The real threat to states like Arizona is not COVID, it’s CALVID, Arizona turning into California. People fleeing the deteriorating state are flocking to Arizona and bringing their failed political views with them. Former Californians now make up about 10% of the population in Arizona. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey titled an op-ed for The Orange County Register in March warning those considering moving to Arizona, “Leaving California? Don’t Forget Why.” He joked about thanking the California governor during a speech for growing Arizona’s economy.
More people are leaving the state than moving there. A survey in 2019 found that 53% are considering leaving. Websites have popped up helping people escape. Any growth comes from births, including a large percentage from illegal immigrants. In contrast, Arizona has one of the highest rates of people moving there of any of the states. About 80% of those moving to Arizona choose Phoenix, which explains why its city government is now dominated by Democrats.
Registered Democrats in California outnumber Republicans nearly two to one, and hold all the statewide offices. California cannot afford all of its social justice and climate change programs, so taxes are high. The state has such restrictive energy policies due to radical environmentalism that the existing energy infrastructure cannot keep up with demand, resulting in frequent rolling blackouts. The state relies heavily on solar and wind power which are not capable yet of supporting millions of people reliably, while refusing to expand oil, natural gas or nuclear plants. Residents are used to the blackouts, but people in Arizona aren’t, and it would be deadly for much of the state due to the desert heat.
California agricultural businesses are fleeing the state to escape the high energy costs and water shortages. This is affecting the cost of water in Arizona, since Arizona is already maxed out with how much water it uses. Many tech companies have left the state, bringing their lefty tech employees to Arizona.
The homeless problem is even worse than the mainstream media portrays it. It’s more than just poop and drug needles. The population of the homeless in Los Angeles’s Skid Row is around 5,000 people, and it spans 50 blocks, almost three square miles. Phoenix has nothing even remotely comparable. Los Angeles designated it a “containment zone” back in 1976, where the homeless would be tolerated and allowed to live there. In 2019, the city removed the limit on how much stuff the homeless can keep on the streets. Over 50% of crime in central Los Angeles takes place on Skid Row.
The cost of living is the highest in the country. The median cost of a home is more than twice the national average. This is in part because slow-growth rules are impeding housing construction, not keeping up with the population. Gas prices are some of the highest in the nation due to all the extra taxes and rules that limit competition. The COVID-19 pandemic hit California harder than other states, even though there was a drastic statewide lockdown. The lockdown resulted in higher unemployment rates than other states.
This phenomenon is not just happening between California and Arizona. Nine of the top 10 states people are moving to are red states, with Oregon being the lone exception. Seven or eight of the top 10 states people are fleeing are blue states. The Mercury News bragged in 2019 that people leaving California helped turn Nevada blue. “Already, the results have been palpable. In recent months, lawmakers raised the minimum wage, put in place higher green energy standards, guaranteed collective bargaining rights for state employees and enacted new gun control measures.” In 2004, there were 1,000 more registered Republicans than Democrats in Nevada. By 2019, Democrats had developed a 70,000 advantage.
Arizonans should be more afraid of CALVID than COVID. Despite the MSM hype, Arizona is not experiencing a third surge of COVID-19. People blame California for starting to turn Arizona blue. While Maricopa County may have gone blue in some of the 2020 races due to voter fraud, Republicans did lose some of their voting edge, as Democrats gained 51,000 more voters in the state between 2016 and 2019.
But this may be turning around. The latest quarterly registration numbers released from the Arizona Secretary of State show that 3,093 registered as Republicans and only 539 registered as Democrats, leaving Republicans with a significant 125,322 advantage statewide, and almost 100,000 more voters in Maricopa County. Additionally, 40% of those considering leaving California are Republicans, whereas only 14% are Democrats. Let’s just hope the voter fraud in Arizona stops.