Fear and loathing... at the US Midterms

Our hotel is in Scottsdale, Arizona, in what I can only describe is a car village.

There’s not much pavement, and the road crossings operate in such a way that the pedestrian lights go off while adjacent cars can freely drive into you. There’s tons of parking. You can tell this area is designed for people passing by on road trips or extended commutes. I’m not even sure there’s a public transport route connecting this area to Downtown Phoenix.

I feel very at home here. 

America is a caricature of itself.

The school buses are just as yellow as they appear to be in the films and television shows. 

People really do stand outside by the road corner with large arrow signs advertising a nearby restaurant or showroom.

And the food portions are just as big as you’d think they are. On Wednesday morning, we ate from a generous buffet breakfast: classic American staples like syrup-covered waffles and Lucky Charms cereal. Then we boarded a comfortable bus and spent around 30 minutes driving to a hotel, right near the Phoenix Suns Arena, to meet academics and activists and learn more about the midterms.

Critical point for American democracy

Everyone we spoke to throughout the day said that these elections are “a critical point for American democracy”. Pinny Sheoran, President of the League of Women Voters, gave a lengthy overview on election issues like voter intimidation. Sheron says efforts to disrupt voters have escalated tremendously in Arizona since 2020 after Joe Biden beat Donald Trump in the presidential elections.

In fact, it had been the first time in decades that Arizona’s electoral vote was won by the Democratic Party.

Here even people in militia gear are seen intimidating voters near a drop box for mail-in ballots… nothing short of voter intimidation in terms of Arizona law, even in the land where the right to bear arms is sacrosanct

The scenes are unlike anything witnessed in Malta. Sheoron said people waiting in line to vote at a polling station would be asked to show their voter ID by people unauthorised to do so. In other cases, people would knock on voters’ doors to find out who they voted for. “We believe elections and poll locations need to be venues where citizens can cast their vote in peace and confidence,” Sheoran said. Around 80% of voters in Arizona request a mail-in ballot, which allows citizens to post their ballot, instead of showing up at a venue to submit their vote. 

People in militia gear

People in militia gear watch over drop-in boxes

But here even people in militia gear are seen intimidating voters near a drop box for mail-in ballots in Arizona – people have been seen wearing tactical gear and allegedly carrying weapons whilst watching over the box, nothing short of voter intimidation in terms of Arizona law, even in the land where the right to bear arms is sacrosanct.

The League of Women Voters has now requested a temporary restraining order on these armed groups, said to be members of ‘Clean Elections USA’, and ordered by a federal judge to stay at least 250 feet away from drop-box locations, as well as being barred from filming or following anyone within a 23-metre distance of a box.

Clean Elections USA describes itself as a “grassroots organisation committed to election integrity”. This group claims that people – or “mules” – are paid to flood drop boxes across the country with fraudulent ballots, and naturally dispute the 2020 election result, claiming a coordinated effort by 2,000 mules to stuff the ballot box, which now they seek to “prevent”.

Election advertising is particularly intense here. There are no journalists on billboards (indeed, there are few billboards along highways to begin with), but advertisements on television and social media are dominated by campaign spots.

“Blake Masters (Republican candidate for Arizona) wants a ban on abortion, even in cases of rape and incest!” – one advert for incumbent Mark Kelly exclaims in a bid to stoke mild pro-choice sentiment among viewers. Another advert by a conservative political action committee (or PAC) kicks off with something along the lines of: “You worked hard for your share of the American dream, but Joe Biden is chipping it away.”

Blake Masters (left), a Republican candidate, is challenging Democratic incumbent Mark Kelly (right) for Arizona's senate seat

Politics in the media space

Politics happens in the media space as much as it happens on the ground. It’s in TV spots, YouTube advertising, pieces of cardboard along the roadside. You don’t see politicians knocking on doors, but you see them speaking to crowds at rallies.

Sybill Francis, President and CEO of the Centre for the Future of Arizona, hinted at this slightly during her briefing. “Elections have a certain ‘incentive structure’,” she explained. While candidates will speak out on topics that matter to their voter base, these topics might not be the same issues that the general public cares about. Most issues on candidates’ agendas are politically controversial and interesting to only a small group of people. “We’re not nearly as polarised as some of our politicians are,” she says, even though it becomes more natural for people to pay attention to the more dramatic issues, making them seem more important than they actually are.

‘Like you, Obama!’

Later in the evening, I switch on the TV in my hotel room to find that Barack Obama had been at a campaign rally in Phoenix a day earlier. In his speech, he said Republicans wanted an economy that’s good for the people on top, not necessarily for ordinary people. “Like you, Obama!” a heckler shouts back at him.

Eventually removed from the rally, he called out Katie Hobbs, who’s running for governor in Arizona, for “discriminating against black people”. 

It’s an intensification of political rhetoric in America that doesn’t feel like a sudden degradation in the American way of doing politics. But it does feel like the logical conclusion to politics through spectacle.

Nicole Meilak was invited to the United States on a mid-terms elections tour for journalists by the Embassy of the United States to Malta