Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are campaigning in Arizona, fighting for land in the Sun Belt
GLENDALE, Arizona: Vice President Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, drew thousands of supporters to a campaign rally as the new Democratic ticket continued its journey through the battlegrounds.
As Beyonce's “Freedom” blared throughout the arena, Harris took the stage to cheers and roars from the crowd of more than 15,000.
“As exciting as it is, we can't lose sight of a really important fact: we're definitely running as an underdog,” Harris said. “We're the underdog. We're out there in great numbers, but we've got a lot of work to do.”
The rally was held in a state represented by Democrat Mark Kelly in the US Senate, whom Harris passed as a candidate. The former astronaut and gun control advocate was the perfect candidate for a running buddy. He won two tough races in politically divided Arizona.
By passing on Kelly, Harris may have also lost a chance to land people like Gonzalo Leyva, a 49-year-old landscaper in Phoenix. Leyva plans to vote for former President Donald Trump, a Republican, but says he would support the Harris-Kelly ticket.
“I prefer Kelly like 100 times over,” said Leyva, a lifelong Democrat who became an independent early in Trump's term. “I don't think he's as extreme as the other guys.
In Arizona, every vote will be critical. The state is no stranger to nail-biting races, including in 2020 when President Joe Biden beat Trump by less than 11,000 votes. Both sides are preparing for a similar photo finish this year.
“These last months will feel like years, and it's hard to see anyone winning by a wide margin,” said Constantine Querard, a veteran Republican strategist in the state.
Harris acknowledged how tough the race will be as she and Walz walked through the campaign office in North Phoenix Friday afternoon, thanking volunteers who made signs that said things like “This Mamala Votes for Kamala” and “Kamala and Coach.” (Walz was a high school football coach).
“It's going to be a lot of work,” Harris told the Volunteers about the victory in November.
Democrats believe Harris is in good shape in the state even without Kelly on the ticket. The senator is expected to remain a strong advocate for Harris and is already being mentioned for possible cabinet posts or other high-profile roles should the vice president step into the Oval Office. Kelly is expected to attend the rally in Arizona.
“The fact that we didn't pick Kelly didn't dampen the support for Harris,” said Stacy Pearson, a Democratic strategist in Phoenix. She said she felt the same excitement about the new ticket that led to the huge crowds that greeted Harris and Walz at previous stops on their tour, including the home of another running buddy who was also running, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.
Another Democratic strategist in Arizona, DJ Quinlan, agreed. “There is a lot of excitement on the ground. It's the closest to what I felt in 2008,” he said, referring to former President Barack Obama's first run, which electrified Democratic voters.
Arizona is something of a magnet for Midwesterners looking to escape the cold. So several observers say Walz can still play well there. Scott Snyder, who moved to Phoenix three years ago from Detroit, was not familiar with Kelly's past or his politics, but said Harris made the right choice with Walz.
“He reminds me a lot of my dad,” said Snyder, an electrician. “You see pictures of him outside at high school football practice. This is something that resonates with me. You see him out there hunting ducks. The same thing. That's pretty common in Michigan where I'm from.'
Arizona was reliably Republican until Trump's combative approach to politics spilled over to the national level.
In 2016, Trump won Arizona, then quickly began feuding with the late Republican Sen. John McCain, a political icon in the state. This has caused a steady exodus of educated, moderate Republicans from the GOP and toward the Democrats in top-ticket contests.
In 2018, Democrats won an open Senate race in the state, foreshadowing a Kelly victory in 2020 and a Biden victory there as well. In 2022, Kelly won again, and Democrats swept the top three statewide races for governor, attorney general, and secretary of state, defeating Republican candidates who blasted Trump's style and his fraud lies that cost him the 2020 presidential election.
Chuck Coughlin, a Republican strategist and former McCain staffer, said the same voters who tipped the state to Democrats in the last few cycles remain lukewarm at best on Trump.
“Trump is doing nothing to embrace this segment of the electorate,” he said.
The campaign is already underway on Arizona's familiar turf – its border with Mexico. Trump and his allies have blasted Biden over the influx of migrants during his tenure, shifting their attacks to Harris.
“It's very easy for us to switch and switch views and focus on her,” said Dave Smith, chairman of the Pima County Republican Party.
Kari Lake, who is running against Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego for an open Arizona Senate seat, launched an ad late last week slamming Gallego for supporting what the ad calls Biden and Harris' “radical border agenda,” featuring repeated images of vice . chuckling president.
On Thursday, Lake argued to reporters that Harris is less popular than Biden in Arizona. “They like Kamala Harris even less,” Lake said. “They understand she didn't do anything at the border.
Meanwhile, Harris is targeting the state's fast-growing Latino population with her own ad highlighting how Harris, the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, rose to the highest levels of American politics.
Harris' background and relative youth put Arizona and other Sun Belt states back into play in a presidential race that was narrowed down to a trio of “blue wall” states, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Although Arizona has a robust younger population, it is also known for its large groups of retirees. Pearson argued that Biden's age, 81, puts him at a disadvantage in the state.
“Fellow retirees were the first to say it wasn't right,” Pearson said of Biden's age. “I'm much more optimistic with Harris and Walz at the top of the ticket.