Q&A with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on border security, election integrity, COVID and more

PHOENIX – Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey said Thursday his tenure has been marked by “exciting times” but there was still work to do before he’s done at the helm.

“We’re in such a better position today than we were in 2015,” Ducey told KTAR 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News.

Ducey, in his eighth year as governor, leaves the job in January 2023 because of term limits.

Ducey said that when he took office, “We had a billion-dollar deficit, the economy was sluggish, the education system was mired in lawsuits. … Think where we are today: putting 8.6 billion additional dollars into K-12 education; an economy that’s absolutely roaring; over a billion dollars in our rainy day fund; and a generational water project on the horizon. So exciting times, but we’ve got to finish all that work.”

The state government’s Republican chief executive also addressed a wide range of topics, including voting issues, border security, COVID-19 and the economy during Thursday’s interview:

Election integrity

“I have tried to help people understand where Arizona’s election system does very well, but whenever we have the opportunity for reforms or improvements, what I look for in terms of election integrity is I want to see everyone have a voter ID, I want people to be a citizen when they vote, I want them to vote once and they should be alive on the day that they vote.

“We make it easy to vote in Arizona. We make it hard, if not impossible, to cheat and if there are proposals coming to the Legislature that will improve that, I’ll sign them.”

Border security

“I met with President Biden this week at the National Governors Association winter meeting. I had a short one-on-one. You can bet what we talked about and it was the border. …

“We don’t have an immigration crisis, we have a border security crisis. The border is solved at the border; immigration is solved in Washington, D.C., through an act of Congress. We have an immigration system right now – whatever anybody thinks about it – [and] there is a legal way to become an immigrant in this country.”

Arizona’s economy

“Our economy is booming. … We’re in a great spot. If you remember, not that all long ago, all that was going on in Arizona were call centers and construction jobs. People were telling me they loved living here … but their child with a degree from whatever university or college could not find a job that supports that degree here.

“I haven’t heard that in five years. I mean, we have high-paying jobs, high-tech jobs across the board from semiconductors, electric vehicles, battery manufacturers, you name it. We’re firing on all cylinders.”

COVID-19 response

“Arizona set the right priorities. We protected lives and livelihoods, individual liberty. We never locked down in Arizona. We worked with the federal government on what called the ‘Stay home, stay connected, stay healthy.’ And that was before we really understood what COVID was. …

“Once we knew that it was people 65 and older with underlying health conditions, we did the effective, executive actions like making sure our nursing homes and long-term care homes were protected. We made the best decisions in real time with the information that was given us.

“It’s important that people realize it’s here. It comes in waves. You should do whatever you need from a mitigation standpoint and we need to get on with our lives.”

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