Voters in Maricopa County, the largest county in the US swing state of Arizona, could play a key role in electing the next president – ​​and they could also decide which major party controls the White House after the presidential election in November this year.

Here are five important facts about the county:

The hottest city in the USA

Phoenix, the capital of the state of Arizona, is located in Maricopa County. Average maximum temperatures here exceed 37.7 degrees Celsius for four months of the year.

Founded on the remains of an ancient native civilization, the sun-drenched metropolis took its name in the late 19th century. The small town in the northern Sonoran Desert was worth just $550 after the Civil War.

With the help of irrigation, Phoenix was transformed from a peaceful frontier town of saguaro cacti into a center for citrus, cattle ranching and cotton.

Later, tuberculosis patients were drawn there because of the hot, dry atmosphere.

After World War II, the neighborhood experienced a strong population growth due to the introduction of air conditioning and the influx of immigrants, retirees and young families looking for affordable housing and pleasant weather.

Phoenix has overtaken Philadelphia to become the fifth-largest city in the United States by population. The industrial and financial services hub is home to more than 1.6 million Americans, according to the latest U.S. census.

Maricopa County has a population of 4.5 million, or 62 percent of Arizona’s total population. It is also the second-largest electoral district in the country.

Formerly a Republican stronghold

Until recently, the county was a solid Republican stronghold.

“The really significant election, in my opinion, was 2016, when Trump won the district by just three percentage points. Four years earlier, Mitt Romney won it by 11 percentage points,” said David Berman, professor emeritus of political science at Arizona State University. AFP.

In 2020, President Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump in Maricopa County by over 45,000 votes, helping to end the Republican Party’s nearly eight-decade winning streak in Arizona.

Berman said Trump’s right-wing agenda has alienated some Arizonans who prefer more centrist Republicans, such as the late U.S. Senator John McCain.

The growing Hispanic community

According to the most recent census, the Hispanic community in Maricopa County has grown to over a third of the total population.

This change is part of a broader pattern influenced by increasing immigration.

Arizona’s Hispanic population grew 16 percent between 2010 and 2020, outpacing the state’s overall population growth.

“There has been a concentrated effort to mobilize both Hispanic and Native American voters,” Berman said of the groups more likely to vote Democratic.

He added that there had also been “some successes for the Democrats” as people from traditionally more liberal states like California continued to move to Arizona in search of cheaper housing and better job opportunities.

“A red state with purple spots”

More than a third of Maricopa County residents are not affiliated with any party, despite Arizona’s history of voting Republican and a recent Democratic breakthrough.

According to the latest data from the county, about 34 percent of registered voters identify as “other,” which is higher than the percentage of Democrats at 28 percent and comparable to the percentage of Republicans at 35 percent.

Due to the steady increase in this proportion in recent years, the results of the district elections are now more uncertain.

“Maricopa County still has a fairly high percentage of red voters, and these swing voters are generally more likely to choose the more traditional Republicans” rather than Trump’s far-right brand, says Paul Bentz, senior vice president at Phoenix-based public affairs firm Highground.

“We are not a purple state,” he said, referring to an area evenly mixed between Republican red and Democratic blue.

“We are a red state with purple spots.”

Early voting dominates

In 2020 and 2022, nearly 80 percent of the county’s voters cast their ballots early, following a statewide pattern that began before the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’ve been doing this for over three decades. The Republicans are the ones who brought early voting to the state of Arizona,” Bentz said.

This procedure became possible without any problems in 1991 after the state parliament allowed voters to vote by postal vote for any reason.

After a decade, Arizona developed a system that provides voters with an automated ballot in every upcoming election.

Due to the increased number of votes cast by mail since the outbreak of the pandemic, the verification and counting of votes now takes several days.

In 2020, most U.S. news channels took over a week to declare their support for Biden.

With contributions from AFP