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    These Mormon women are rejecting Trump, fraying GOP support in a key state

    In this swing state, every voting bloc can make a difference. That includes Maricopa County's LDS community, where Republican women have been turning away from former President Donald Trump.
    by Ximena Bustillo Apr 14, 2024 7 minutes
    A group of women who attend the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Arizona speak to NPR on March 18.

    GILBERT — It was Annie Lewis' idea to put a "Republicans for Biden" sign in the front yard in the lead-up to 2020. For her, it came down to civility. As a teacher for over a decade, the mother of six little ones, and a lifelong member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she felt then-President Trump did not show true leadership.

    "I was embarrassed anytime a clip of Trump, at that time, was on and my children were in the room," Lewis said.

    Lewis was not alone in her thinking. In 2020, GOP residents of Maricopa County in Arizona banded together to stand up against Trump. The signs were created by Dan Barker, a leader in the Maricopa County LDS community and former GOP-appointed judge, who wanted to find a way to support Biden without giving up his lifelong Republican identity.

    His wife, Nan, was the one who pushed him to have a sign.

    "She probably got there quicker than I did," said Barker, who in 2020 started the political action committee Arizona Republicans Who Believe in Treating Others with Respect. "I just wasn't quite comfortable identifying with the Democratic Party. And so for me, I said, hey, well, I'd rather do something

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