A Phoenix Valley man who is a Veteran, small business owner, and lifelong Republican was featured earlier this month in a New York Times article about why no one -especially the Democratic Party- should assume all Latino men are liberals.
Sergio Arellano was one of several men interviewed for a March 5 article by journalist Jennifer Medina titled A Vexing Question for Democrats: What Drives Latino Men to Republicans? The article looks at why male Latinos, particularly those under age 50, are turning away from the political leanings of their parents and grandparents, and instead are embracing the conservative family-centric platform of the Republican Party.
Medina’s article quoted exit polls from the 2020 General Election which showed 36 percent of Latino men voted for Donald Trump. One of those voters was Arellano, who has identified as a Republican since the first time he registered to vote while in the U.S. Army.
After leaving the military, Arellano became involved in grassroots Republican issues in the Tucson and Pima County area while establishing his own business. He later became vice-chair of the Pima County Republican Committee at a time when the area was primarily governed by Democrats.
Bill Beard, a lifelong Republican in southern Arizona, says Arellano was instrumental in the November 2016 election which ended nearly 30 years of Democratic leadership at the Pima County Sheriff’s Office when Republican candidate Mark Napier was elected.
Also in 2016, Arellano supported Trump’s presidential campaign based on an appreciation for the businessman’s economic and national security priorities. He also became an active member of Latinos for Trump.
Over the next few years Arellano became a visible and vocal commentator in Arizona and across the country about conservative values, something the charismatic father of four parlayed into television, radio, and press interviews in support of Republican ideals.
Arellano recently moved to the Phoenix Valley where his business is located. In January, he challenged Arizona GOP chair Kelli Ward for the state committee’s top position.
Ward has been a cheerleader for Stop the Steal activities in the state and was supported by Trump in her effort to remain as the Republicans’ state chair. In announcing his candidacy, Arellano noted Arizona may be becoming an increasingly diverse state, “but we still have a strong independent right-of-center electorate that is ready to support conservative candidates who will fight for liberty and our constitutional rights.”
Ward was declared the winner by a narrow margin of only 42 votes. Soon after, dissatisfaction among party members about how the Arizona GOP conducted the election led to calls for an audit, including a request from Arellano.
After Ward said she did not have authority to approve an audit, Beard and other Republicans filed a lawsuit last week to challenge the January results and demand a full audit.
Arellano is not a party to the lawsuit, but he confirmed he requested an audit after a candidate for another party office was announced as a winner, only to be informed by Ward later on that someone else actually won. The audit request is not personally or politically motivated, he insists.
“This isn’t about the chairman’s race, this is about election integrity,” Arellano said.
MOST INTERESTING MAN IN #ARIZONA? @SurgeArellano? Almost #GOP Chair & @nytimes quotee: "I didn’t want to be poor so I chose GOP. There’s an assumption when starting in this country you will identify with the poor. But what I wanted was to make my own $.” https://t.co/dcBS5OrwQl
— Jason Rose PR (@jasonrosepr) March 7, 2021