Kamala Harris gives immigration talk at campaign rally with Walz in Glendale

Kelly’s wife, former Arizona Rep. Gabby Giffords, also addressed the crowd.

During the rally, Harris paused at a campaign rally in Arizona to directly address protesters in Gaza who interrupted her speech.

“Wait a minute,” she said.

Harris said she has made it clear that “now is the time to conclude a ceasefire agreement” to end fighting between Israel and Hamas, which has killed tens of thousands of people in Gaza.

The Democratic presidential candidate said she and President Joe Biden are “working every day and night to bring about a ceasefire and bring the hostages home.”

Harris added: “I respect your votes, but we’re here now to talk about this race in 2024.”

She responded differently earlier this week when Gaza protesters interrupted her at a rally in the Detroit area. She confronted the protesters.

Harris flew into Phoenix Sky Harbor on Thursday night and then acknowledged how tough the race will be when she and Walz toured a campaign office in north Phoenix on Friday afternoon.

While there, she thanked volunteers who made signs with slogans like “This Mamala votes for Kamala” and “Kamala and the coach.” (Walz was a high school football coach.) She also emphasized it at the rally.

“As exciting as this is, we can’t lose sight of one very important fact: We are absolutely in this as underdogs,” Harris said. “We are the underdog. We have a lot of numbers, but we still have a lot of work to do.”

Gallego was one of the people Harris welcomed to the Valley on Thursday evening.

“We are thrilled to welcome Vice President Harris and Governor Walz to the Valley today! Their gathering will cap a successful series of events with energized voters across the country — and we will show them that Arizonans are ready to deliver on November 5th,” said Mayor Gallego. “No one knows better than we, the people of Arizona, that the path to the White House runs through our state, and we refuse to return to the dark days of former President Trump. The Harris-Walz administration will be the most pro-worker, pro-freedom, pro-family administration in our history, and we are ready to get to work.”

In Arizona, every vote will matter. The state is no stranger to close races, including in 2020 when President Joe Biden defeated Trump by fewer than 11,000 votes. Both parties are bracing for a similar photo finish this year.

“These last few months will 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 say they are confident Harris is in solid shape in the state, even without Kelly on the ticket. The senator is expected to remain a strong advocate for Harris and has already been mentioned for possible Cabinet posts or other high-profile roles if the vice president enters the Oval Office.

“Kelly’s failure to pick has not dampened Harris’ support,” said Stacy Pearson, a Democratic strategist in Phoenix. She said she senses the same enthusiasm for the new ticket that has led to huge crowds greeting Harris and Walz at previous stops on their tour, including the home of another running mate, Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania.

Another Democratic strategist in Arizona, DJ Quinlan, agreed. “There’s a lot of enthusiasm on the ground. It’s the closest thing to what 2008 felt like to me,” he said, referring to former President Barack Obama’s first race, which energized Democratic voters.

Arizona is something of a magnet for Midwesterners looking to escape the cold. So, several observers say, Walz could still do well there. Scott Snyder, who moved to Phoenix from Detroit three years ago, wasn’t as familiar with Kelly’s background or his political views, but said Harris made the right choice in Walz.

“He reminds me a lot of my dad,” said Snyder, an electrician. “You see pictures of him out there coaching high school football. That’s something that appeals to me. You see him out there duck hunting. Same thing. That’s pretty common in Michigan, where I’m from.”

Arizona was a solidly Republican state until Trump’s combative political approach became nationally known.

In 2016, Trump won Arizona, then quickly fell out with the late Republican Sen. John McCain, a political icon in the state. That led to a steady exodus of educated, moderate Republicans out of the GOP and toward Democrats at the top of the ticket.

In 2018, Democrats won an open Senate race in the state, a precursor to Kelly’s 2020 victory and Biden’s win there. In 2022, Kelly won again, and Democrats swept the top three statewide races for governor, attorney general and secretary of state, beating Republican candidates who latched on to Trump’s style and his lies about fraud, costing him the 2020 presidential election.

Chuck Coughlin, a Republican strategist and former McCain aide, said the same voters who tipped the state to the Democrats in recent elections remain lukewarm toward Trump at best.

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

The campaign is already being fought on familiar ground in Arizona — the border with Mexico. Trump and his allies have criticized Biden over the flow of migrants throughout his term and are shifting their attacks to Harris.

“It’s very easy for us to change the subject 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 Senate seat in Arizona, unveiled an ad late last week slamming Gallego for supporting Biden and Harris’ “radical border agenda,” as the ad calls it, with repeated clips of the vice president chuckling.

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 she has done nothing on the border.”

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

Harris’ background and relative youth have helped propel Arizona and other Sun Belt states back into the presidential race, which until now had been limited to the three “blue wall” states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

While Arizona has a robust younger population, it is also known for its large number of retirement communities. Pearson argued that Biden’s age, 81, put him at a disadvantage in the state.

“Fellow retirees were the first to say this is not OK,” Pearson said of Biden’s age. “I’m so much more optimistic with Harris and Walz at the top of the list.”

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