Latinos in Arizona and other key battleground states are a hot commodity in this year’s high-stakes election.

Nationwide, at least 17.5 million Latinos are expected to cast a ballot in November. That voting bloc will play a decisive role in Texas, California, Florida and New York, and in the swing states of Nevada and Arizona, according to NALEO Educational Fund.

In Arizona, where Hispanics are a third of state’s population, more than 855,000 of them are expected to vote.

No wonder the battle to get them to the polls is playing out with multimillion spending of TV and digital ads and with boots on the grounds braving the scorching heat to knock on millions of doors before Nov. 5.

Nothing is being left to chance as polls consistently show that Vice President Kamala Harris remain neck-in-neck with Donald Trump, who appears to be gaining ground among Latino men.

The presidential race isn’t the only reason that local groups are sweating out – literally and figuratively – to turn out the vote.

Abortion-rights groups backing a ballot initiative in Arizona are courting Latinos with Spanish-language ads and going door-to-door to drum up support.

Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, who’s facing Republican Kari Lake in the U.S. Senate race, has been aggressively courting Latinos everywhere from neighborhood BBQs to packed soccer matches to hosting Spanish-speaking........

© Arizona Republic