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One could probably fill a small library by now with the many analyses of Arizona senate president Russell Pearce’s defeat Tuesday in a historic recall election, Arizona’s first recall of a state legislator.
There are different takes on why Pearce, best known for sponsoring last year’s game-changing SB 1070 state anti-illegal immigration law, was ousted from his seat. He was a strident and popular voice within the immigration-restriction lobby, promoting not only a law that empowered local police to check for immigration status (a provision of SB 1070 that remains blocked), but pushing legislation earlier this year that would have kept U.S.-born children of undocumented parents from obtaining automatic U.S. citizenship. And in spite of being partly hung up in court, SB 1070 has inspired a series of imitations, including similar new laws Alabama, South Carolina and Georgia.
When Pearce fell in the recall, defeated by fellow Republican Jerry Lewis, he fell heavily. Below are five pieces exploring what brought down the most powerful individual in Arizona politics, and one of the most influential figures in immigration politics of recent years. The general consensus: While Pearce’s hardline immigration stance played a prominent role in his defeat, it was a combination of problems that ultimately did him in.
- The Washington Post’s Rachel Weiner had an interesting take on the role of the Mormon Church (both Pearce and Lewis are Mormons) in the defeat of Pearce, whose immigration politics were far to the right of those of the church:
The Mormon church has been trying to reach out to Hispanic voters, and Pearce’s virulent anti-immigrant rhetoric, along with his divisive law, was seen as hurting that effort. Pearce has condemned the church for its anti-SB1070 stance and angered leaders by falsely claiming that he had their support.
“The Mormon church clearly percolated below the surface to make sure that its members knew that Russell Pearce was making their missionary efforts in Central and South America more difficult,” said Nathan Sproul, Republican strategist
Recall supporters said the Utah Compact — a Mormon model for more comprehensive immigration reform signed about a year ago — helped spark their campaign.
“I’ve heard [Mormon conservatives] say, ‘We need to love people,’ and ‘We shouldn’t be doing this to people,” one source told Religion Dispatches.
- ColorLines magazine’s analysis pointed to immigration as an important factor, but not the sole one, as Pearce was long criticized for pushing his own pet interests over those of constituents. Julianne Hing interviewed Randy Parraz, co-founder and president of of Citizens for A Better Arisona, which led the recall effort. She wrote:
But while it was on anti-immigrant fear mongering that Pearce made his name, it wasn’t necessarily a pro-migrant solidarity that pushed Arizona voters to choose Lewis over Pearce. According to experts and organizers, Pearce’s electorate was fed up with his myopic focus on immigration enforcement and anti-immigrant bills because they left little time to tackle the issues Arizona voters cared most about: jobs, education and healthcare.
“[People] saw it in the first month of his leadership [as Senate president],” said Parraz. “He was focused on nullifying federal law, changing the U.S. Constitution, putting guns on campuses, cutting education, cutting off people waiting for organ transplants, and instead of spending $1.3 million and allowing 98 Arizonans to live, he sent $5 million to an angry sheriff for immigration enforcement.”
“That kind of politics, people started getting fed up.”
