Former President Donald Trump held a campaign rally Thursday afternoon at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall in Downtown Tucson.
The rally was hosted two days after Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris met on a debate stage for the first time. Thousands of people waited in line outside the venue, many in the early hours of the morning, to get a spot to watch Trump speak.
The poll margin between Harris and Trump in Arizona remains slim. According to a Sept. 12 poll from The New York Times, the two candidates are neck and neck in Arizona, both polling at 48%.
Some of Trump’s major talking points at Thursday’s rally included border security, housing, inflation and Tuesday’s debate with Harris.
Border Policy
Border security is a hot topic for Arizona voters, one Trump addressed in his speech Thursday.
“[Harris] and ‘Crooked Joe’ have destroyed our country with millions of criminals and mentally deranged people pouring into the USA totally unchecked, unvetted, and with inflation bankrupting our middle class,” Trump said. “On day one I will stop this invasion, I will seal the border, I will end the Harris migrant flights and I will begin the largest deportation operation in the history of our country.”
“The border issues recently, it’s just a huge problem in the U.S. and it’s affecting not only US citizens but our country economically and socially as a whole, and it’s just taking a big toll on our country and taking it downhill,” said Madison Sharkey, a rally attendee.
At Tuesday’s debate, Harris called Trump out for his role in ending a bipartisan border bill introduced earlier this year.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn introduced the Border Act of 2024 in February. Trump publicly denounced the bill, which would instate “a number of provisions, such as imposing new restrictions on border crossings that would authorize the government to temporarily enact emergency measures and stop unauthorized crossings” if border crossings pass a certain daily or weekly average, according to Forbes magazine.
Trump expressed his support for Senate candidate Kari Lake, who was in attendance, dubbing her “Border Kari Lake.” Trump also praised Congressional candidate Abe Hamadeh, saying Hamdeh and Kari Lake “will win on the border, you don’t have to talk about much else.”
Housing
Trump weaved conversations about the border into issues of housing insecurity in Tucson, a topic of concern for Tucson voters.
According to the City of Tucson’s Housing Affordability Strategy for Tucson plan, “Since 2017, median rent in Tucson rose 40% and today is over $1,200. Typical home values have increased at an even greater pace, from $176,199 in 2017 to over $287,000 this year. Household incomes are not keeping up with the rising costs of housing and the global COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated existing socioeconomic disparities.”
“When I return to the White House, we’ll require that all companies receiving federal housing subsidies to verify citizenship. We’re going to verify citizenship […] tax payers will not subsidize apartment rentals for illegal aliens,” Trump said.
Reproductive rights
Abortion is another contested topic in Arizona and across the country. As abortion laws currently stand in Arizona, “Doctors can perform abortions up to 15 weeks gestational age…[and] at any point in the pregnancy, including after 15 weeks, abortion is legal if a doctor determines that there is a medical emergency.” There are no exceptions for cases of rape or incest.
Proposition 139, on the ballot for Arizona voters in November, would cement the right to an abortion in the state constitution and “protects Arizonans’ reproductive freedoms and puts decisions about pregnancy and abortion where they belong: with patients and healthcare providers,” according to Arizona for Abortion Access.
Sharkey, and other rally attendees, expressed discomfort with and anger towards this law, citing religious concerns.
“With my religion, I don’t think it’s right, I think people should take ownership of their responsibilities and their issues and their mistakes and not kill an innocent life because of it,” Sharkey said.
Trump briefly mentioned abortion within the context of his debate with Harris, saying that in many states abortions happen at nine months, despite Harris claiming this was not the case. Trump said, on Tuesday, that he would leave abortion access up to the states.
Debate with Harris
Trump mentioned his Tuesday debate with Harris, criticizing ABC for how the debate was moderated and reaffirming his success.
“As everyone saw two nights ago we have a monumental victory with ‘comrade’ Kamala Harris,’ ” Trump said. He then went on to say he would not participate in any more debates with the Vice President.
However, according to a CNN Flash Poll, “63% of registered voters who watched Tuesday’s debate say Harris outperformed Trump.”
Youth voices and votes
In an election dominated by conversations about age, Harris and Trump are both working to appeal to young voters. University of Arizona students were among those in attendance at the rally.
First-time voter Abby Shoemaker, who started waiting in line at 9 a.m. for the 2 p.m. speech, stressed the importance of the youth voice in this election.
“We have to live in the next four years we’re growing up in these years and I think we’ve spent four years regressing from what the economy was,” Shoemaker, 19, said. “So I think it’s really important to have your own opinions and do your own research and go into it without anyone else’s opinions.”
Trump also acknowledged the age demographic of his rally attendees.
“My audience, they’ve gotten younger and younger,” Trump said.
According to a Sept. 4 poll from U.S. News and World Report, 65% of younger adults in critical swing states say they would support Harris over Trump.
Trump stressed to his gathered supporters the significance of their vote this November.
“This is going to be the most important vote in the history of our country,” Trump said.
Linda Ronstadt, for whom the venue Trump is holding his rally at is named for, criticized the former President prior to his Arizona visit.
“It saddens me to see the former president bring his hate show to Tucson, a town with deep Mexican-American roots and a joyful, tolerant spirit. I don’t just deplore his toxic politics, his hatred of women, immigrants and people of color, his criminality, dishonesty and ignorance – although there’s that,” Ronstadt said in a statement released Wednesday evening.
First Gentleman Doug Emhoff is scheduled to make an appearance at another venue in Tucson later tonight.
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