Gun Sense Majority: Arizona Will Work to Defeat Trump in Arizona, Elect Mark Kelly, Flip State Legislature to Gun Sense Majority, and Defend U.S. House Majority, Focusing Heavily on Maricopa County, Where 75% of Voters Consider a Candidate’s Position on Guns “Very Important” to Their Vote
Everytown Plans to Spend $60 Million on the 2020 Elections — Double What it Spent During the 2018 Elections; In November 2019, Everytown Invested $2.5 Million to Flip the Virginia General Assembly to a Gun Sense Majority
NEW YORK – Today, Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund and Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund (together “Everytown”) announced a new political initiative, “Gun Sense Majority: Arizona” — a significant financial and grassroots effort dedicated to ensure Vice President Biden wins Arizona, to defeat unelected Senator Martha McSally and elect Captain Mark Kelly in one of the country’s top U.S. Senate races, to elect gun sense majorities in both chambers of the state legislature, which has ignored Arizona’s gun violence crisis for years, and to defend the U.S. House gun sense majority.
Everytown also released a memo from senior political advisor Charlie Kelly, outlining its electoral plans for Arizona.
VIEW A MEMO OUTLINING “GUN SENSE MAJORITY: ARIZONA” HERE.
Everytown will invest at least $5 million in Gun Sense Majority: Arizona, part of Everytown for Gun Safety Victory Fund and Everytown for Gun Safety Action Fund’s $60 million electoral program for the 2020 elections. Leveraging substantial resources and harnessing the power of nearly 200,000 Everytown, Moms Demand Action, and Students Demand Action supporters in Arizona, “Gun Sense Majority: Arizona” will target key battleground Maricopa County, which consistently tops the nation in year-to-year population growth, and which notably rejected NRA-backed candidates such as Martha McSally in 2018.
“Anyone who thinks Arizonans are buying what the gun lobby is selling hasn’t looked at the polls, which show that a clear majority of voters want common sense laws to keep them safe from gun violence,” said John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety. “Everytown’s going all-out to make sure Arizonans know which candidates will stand up for their safety, and which will bow down to the gun lobby.”
“Arizona is competitive at every level of the ballot, and gun safety is a top concern voters across communities,” said Charlie Kelly, senior political advisor for Everytown for Gun Safety. “Our model of financial investment and grassroots action delivered a gun sense majority legislature in Virginia, and now we’re deploying it again with our largest-ever electoral investment in the Grand Canyon State.”
“In the years I’ve been a gun safety advocate in Arizona, I’ve seen firsthand how much attitudes here have changed,” said Kara Waite, volunteer leader with the Arizona chapter of Moms Demand Action. “Arizonans are sick of politicians who do gun lobby’s bidding and ignore the gun violence crisis that kills more than 1,000 people in our state each year. Our grassroots network is ready to do whatever it takes to elect gun sense candidates up and down the ballot in November.”
Polling of likely November 2020 voters in Arizona affirms that gun safety is a winning issue for voters across the state, including key battleground areas. Arizonans overwhelmingly support stronger gun violence prevention laws and rate gun safety as a top priority for the 2020 elections. In fact, opposing background checks on all gun sales is one of the most toxic positions a candidate for office can take in the eyes of Arizona voters.
- By a more than eight-to-one margin, Arizonans want stronger versus weaker gun laws (50% stronger/6% less strong).
- Overwhelming majorities of voters support specific gun violence prevention policies, including blocking domestic abusers from owning guns (89%) and requiring background checks on all gun sales (85%).
- The majority of Arizona voters (57%) say they would never vote for a candidate who opposes background checks on all gun sales, including 58% of independent voters, 50% of Republican women, and 59% of Maricopa County voters.
This year, Everytown will spend $60 million on the 2020 elections, doubling what it spent during the 2020 elections. In Virginia’s 2019 elections, Everytown was the largest outside investor, spending $2.5 million to flip the state’s General Assembly to a gun sense majority.