Harris and Walz head to Arizona, where a vice president could still make a difference

PHOENIX – vice president Kamala Harris and his new running mate will hold a rally in Arizona on Friday as part of their tour of electoral battlegrounds, visiting a state where Harris bypassed a prominent Democrat in favor of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

Arizona Senator Mark KellyA former astronaut and gun control advocate, he was a leading candidate for running mate. He won two tough races in politically divided Arizona.

By bypassing Kelly, Harris may also have missed a chance to win over people like Gonzalo Leyva, a 49-year-old landscaper from Phoenix. Leyva plans to vote for former President Donald Trump, a Republican, but says he would have supported a Harris-Kelly ticket.

“I prefer Kelly by about 100 times,” said Leyva, a longtime Democrat who became an independent at the start of Trump’s term. “I don’t think he’s as radical as the other guys.”

In Arizona, every vote will be critical. The state is no stranger to tight races, including in 2020, when President Joe Biden defeated Trump by less than 11,000 votes. Both parties are gearing up for a similar photo finish this year.

“These last few months are going to feel like years and it’s hard to see anyone winning by a large margin,” said Constantine Querard, a veteran Republican strategist in the state.

Democrats profess confidence that Harris is in good shape in the state, even without Kelly on the ticket. The senator is expected to continue to be a strong supporter of Harris and has already been mentioned for possible Cabinet positions or other senior roles should the vice president ascend to the Oval Office.

“Not picking Kelly didn’t slow down support for Harris,” said Stacy Pearson, a Democratic strategist in Phoenix. She said she feels the same enthusiasm for the new addition that led to giant crowds greeting Harris and Walz at previous stops on his tour, including the home of another running mate also running for office, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Another Democratic strategist in Arizona, DJ Quinlan, agreed. “There is a lot of enthusiasm on the ground. For me, it’s the closest thing there is to what 2008 was,” he said, referring to former President Barack Obama’s first candidacy, which electrified Democratic voters.

Arizona is something of a magnet for Midwesterners looking to escape the cold. So, several observers say, Walz could still play well there. Scott Snyder, who moved from Detroit to Phoenix three years ago, wasn’t too familiar with Kelly’s background or her 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 coaching football at school. 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 went national.

In 2016, Trump won Arizona, then started quickly rivalry with the late Republican Senator John McCain, a political icon in the state. This has sparked a steady exodus of educated, moderate Republicans away from the Republican Party and toward Democrats at the top of ticket races.

In 2018, Democrats won an open Senate race in the state, foreshadowing Kelly’s victory in 2020 and Biden’s victory there as well. In 2022, Kelly won again and Democrats won the three major state races for governor, attorney general and secretary of state, defeating Republican candidates who followed Trump’s style and lies about fraud that cost him the 2020 presidential election .

Chuck Coughlin, a Republican strategist and former McCain staffer, said the same voters who have tilted the state toward Democrats in recent cycles remain indifferent, at best, to Trump.

“Trump is doing nothing to embrace this segment of the electorate,” he said.

The campaign is already being waged on familiar territory in Arizona – its border with Mexico. Trump and his allies have criticized Biden over the influx of migrants during his term and are shifting their attacks to Harris.

“It’s very easy for us to move forward and change our vision and focus on it,” said Dave Smith, chairman of the Pima County Republican Party.

Kari Lake, who is running against Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego for a Senate seat in Arizona, unveiled an ad late last week criticizing Gallego for supporting what the ad calls Biden and Harris’ “radical border agenda,” featuring repeated clips of the vice president laughing.

On Thursday, Lake argued to reporters that Harris is less popular in Arizona than Biden. “They like Kamala Harris even less,” Lake said. “They understand that she didn’t do anything at the border.”

Meanwhile, Harris is targeting the state’s growing Latino population with her own ad highlighting how Harris, the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, has risen to the highest echelons of American politics.

Harris’ origin and comparative youth placed Arizona and other Sun Belt states get back into the game in a presidential race that narrowed to the trio of “blue wall” swing states, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Although it has a young and robust population, Arizona is also known for its vast areas of retirement communities. Pearson said Biden’s age — 81 — put him at a disadvantage in the state.

“Retired colleagues were the first to say this isn’t right,” Pearson said of Biden’s age. “I’m much more optimistic with Harris and Walz at the top of the list.”

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Riccardi reported from Denver. Walt Berry in Phoenix contributed to this report.