Why would a Democratic win in Arizona necessitate that they win one of its most Republican counties?
Maricopa voted left of the state in 2016.
I wouldn't get too confident in any sort of trend just because of one election, but that's just me. The county had a huge 7.5% third party vote, and these are Democrats' percentages there the past several elections:
2016: 44.8%
2012: 43.6%
2008: 43.9%
2004: 42.3%
While Trump did drop down a lot from Romney's 2012 percentage (54.3% to 47.7%), hardly any of those voters felt comfortable deflecting to the Democrats.
Trump added 19k votes from Romney's total....Clinton added 136k from Obama's.
Didn't the county grow by more than both of those combined during that timeframe?...
Oh wait, that's the statewide numbers....lol, oops.
In Maricopa it's even worse. Clinton added 100k voters from Obama's total....Trump LOST 2k voters from Romney's total.