As Arizona political junkies feverishly refresh their screens for the remaining votes to be counted, the early numbers reveal one reason Donald Trump is poised to win the state he lost four years ago.

Call it the revenge of the border counties.

Based on the count so far, Pima County didn’t change its voting pattern. In 2020, Joe Biden defeated Trump by 18 percentage points, and Kamala Harris appears to have maintained that lead with a 17 percent advantage as of Thursday morning.

Most of Pima County’s border with Mexico is part of the sparsely populated Tohono O’odham Nation. The vast majority of residents live well to the north, in and around Tucson.

The story is much different in the three remaining border counties.

Trump defeated Biden in Cochise County, located in the southeast corner of the state.

In 2020, the Republican received 58% of the vote, compared to the Democrat’s 39%. Despite Cochise County’s previous red leanings, Trump vastly improved his........

© Arizona Republic