AP PHOTOS: Scenes from Arizona’s growing, pivotal suburbs
By DARIO LOPEZ-MILLS - Associated Press
A makeshift U.S. flag stands behind a home located near the intersection between the Arizona State Route 101 and the Interstate 17 freeway in Phoenix, Ariz., on March 9, 2020. America's suburbs are poised to decide not just who wins the White House this year -- but the contours of the debate over guns, immigration, work, schools, housing and health care for years to come. What makes the suburbs matter is that they sit between the density of cities that favor Democrats and the open land of rural towns that back Republicans. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-MIlls)
PHOENIX (AP) — America’s suburbs are undergoing a political transformation. Democrats who once were confined to dense cities have made inroads into the suburbs that were once dependably Republican.
President Donald Trump faces pressure to win back these areas as he seeks reelection, while Democratic challenger Joe Biden hopes an the increasingly diverse suburbs will deliver him the presidency.
For a photo essay, photographer Dario Lopez-Mills roamed the neighborhoods around Phoenix where the political makeup is changing the most. Amid the pandemic, he found few people but plenty of signs of explosive growth: desert scrub cleared away for new home construction, the skeletal frames of apartment buildings, and restaurants and businesses catering to an increasingly diverse population.