Bloomberg's gun control group plans $5 million effort in Arizona

Michael Bloomberg's affiliated gun control group announced Tuesday it plans to spend at least $5 million in Arizona in an effort to aid Democratic wins from the presidency down to the state Legislature.

The move is part of a $60 million nationwide effort by the political arm of Everytown for Gun Safety, an organization co-founded by the former New York City mayor, and underscores Arizona's more competitive political climate.

Dubbed "Gun Sense Majority: Arizona," Everytown's plan is to create an organization to send mailers, run digital and TV ads, make phone calls and recruit new voters.

Its efforts will encourage support for Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, and Mark Kelly, the state's Democratic U.S. Senate candidate. But those efforts could grow to include U.S. House races and will also target races in five districts in Arizona's state House and Senate.

Arizona's newly evolving political landscape could help settle the race for the White House and control of the U.S. Senate.

"We see Arizona as one of the most important battlegrounds for gun safety in the country," said Charlie Kelly, a senior political adviser for Everytown.

The group will draw in part on the support of what it claims are 200,000 Arizona residents affiliated with its sister organization, Moms Demand Action, he said.

For its part, the National Rifle Association seemed to concede Everytown's billionaire benefactor would help give that group a financial edge, but the NRA doesn't think it will matter.

"If money meant everything in politics, Mike Bloomberg would be on his way to the presidency. But, it doesn’t. That's why he failed miserably despite spending billions," said Lars Dalseide, an NRA spokesman.

"Despite surrounding himself with armed security 24/7, Bloomberg is determined to abolish Arizonans rights to self-defense and gun ownership via his handpicked surrogate — Mark Kelly. There's no difference between Beto O’Rourke, Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg and Mark Kelly, except only one of them blurted out their true gun control plans."

Mark Kelly is trying to unseat Sen. Martha McSally, R-Ariz., who has been a reliable gun rights supporter during her five years in Washington in the House and Senate. In 2018, for example, the National Rifle Association gave McSally a 93 percent score for her legislative votes. 

Kelly has been, in some ways, one of the most visible faces of gun control efforts in the country after his wife, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., was shot in the head in a 2011 massacre near Tucson.

They founded Giffords, a separate anti-gun violence group, that has also been politically supportive of Democrats nationally. 

The Arizona Legislature is another battleground for gun control supporters. Republicans hold a two-seat majority in the state's 60-member House and have a four-seat edge in the 30-member state Senate.  

Twelve of the 15 current members from the districts Everytown is focusing on — legislative districts 6, 17, 18, 20 and 21 — are Republicans.

Everytown's Arizona plan builds on the 2019 statehouse elections in Virginia, where the group spent $2.5 million to help flip control of the General Assembly from Republicans to Democrats.

Everytown's legislative agenda includes items such as requiring background checks on the purchase of all firearms — including all transactions at gun shows — and banning domestic abusers from owning guns. The group points to polling, including in Arizona, that it claims shows broad support for those positions.

Everytown's financial muscle, aided by billionaire Bloomberg and an army of donors nationwide, is a reminder of the sea change in the politics of the Second Amendment.

In every federal election cycle between 1990 and 2010, the gun industry and its backers outspent gun control advocates by wide margins, according to campaign finance data compiled by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics.

In Arizona, for example, gun rights money totaled nearly $499,000 over the last 20 years, while gun control cash totaled about $15,000.

But gun control groups have reengaged politically over the past decade after high-profile massacres, such as the 2012 slaying of 27 people in Connecticut, mostly at an elementary school, and a 2018 rampage at a Florida high school that killed 17.

Gun control advocates are now aggressively spending in campaigns across the country. Everytown's $60 million campaign is double what it spent in the 2018 elections.

Meanwhile, the NRA, an organization long renowned for its ability to harness effective political support, has weathered an ugly public battle for control of the group.

Charlie Kelly said that has left them in a weakened state and on the wrong side of public opinion.

"I'll say this about the NRA and the gun lobby: They are reeling and in retreat," he said.

Reach the reporter Ronald J. Hansen at ronald.hansen@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4493. Follow him on Twitter @ronaldjhansen.

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