Sergio Valdez, a 28-year-old former molecular biologist, recently returned to his hometown of Nogales for the first time since graduating from university. And he brought with him a new set of political beliefs.
Valdes, a pro-life advocate who has voiced his unwavering support for law enforcement, said he believes the city is too complacent with its difficult economic situation, which has led to a population exodus.
Last summer, he attempted to put his politics into action as he stood outside his local supermarket holding a pro-life sign.
He also spoke to a local Catholic priest about his concerns about local politics. A few days later the priest introduced him to a group of about 25 like-minded people. The group, which now has nearly 60 members, calls itself the Santa Cruz County Patriots and identifies itself as a conservative constitutionalist.
Members communicate via group chats and publish content on YouTube. Their public activism so far has included car rallies and demonstrations in support of Donald Trump’s 2020 re-election effort and the “Back the Blue” pro-police campaign. One of their demonstrations at Mariposa Mall in late October last year involved a standoff with a group of four, one of whom reportedly opened fire on demonstrators.
Their candidates lost the 2020 presidential election, in part because Arizona supported the Democratic Party for the first time since 1996, and the Republicans lost their majority in the Senate, and Arizona played a key role in that change as well. rice field. In Santa Cruz County, voters supported Democratic candidates in all partisan elections in local, state, and federal elections.
Following the left’s apparent success, the Santa Cruz County Patriots have big plans for a conservative grassroots movement, including a foray into local government. They argue that their ambitions, they argue, have been driven by other places in the country that have seen Trump make profits in 2020 in heavily Latino areas of Florida and along the U.S.-Mexico border in South Texas. consistent with the ambitions of conservative and Republican groups in , and now looks to Hispanic voters, traditionally the Democratic Party’s loyal voting bloc, as a potential new source of power for the political right.
A Pew Research Center study estimated that 38% of Hispanic voters supported Trump in 2020, compared with 28% in 2016. In Santa Cruz County, where about 83% of the population is Hispanic/Latino, Joe Biden won 2020 by the largest margin of any Arizona county. Still, Trump’s 31.6% share of local votes last fall is up from his under 24% in 2016.
Santa Cruz County Republican Commissioner Stephen McEwen said of local voters, “I think they’re conservative and they just don’t know it. That’s the source of the momentum… basically. We’re trying to show them that we’re on their side.”
According to group members, the Santa Cruz County Patriots protested against police brutality and systemic racism after Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin killed George Floyd on May 24, 2020. As it spread across the United States, it developed through word of mouth.
Group member Marco Antonio Flores Sr., 71, said he and others believed that nationwide demonstrations would eventually spread to communities, bring violence and threaten the city’s infrastructure and monuments. In fact, there have been several peaceful and well-received demonstrations in Nogales and Patagonia in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
In addition to suspicion of BLM and fear of groups like Antifa, the Santa Cruz County Patriots believe in strong border security and life-saving principles, and are embracing talk of “defunding” the police. said to be against it.
But now they say they are focusing their efforts more on local issues.
“We realized we had potential,” Flores said. “October and he returns in November, we were focused nationally.”
Their goal, he said, is to start by changing the way people approach voting by becoming an individual source of information for citizens throughout Santa Cruz County. He says he intends to do so.
“I don’t blame politicians or leaders, it’s people here who don’t take effective steps to know politics,” Flores said.
When speaking with NI in March, Valdez expressed concern over what he had seen at his home during the election.
“My parents took five minutes to vote,” he said, adding that politics is a sensitive topic in his family. Don’t think so, I consider voting a great privilege, so I have very little information.”
Born and raised in Nogales, Valdes said he began questioning the political ideologies he grew up with when he enrolled at the University of Arizona. However, his desire to change his hometown intensified when he worked in New Mexico.
“I have seen many politicians who are so disqualified for what they are doing that no one holds them accountable,” he said, referring to local elected leaders. “I think the only way things can change is to get into politics.”
Valdes is one of the youngest members of the Santa Cruz County Patriots. The Nogales High School graduate in his 2011 said education is a top priority for his community.
“One of the problems I found when I went to college was that my education was a joke…I had a very hard time in college,” he said.
Valdes said he envisions serving on a school board or working as superintendent in the future, but first wants to prove that he can succeed in other areas. So, I want to prove myself.
Santa Cruz County Patriots vehicles run on the Patagonia parade route on July 4.
Photo by Jonathan Clark
One of the younger members of the group, 19-year-old Alison Hayes, also said she would like to see better educational opportunities in the county. Hayes was homeschooled, but as she worked with local youth through her church, she said she saw a gap in the education system.
Her concerns also stem from the lack of higher education institutions in the county, which is causing younger generations to move in search of better opportunities, she said. Either they work in produce or they don’t work at all,” she said.
Flores and other senior members said they believe the stagnant local economy is an issue that should make a difference.
Republicans have been trying to increase their influence in Santa Cruz County in recent years, but so far have had little success.
In 2016, the party fielded three candidates for the County Board of Supervisors and tried to raise the visibility of the Republican Party on local broadcast stations and at events such as the Independence Day parade in Nogales. They then opened a “victory office” downtown, where a team of youth made thousands of calls in an attempt to sway local voters.
All of the party’s local candidates were defeated by double-digit margins, the incumbent Republican state representative in the Second Legislative District was ousted after a crushing defeat in Santa Cruz County, and Trump, who ran for president in the first election, Efforts failed as it got worse here. than Republican nominee Mitt Romney had in 2012.
The party’s share of registered voters in Santa Cruz County also fell to 16% by November 2016 from 17% at the time of the 2012 primary and about 21% in 2002.
It increased slightly to 16.6% in June 2020 and 16.8% on Monday, according to county registrar’s office data. (Democrats’ share in local voter registration has fallen from just over 50% in 2016 and his 49.6% as of Monday in 2020.)
Valdez feels stigmatized for being a Republican and for having generally conservative views in the county. He said that people’s values are consistent with conservative values.
“I think we all have those views,” he said. “But I think conservatives could be labeled differently, and we are not.”
McEwen said it’s too early to pick a local candidate for the 2022 election, but the party looks forward to working with the Santa Cruz County Patriots to identify and prepare future candidates. Stated.
Still, Flores and Hayes argued that their members were not adamant about the idea of running in a Republican election, saying it was due to the nature of the position. Many locally elected offices, such as the board of directors, are elected in nonpartisan elections.) This is how the group plans to “think outside the box,” as Flores puts it.
However, for this group to become a mainstay of local political campaigns and elections, its members will need to overcome reticence in order to firmly stand by their beliefs. It took weeks of coordination before they agreed to participate in this story.The group made it clear that some of its members or supporters did not want to be publicly affiliated with them. The Santa Cruz County Patriots also declined to identify members of the group considering running for election in Santa Cruz County.
Asked if their reluctance to speak more openly about their views could minimize their chances of political success, McEwen said he understood why they acted cautiously. Stated.
“First of all, they have only been around for about six months, but I have seen them do some great things…before I was elected chairman, I had them. ‘, he said.
“I think they have a learning curve … they are cautious … they don’t want to go out and do something that gets thrown back in their face. No,’ he said.
Conservatives and Republicans have one ready-made topic to reach voters in Santa Cruz County. The area has consistently lagged behind in terms of opportunity and growth, and county politics have long been dominated by Democrats.
Yet, despite their complaints about the problems facing Santa Cruz County, the Patriots refused to name their local elected leaders as Democrats or Independents.
Francis Grad, chairman of the Santa Cruz County Democratic Party, was aware of the problems that existed locally, but the main factor holding back the county’s progress was the lack of political candidates, regardless of party. I said there is.
Grad said his first encounter with the Santa Cruz County Patriots was at the Independence Day parade in Patagonia earlier this month. But it’s not the first time she’s heard about the group, and she said she’s not surprised by their efforts.
“After the 2020 elections, it became clear that there were more conservative groups, or that they were in fact much more effectively organized,” she said.
Asked for her opinion on the group, Grad was diplomatic and said she believed most people were reasonable and well-informed. Did.
“I’m worried they’re getting people involved because of the level of misinformation out there,” she said.
At the national level, some Democrats identified the party’s inability to effectively counter misinformation spread by the right, ineffective economic messages, and ineffective economic messages as problem areas the party needs to address going forward in 2020. It points to lackluster outreach to voters of color. .
Meanwhile, the Santa Cruz County Patriots have provided few concrete details about their future plans. says.
“We can tell you this much… We work with various radio stations and present a subject once a month, maybe once a week. I don’t know,” said Flores. “This is one of the ways we help and inform local people.”
As for Valdez, he said he returned home with a mission. “Patriotism is about staying here and fighting the problem,” he said.
