Women will send a 'clear message' to Donald Trump, Tim Walz says in latest pitch in Arizona

TUCSON — Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said women are “going to send a loud and clear message to Donald Trump” Tuesday during his latest visit to Arizona, focusing on a key voter bloc that Vice President Kamala Harris is relying on to win the White House. win. House.

“We just trust women,” Walz said Saturday evening in Tucson. “Across this country, every age, every background, every political party, on November 5, those women are going to send a loud and clear message to Donald Trump. Whether he likes it or not.”

Walz made a final appearance in Arizona before Election Day as the 2024 presidential race entered its final hours. Harris and former President Donald Trump are locked in a contentious battle for the White House in the battleground of Arizona, where 11 Electoral College votes are up for grabs on Tuesday.

Public polls in Arizona give Trump a slight advantage in the state, which he narrowly lost to President Joe Biden four years ago. But those studies also show that large gender gapwith Harris leading among women and Trump receiving more support from men in Arizona.

“Donald said if you are a woman, he will be your protector. He can’t even open a garbage truck door,” Walz said, referring to Trump’s recent claim that “whether the women like it or not, I’m going to protect them.”

More than 1.2 million Arizonans have already cast ballots in the historic Trump-Harris election, including many who watched Walz speak outside Tucson High Magnet School.

“It may be hard for a group of you who have come here today to believe it, but there are still people who are not quite sure what they are going to do in this election,” Walz said, imploring his supporters to knock on the door and make phone calls in the next three days.

The Harris campaign in Arizona has shifted its focus to areas where early voting was lagging, such as South Tucson and South Phoenix, to turn out voters on Tuesday. Volunteers and campaign workers had knocked on 53,000 doors across Arizona by Saturday afternoon.

Walz noted that Arizona, a battleground with 11 electoral votes, could have a significant impact on the outcome of the race. President Joe Biden won here four years ago by fewer than 11,000 votes, turning the state blue for the first time since 1996.

“We are winning. Notice I didn’t say we won,” Walz said. “We know that in Arizona it may take one or two votes per district to win the whole damn race for the country.”

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra struck a similar tone when he spoke to the crowd before Walz, calling the race a “nail-biter.”

The visit marked the second straight Saturday that Walz got into trouble for Harris in Arizona. He visited Flagstaff in the early afternoon before coming to Tucson to make his closing arguments for the Democratic presidential ticket.

Walz focused his 25-minute speech on raising corporate prices, protecting health care, abortion rights and preventing gun violence.

Walz also took aim at Trump’s policy proposals and his character, saying that the background of Trump’s phone screen is a photo of himself and “that should tell you where he is.”

“You would have thought that in his almost 80 years on earth, and because he is this genius, what he calls a ‘stable genius,’ and he went to the Wharton School, which, based on what he tells us , would think he would. I’ve since learned what a damn rate was. Because Donald Trump says, ‘Oh, we’ll put a tariff on all these things, and the Chinese will pay for it,'” Walz said. “No one buys that.”

Arizona Democrats Sen. Mark Kelly and former Assemblywoman Gabrielle Giffords also appeared on stage in their hometown. Kelly took aim at House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., for saying this week that the Republican Party could try to repeal the CHIPS and Science Act. Johnson later walked back the comment.

“If they get the chance, they’re going to go after the CHIPS and Science Act which will bring, get this, folks, this will bring billions of dollars in investment and tens of thousands of jobs to our state,” Kelly said.

About 120 miles north of Tucson, Trump’s running mate JD Vance appeared in Arizona on Saturday for a rally in Scottsdale, where he linked immigration to the state’s economic problems.

Despite Walz’s optimistic stance on the stump, many voters who attended his rally said they were nervous about the upcoming election.

That was the case for Sara Jacobs, 46, who lives in Tucson and had the 2020 election on her mind.

“I was really concerned about the last election, when the former incumbent president did not try to block the peaceful transition of power,” Jacobs said. “So that’s probably what I’m most concerned about in this particular election.”

“Our democracy is at stake. And it sounds so dramatic, but it really is,” said Linda Becerril, 59, who attended the meeting with Claudia Becerril. Both said they felt energized and hopeful after hearing Walz on the stump.

Claudia Becerril interned in the office of the late Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona when she was younger and remembers discussing issues with people across party lines as a teenager. She complained that it is no longer possible.

“It’s very worrying that I have daughters myself, that we’re now getting to a point where you can’t have a conversation with anyone anymore,” Claudia Becerril said.

Tucson resident Ajani de Roock, 19, had already voted for Harris and convinced two of his friends to register to vote. He supports the vice president “because she is not Donald Trump” and she represents “a way forward.”

“She’s not a do-nothing Democrat,” he said.

Still, De Roock is tense now that Tuesday is looming.

“I saw the polls last night, I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “That showed that Trump had a big lead in Arizona. I don’t know if that’s true or not, but I’m really concerned about it.”