Women will send a ‘clear signal’ to Donald Trump, says Tim Walz in final presentation in Arizona

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

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

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

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

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

More than 1.2 million Arizonans have already voted in the historic election between Trump and Harris, including many who saw Walz speak outside High Magnet School in Tucson.

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

Harris’ Arizona campaign is focusing on areas where early voting is lagging, such as South Tucson and South Phoenix, to get voters out on Tuesday. By Saturday afternoon, campaign volunteers and staff had knocked on 53,000 doors across Arizona.

Walz noted that Arizona, a battleground state with 11 electoral votes, could have a significant impact on the outcome of the race. President Joe Biden won here by fewer than 11,000 votes four years ago and turned 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, one or two votes per precinct could be what it takes to win the whole damn race for the country.”

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

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

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

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

“You would think that in his nearly 80 years on earth, being such a genius, what he calls a ‘stable genius,’ he would have gone to the Wharton School, and from what he tells us, you would think that he had already found out what the damn tariff was. Because Donald Trump says, ‘Oh, we’ll put tariffs on all these things, and the Chinese will pay for it,'” Walz said. “Nobody is buying it.”

Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords also appeared on stage in their hometown. Kelly criticized House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, for suggesting this week that the GOP might try to repeal the CHIPS and Science Act. Johnson later retracted this comment.

“If they have the opportunity, they will pursue the CHIPS and Science Act, which, folks, will bring billions of dollars of investment and tens of thousands of jobs to our state,” Kelly said.

About 120 miles north of Tucson, Trump’s vice presidential nominee JD Vance showed up in Arizona on Saturday to a rally in Scottsdale, where he linked immigration to the state’s economic problems.

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

That was the case for Sarah Jacobs, 46, who lives in Tucson and is thinking about the 2020 election.

“I was very concerned about the last election because the former incumbent tried to block the peaceful transfer of power,” Jacobs said. “So that’s probably what worries me most about this particular election.”

“Our democracy is at stake. And it sounds so dramatic, but it’s really true,” said Linda Becerril, 59, who attended the rally with Claudia Becerril. Both said they felt a surge of energy and hope after hearing Walz on the stump.

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

“I’m very worried about having my own daughters because we’re now starting to a point where it’s impossible to talk to anyone,” Claudia Becerril said.

Tucson resident Ajani de Rock, 19, has already cast his ballot 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 “the way forward.”

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

Still, de Rock is on edge ahead of Tuesday.

“I saw the polls last night, I couldn’t sleep because of them,” he said. “It showed that Trump is far ahead in Arizona. I don’t know if it’s true or not, but it really worries me.”