The model and TV personality has put her name to one of the hottest issues of the US Election 24. Q+A presenter Jack Tame reports.
I’ve been in Phoenix, Arizona, to look at how a state debate over abortion is factoring in the wider race.
Arizona is a really interesting state. The population is 50% larger than New Zealand’s, and it has one of the largest Latino communities in the country. It’s traditionally been a Republican stronghold, but after voting for Donald Trump in 2016, Arizona supported Joe Biden in 2020.
It’s famously hot as hell. It hit 36C or 37C each day during our time there, even though we’re deep into Pumpkin Spice season (aka Fall).
I hadn’t previously thought about how weather impacts campaigning, but of course it quite significantly shapes what sorts of events campaigners can actually hold. Even in a temperate climate voters only have so much appetite for standing outside uncovered for hours, waiting to hear a candidate deliver a stump speech – so you can imagine the impact of sizzling heat.
We joined some abortion access campaigners who were canvassing for support in Scottsdale. Instead of choosing a neighbourhood and deliberately knocking on every door, they used an app to identify which houses were likely to have "friendlies", people who were registered Democrats but hadn’t voted in recent elections.
This was partly to be efficient with their time; they might as well spend limited resources on the people most likely to support their cause. But I could also see that walking the streets for hours in the heat of the day might not be feasible for many. The campaigners we joined would get in their cars and drive from street to street.
There are very few people who go outside in the middle of the day. It isn’t like many other big cities, where retail or hospitality precincts might mean thousands of people walking about. In Phoenix, everyone stays in their car.
The flip side of this is that Arizona has heaps and heaps of election advertising aimed at motorists. Lots of roads = lots of traffic lights = one of the highest election-lawn-sign-ratios in the whole of the U.S.
Conversation of the day: Chrissy Teigen on abortion access. I was only part of a scrum but I managed to get in a couple of questions.
Me: Who are you voting for?
Her: I think you know.
Also, she said she loves New Zealand.
Meal of the day: Camera Op Matt Smith and his Arizona deep-friend steak skillet with fried potatoes and cheese.
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