Kamala Harris steps up outreach to Mormon voters in battleground Arizona

PHOENIX (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is stepping up her efforts to win over voters who belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, enlisting prominent members of the faith to make the case in pivotal Arizona that Donald Trump does not align with the church’s values.

Her state campaign announced on Thursday an advisory committee to formalize the outreach to current and former members of the church, widely known as the Mormon church.

With nearly 450,000 church members in Arizona, about 6% of the state’s population, Latter-day Saints and former church members could prove critical in what will likely be an extremely close race.

Latter-day Saints have traditionally voted Republican and are likely to remain part of the GOP coalition. Clustered in solidly Republican states, they have long been a major force in GOP primaries and local politics across the West, but they have not held much sway in national elections. In 2020, about 7 in 10 Mormon voters nationally supported Trump, according to AP VoteCast, while about one-quarter backed Democrat Joe Biden.

Core to Harris’ strategy is preventing Trump from running up big margins with demographic groups that favor him. While she is unlikely to win anything close to a majority of Latter-day Saints, picking up a small share of their votes would make a big difference in a state with a recent history of tight elections. Biden won by just under 10,500 votes in 2020. Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes won by just 280 in 2022.

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