NEW RIVER, AZ — Donald Trump has a math advantage in Arizona. Kamala Harris has 76-year-old Mardi Devolites.
Late last week, in a vintage forest green Jeep Grand Wagoneer, Devolites and a crew of like-minded and similarly aged women snaked through the rural Arizona tumbleweeds and dirt roads. Following an app, they drove around for two hours to find high-propensity independent and Republican voters who they hoped would cross party lines to beat the math.
“Hi, I’m Mardi, and I’m your neighbor,” she said with a smile and a cowboy hat to protect herself from the 105-degree fall day. “Do you know the candidates running for election this year?” A horse trainer by day, Devolites has started her own ragtag band of liberal-leaning volunteers to canvass rural New River, about 40 miles north of Phoenix. It’s a place where you’re greeted by a “fuck Nancy Pelosi” sign as you wind up Circle Mountain Road, no dueling Harris-Walz sign in sight.