PHOENIX — President-elect Donald Trump won Arizona — making a return to the Grand Canyon State after losing it to President Biden in 2020 and completing a swing state sweep in 2024.

The Republican leads Vice President Kamala Harris 52.1% to 47%, with 67% of the votes counted, the Associated Press reports.

Trump’s victory in Arizona, with 11 electoral votes, follows that of neighboring Nevada, where he collected 6 — a feat that no Republican has achieved in 20 years.

Both candidates made their final trip to the southwest swing state on Halloween, haunting Arizonians with their contrasting visions of how scary America could become if their opponent won.

Trump lured voters to Glendale’s Desert Diamond arena with promises of “a very big deportation” and recalled his mandate.

“We defeated ISIS, we didn’t have any wars. We had the best economy in the history of our country,” he told the crowd Thursday.

Meanwhile, Harris promised progress to crowds in Phoenix and urged voters to help her “turn the page on Donald Trump.”

“I tell you, I’m not trying to score political points. I seek progress… Unlike Donald Trump, I do not believe that those who disagree with me are enemies,” the vice president said Thursday.

However, throughout the election campaign, the border has been a mainstay of candidates’ speeches in the Grand Canyon State, which has been hit by hundreds of thousands of migrant encounters in recent years, and the battles are become a conduit for trafficking fentanyl and other drugs. the border.

In Arizona, Trump promised mass expulsions while Harris’ arguments focused on a congressional border bill that was defeated several months ago.

Both Trump and Harris have made visits to the southern border, including Harris’ notable visit to Douglas, Arizona, on September 27, following increased scrutiny of her role in the administration’s border policy Biden.

“I will do more to secure our border and reduce illegal border crossings,” Harris said in a statement. Douglas. “I will take additional measures to keep the border closed between ports of entry.”

“Those who cross our borders illegally will be apprehended, deported and banned from returning for five years,” she added at the time.

Arizona’s economy was also a major problem, as price levels remain high following 13.3% inflation in 2022.

Marc Hernandez, a 25-year-old rancher who voted for Donald Trump after supporting Biden in 2020, told the Post that the economy motivated his vote.

“After I graduated, I started working on my family’s cattle ranch and the economy has been very tough for ranchers and farmers in recent years. Inflation has eaten up most of our profits and we have had to let some of our breeders go. We also have problems with rising water and electricity rates,” Hernandez said.

However, Democrats have touted Arizona’s population growth and economic opportunities as reasons to support them on this issue, such as promoting the CHIPS and Science Act, which subsidizes the semiconductor industry that plays a major role in the state economy.

Abortion was also a priority and key campaign issue for Democrats in Arizona, where a proposal to amend the state constitution to recognize abortion as a “fundamental right” is also on the ballot. voting at the state level.

When it comes to the border and the economy, this has prompted Democrats to appeal to the conservative political leanings of many Arizonans on the issue. Harris also pushed heavily for the formation of a “Republicans for Harris” coalition focused on targeting supporters of former Republican Senator John McCain and those who voted for former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley after she dropped out. of the 2024 Republican primary.

Meanwhile, Arizona has been a key point in Trump’s efforts to build his own big tent, since Robert F. Kennedy Jr. left the race in August and endorsed the ex-Prez at a rally in Glendale a few hours later. He also worked to court young voters by holding a rally at Arizona State University’s Mullet Arena in Tempe last weekend.

Harris also saw the state as an opportunity to rally Hispanic voters, including making her closing remarks at a rally in west Phoenix with the group Los Tigres Del Norte.

President Biden narrowly won the state in 2020. In 2016, Trump won with 48% of the vote.

Early voting was heavily encouraged by both parties, including Trump, in hopes of “preserving” the vote and speeding up the vote counting process.

Arizona GOP Chair Gina Swoboda has already said so The post office that early voting was key to the party’s strategy.

“Unless Democrats dramatically change their (voting) behavior by Tuesday, I think we’re in a very good position to win at the top of the ticket,” Swoboda said last week.

Polls indicated the state was in dire straits, but Trump had a slight advantage in various polls in the weeks leading up to the election.