Vice President Candidate Tim Walz Holds Rally at Tucson High Magnet School in Tucson, Ariz on Nov. 1, 2024
By Emmanuel Rodriguez
On November 1, Governor of Minnesota and Democratic Vice-President Candidate Tim Walz held a rally at Tucson High Magnet School in a last-minute effort to rally the vote from Tucson voters. The rally, just three days before Election Day, hosted a small yet attentive crowd eager to hear from Tim Walz and other leaders such as Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Verlon Jose, Ariz. Democratic Chairwoman Yolanda Bejarano, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero, Senator Mark Kelly, Former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra.
Jose encouraged attendees to “walk and talk and knock all the time” and told people to “encourage everyone to vote.” Bejarano, who has served as the chair of the Arizona Democratic Party since January 2023, spoke on the power that Arizona Democrats have. “It was AZ Democrats who fought tirelessly to repeal the 1864 abortion ban that Republican-controlled legislature worked to pass,” Bejarano said. The Civil War-era ban, which was officially repealed on Sept. 14, 2024, enforced a two to five-year prison sentence to doctors who perform an abortion for a purpose other than a life-saving procedure.
Romero used her time to encourage those present to urge others to vote. “With just [three] days until the election and after several weeks of voting by mail and voting in person, please speak with your families, friends and neighbors, and even the people in the supermarket; please make sure that they go vote.”
Becerra, who recently visited Nogales, Ariz. to campaign for the Harris-Walz ticket, was asked what this election means for voters in Nogales. “I know what it means to the folks in Nogales that I saw. It means that they’re present, that they are respected, and the fact that the Harris-Walz campaign wants to be in Nogales is a message to them that we want them to be a part of this new administration. And that’s powerful because, as you probably know, folks in Nogales, they always get left out,” Becerra said. “They are far away from the main centers, and they’re very close to the border, but for us, for Vice President Harris, Governor Walz and for Democrats period, Nogales is important and I hope I was able to convey that to the people that I saw.” He also encouraged undecided Latino/Hispanic voters to “Decide. You got a few more days, but we want you to decide. We want you to vote. Most important thing is to vote. I always tell people, I’m a strong Democrat. I believe in Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, but I want people to vote.”
Walz took the stage and shared a similar message to the other speakers while also taking the time to highlight some of Harris’ plans for the economy and former Vice President Donald Trump’s time in office. The Minnesota Governor spoke on Trump’s economy, saying, “Let’s just level set what the Trump economy looked like: 2.7 million jobs lost, unemployment up, and the way he botched the COVID pandemic, tens of thousands of Americans died unnecessarily.” He spoke on Harris’s plan to expand the Child Tax Credit, provide tax breaks to millions of middle-class American families and to enact the first federal price-gouging ban. “Let’s be clear, 100 million Americans will see a tax cut under President Harris’ plan, specifically focused on a Child Tax Credit; $6000 to families in that child’s first year of life,” Walz said. He also spoke on the battleground state’s power. “This thing is not decided and it’s gonna be close. You know it better than anybody. This thing very well may be won in the state of Arizona.” To this day, it is not clear which candidate Arizona’s eleven electoral votes will go to.
In a last-minute effort to encourage those who have already voted and those who have not yet voted, it is clear that Arizona, and especially Pima County, is on the Harris-Walz campaign’s radar. While Election Day is close, these efforts to rally the votes are crucial in rallying support for the Harris-Walz ticket and drawing attention to their plan for this nation.