Kristin Urquiza, whose father died of Covid-19, turned grief into activism at the convention.
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Version 0 of 1. One of the most memorable speakers of the first night of the Democratic National Convention was a woman whom many voters had never heard of: Kristin Urquiza, whose father, a supporter of President Trump’s, died of the coronavirus in Phoenix in June, not long after Arizona lifted many of its stay-at-home restrictions. “My dad was a healthy 65-year-old,” she said during the convention. “His only pre-existing condition was trusting Donald Trump — and for that he paid with his life.” In May, Ms. Urquiza, 39, graduated with a master’s degree in public policy from the University of California, Berkeley, and had planned to continue her work with international environmental policy. But the death of her father, Mark Anthony Urquiza, has prompted her to turn her focus on the impact of the pandemic in the United States. Already, her words are being featured in two political advertisements targeting voters in several swing states. The New York Times spoke with her about her family’s politics and what she planned to do in the weeks leading up to the presidential election. The conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity. You spoke about your father’s vote for Mr. Trump — how much did the two of you discuss politics? He was a Republican for most of his life. I just learned recently that when my parents got married, my mom was a registered Republican and he was a Democrat, but he said, “Well, I’ll be a Republican so we don’t cancel each other out.” I think my dad over time became very loyal to the party. He was an enthusiastic supporter of Trump. He liked that he was a businessman. He thought that he would bring a fresh perspective to his position. When he was in this hospital, we ended up talking about politics. I asked him, “What do you think now?” He told me that he felt sideswiped and betrayed by what was happening. I didn’t have the heart to dig in further, but there was a part of me that wanted to. I didn’t want him to feel like he was doing something wrong. My dad was following what he was told by people who are supposed to be leaders. How did you make the decision to turn grief into advocacy? I saw people in the neighborhood I grew up in waiting in line for hours for [Covid] tests in 107-degree heat — predominantly immigrants, predominantly Latinx. If I didn’t speak out, I didn’t know who would. Governor [Doug] Ducey was lock step with Trump on reopening quickly — that caused a spike across the country. I was not comfortable to have him with blood on his hands without being open about that. So by leaning into the advocacy, I couldn’t save my dad’s life, but I could potentially have that sort of higher purpose. |