Lookout Phoenix: Organizers in AZ brace for impacts of a far-right government

November 13, 2024

Over the past several months, Claudia Kline’s advocacy has taken on the form of knocking doors, registering voters, and educating neighbors about local ballot measures. Kline, who uses they/them pronouns, has been doing this kind of work since even before being able to vote, themself. 

Now an electoral campaign manager for Our Voice Our Vote, Kline is just one of thousands of queer Arizonans who have been on the ground before and throughout this past election cycle and bracing for the impact of a GOP-led local government that has, until now, experienced declines in leadership.

That party has also openly embraced authoritarian-style leadership on the campaign trail with endorsing Trump as their leader of choice, giving reason for organizers to believe that local policies that restrict trans rights, deny equal access to housing, or make it harder to live and work here legally might mirror what happens at the federal level.

With all those factors, people like Kline are contemplating what their next steps will be.

“Elections have never been a finish line,” they told LOOKOUT. “They’re a check-in with your community … No matter who wins, there is always work to be done and people who need to be held accountable.”

Since Trump’s decisive win last week over Vice President Kamala Harris, thousands of people and organizations have posted online and sent out emails saying the next step is to organize each other within the community against possible retaliation from far-right Christian nationalists who hold power. But there aren’t clear and cut ways on how, exactly, to do that—or what that even means. 

But Sena Mohammed, Our Voice Our Vote’s executive director, said that in order to do that, people need to start thinking differently about the election results. 

“I don’t want our narrative to be about blaming each other and pointing fingers,” she said. “Nobody benefits from the blame game except the wealthy and well-connected. In order to move forward, we need more genuine outreach, listening and relationship-building.”