Kamala Harris makes immigration pitch during campaign rally with Walz in Glendale (2024)

Published: Aug. 9, 2024 at 6:50 AM MST|Updated: 12 hours ago

GLENDALE, AZ (AP/AZFamily) — Vice President Kamala Harris drew on her prosecutorial background to make her first expansive pitch on immigration to border-state voters as she and her new running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, attracted thousands to a campaign rally during their tour of battleground states.

Harris, the former attorney general of California, reminded the crowd that she, as a law enforcement official, targeted transnational gangs, drug cartels and smugglers.

“I prosecuted them in case after case, and I won,” Harris said in front of the crowd. “So I know what I’m talking about.”

Harris promoted a border security bill that a bipartisan group of senators negotiated earlier this year, which Republican lawmakers ultimately opposed en masse at Republican nominee Donald Trump’s behest.

“Donald Trump does not want to fix this problem,” Harris said. “Be clear about that: He has no interest or desire to actually fix the problem. He talks a big game about border security, but he does not walk the walk.”

Her effort to address immigration — a political liability that has dogged Harris for most of her vice presidency — head-on in the critical battleground state is part of a broader push from her campaign to make gains in Sun Belt states that had become increasingly out of reach with Joe Biden at the top of the ticket.

Harris has been courting the state’s fast-growing Latino population and released a new ad of her own, highlighting how Harris, the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, rose to the highest echelons of American politics.

As she has done in other campaign stops, Harris infused the theme of “freedom” throughout her remarks at the rally, especially regarding voting rights, gun safety, LGBT rights, and access to abortion.

“Arizona, ours is a fight for the future, and it is a fight for freedom,” Harris said, who had walked out on the stage as Beyonce’s “Freedom” blared out on the speakers.

The Harris campaign said more than 15,000 supporters packed Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale on Friday for the rally.

Harris’ message on safety and gun restrictions resonated with Jen Duran, a 37-year-old mother and independent voter.

“I have an elementary school daughter who has been going to this school since she was 4, and today we got a notification that there was a lockdown drill,” Duran said. “So safety for our kids is really important.”

Phyllis Zeno, a 65-year-old grandmother from Maricopa, said she was thrilled to hear Harris’ message of unity and her policy positions, especially on affordable health care and reproductive rights.

“Her message to me, it wasn’t just hope, but renewed faith in democracy, that we can do this,” Zeno said.

Several big-name Arizona Democrats, including Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and Rep. Greg Stanton, spoke at the campaign event.

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a former astronaut and gun control advocate, had been a top contender for running mate prior to Harris choosing Walz. Kelly has won two tough races in politically divided Arizona.

In passing over Kelly, Harris may have also lost the chance to win over people like Gonzalo Leyva, a 49-year-old landscaper in Phoenix. Leyva plans to vote for Trump but says he would have backed a Harris-Kelly ticket.

“I prefer Kelly like 100 times,” said Leyva, a lifelong Democrat who became an independent at the beginning of Trump’s term in office. “I don’t think he’s that extreme like the other guys.”

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

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

“Hold on a second,” she said.

Harris said she has been clear that “now is the time to get a cease-fire deal” to end fighting between Israel and Hamas that has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people in Gaza.

The Democratic presidential nominee said she and President Joe Biden “are working around the clock every day to get that cease-fire deal done and bring the hostages home.”

Harris added that, “I respect your voices, but we are here to now talk about this race in 2024.”

She responded differently earlier this week when Gaza protesters interrupted her during a Detroit-area rally. She talked over the protesters.

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

While there, she thanked volunteers, who were making signs with sayings such as “This Mamala is Voting for Kamala” and “Kamala and the Coach.” (Walz has been a high school football coach). She also emphasized it during the rally.

“As exciting as this is, we cannot lose sight of a really important fact: we are definitely running as the underdog,” Harris said. “We are the underdog. We are out in great numbers, but we got a lot of work to do.”

Gallego was among the people who welcomed Harris to the Valley on Thursday evening.

“We are ecstatic to welcome Vice President Harris and Governor Walz to the Valley today! Their rally will punctuate a string of successful events with energized voters all over the country—and we will show them that Arizonans stand ready to deliver on November 5,” Mayor Gallego said. “No one knows better than us Arizonans that the road the White House runs through our state, and we refuse to return to dark days under former President Trump. The Harris-Walz Administration will be the most pro-worker, pro-freedom, pro-family administration in our history, and we’re ready to get to work.”

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

“These last few months are going to feel like years, and it is tough 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 solid shape in the state even without Kelly on the ticket. The senator is expected to remain a strong advocate for Harris and is already mentioned for possible Cabinet posts or other prominent roles should the vice president ascend to the Oval Office.

“Not picking Kelly hasn’t put the brakes on support for Harris,” said Stacy Pearson, a Democratic strategist in Phoenix. She said she feels the same enthusiasm for the new ticket that has led to giant crowds greeting Harris and Walz at prior stops on their tour, including the home of another running mate also-ran, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

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

Arizona is something of a magnet for Midwesterners seeking to escape the cold. So, several observers say, Walz may still play well there. Scott Snyder, who moved to Phoenix three years ago from Detroit, wasn’t too familiar with Kelly’s background 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 out there coaching high school football. That’s something that resonates with me. You see him out there duck hunting. Same thing. That’s fairly 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 quickly started feuding with the late Republican Sen. John McCain, a political icon in the state. That sparked a steady exodus of educated, moderate Republicans from the GOP and toward Democrats in top of the ticket contests.

In 2018, Democrats won an open Senate race in the state, foreshadowing Kelly’s 2020 win and Biden’s 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 hewed to Trump’s style and his lies about fraud costing 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 past few cycles remain lukewarm, at best, on Trump.

“Trump’s not doing anything to embrace that segment of the electorate,” he said.

The campaign is already being fought over familiar turf in Arizona — its border with Mexico. Trump and his allies have been hammering Biden over the influx of migrants during his term and are shifting their attacks to Harris.

“It’s very easy for us to segue and switch our sights and focus on her,” said Dave Smith, Pima County’s Republican party chairman.

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

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 hasn’t done anything on 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 echelons of American politics.

Harris’ background and comparative youth have put Arizona and other Sun Belt states back in play in a presidential race that had been narrowing to the trio of “blue wall” swing states, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Though it has a robust younger population, Arizona is also known for its vast swaths of retirement communities. Pearson contended 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 ticket.”

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