from other states.
The Grand Canyon State’s gain has been due to other left-leaning states’ loss. For example, California has lost more than 4.6 million people during that time frame. New York lost over 4.6 million people as well, and Illinois said ‘goodbye’ to another 2 million individuals.
In an op-ed for Newsweek, Edward J. Pinto, the Senior Fellow and Co-County Tax Lien Sale director of the AEI Housing Center, wrote, “For the past 30 years, progressive policies have fueled a mass exodus of the citizens of California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts, whether with high-, middle-, or blue collar incomes. From 1990 to 2021, net domestic migration fleeing their states has totaled 13 million… Meanwhile, the red states of Florida, Texas, North Carolina, Arizona, Tennessee, Nevada, and South Carolina have had net in-migration of 13 million over the same period.”
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen told AZ Free News, “Approximately 200 people move to Arizona every day. If you ask why, they will tell you because it is a safe, good place to raise a family and educate your kids. They will also say things like, it is a great place to do business, with low taxes and fewer regulations. What they are really saying is that the state they are fleeing has bad public policy and Arizona has good public policy. This is a direct reflection of the laws passed by the Republican-led legislature.”
New figures from Election Data Services show that Arizona is nearly certain to pick up a 10th seat in Congress once the Census Bureau gets done with its decennial count. And that would mean 12 electoral votes, up from the 11 that were cast this year for Donald Trump, so the state will be even more of a electoral vote prize to whoever can win in the 2032 presidential race.
The projections are based on the Census Bureau reporting that there were 7,582,384 people in Arizona on July 1. Election Data Services figures that if the state keeps growing at the rate it has since the official 2020 count then the Census Bureau will find 8,150,554 Arizonans when it releases the 2030 figures.
There are just 435 seats in the U.S. House, and that means the states that grow slower have to give up a seat to those where people are more likely to move. So if Arizona is going to get a seat, it will come from one of five states that are likely to be losers: Oregon, Minnesota, Illinois, New York as well as California.
“Red’’ state growth has political implications beyond the raw numbers, it’s likely that the people moving there probably agree politically with those already there.