Kamala Harris and Tim Walz held a rally at a packed arena outside Phoenix, Arizona, on Friday, drawing perhaps the largest Democratic turnout of this election year.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, her running mate and local leaders took to the stage to debate immigration, abortion rights, Native American sovereignty and other issues, entertaining the crowd.
“I will always respect tribal sovereignty and I will always respect tribal self-determination,” Harris said, referring to Native American leaders in the room. Native American voters are credited with carrying Arizona to Joe Biden in 2020. The state is home to 22 federally recognized tribes.
Protesters interrupted Harris’ speech, chanting “Liberate Palestine” and other pro-Gaza messages. Harris stopped her speech to address the protesters.
“We’re here to fight for democracy, and that includes respecting the voices that we feel are being heard. Let me say a few words about that, and then I’ll get back to the point,” she said. “I’ve been very clear: Now is the time for a ceasefire, a hostage deal. The time is now, and the president and I are working around the clock, every day, to get a ceasefire and to bring the hostages home.” Her comments marked a noticeable change in tone from her appearance with Gaza protesters in Detroit on Thursday.
Ms. Harris and Mr. Walz took the stage at the 20,000-seat Desert Diamond Arena. Though official estimates have yet to be released, the Harris campaign confirmed that more than 15,000 people attended the Phoenix rally. Speaking to attendees onstage waving signs that read “Coach!”, Mr. Walz said the rally “may be the largest political rally in the history of Arizona.”
“Nobody cares about the size of the crowd,” he added.
Other Harris campaign events this week have drawn crowds of up to 15,000, drawing the ire of Donald Trump, who claims to have “addressed the largest crowd” of any person.
The Harris-Waltz rally marks a new effort for Harris’ fledgling campaign to put the Sun Belt back in the spotlight. Before Friday night, the state had appeared to lean Republican, with recent polls showing Trump leading Harris by single digits. But by the night of the rally, Harris and Trump were neck and neck in the state, with Harris at 44.4% to Trump’s 44.8% in a FiveThirtyEight poll.
A Friday morning poll showed Harris leading Trump by a narrow margin nationally.
Despite the large crowd, Harris reminded attendees, “we are the underdogs,” adding that they would have to work hard to win the election in a short space of time. Harris officially became the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee on Monday and announced her running mate on Tuesday after Biden dropped out of the race on July 21.
“I also bring you greetings from the incredible President Joe Biden,” Harris said. The White House announced the same day that Biden and Harris would appear at their first joint event since dropping out of the presidential race.
Speaking in a border state where immigration is often a top issue among voters, Harris struck a tough but progressive tone, highlighting her record as a prosecutor who “went after cross-border gangs, drug cartels and human traffickers” while calling for a path to citizenship.
“We know our immigration system is broken and we know what it takes to fix it: comprehensive reform, including stronger border security and a path to citizenship,” Harris said.
Border arrests have fallen nationwide but remain high in Arizona, where voters will decide in November whether to make crossing the border illegally a state crime.
Her remarks are echoed in a campaign ad released yesterday in which Harris says she will “add thousands of border patrol agents and crack down on fentanyl and human trafficking.” Republicans have criticized Harris’ handling of immigration, calling her Biden’s “border czar,” and an ad released last month by a pro-Trump super PAC blamed her for the “chaos” at the border. Harris was tapped by the Biden administration to address the root causes of migration.
Abortion rights have become another key issue in Arizona since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Harris noted that many states, including Arizona, have laws that “have no exceptions for rape or incest.”
Arizona currently restricts abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, but a high-profile state Supreme Court decision earlier this year temporarily reinstated a near-total ban. Voters in November will evaluate a ballot measure that would enshrine an abortion right up to the time the fetus is viable.
Long a Republican stronghold, Arizona tilted Democratic in 2020, with Biden defeating Trump by fewer than 11,000 votes, thanks to a coalition of Native Americans, Latinos, young people, white suburban voters and moderates who traditionally voted Republican but were disillusioned with Trump.
Democratic strategists had speculated that Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, who won two tough elections, might have helped solidify that coalition as Harris’ running mate. This was Harris’ first visit to the state since announcing Walz as her running mate.
Kelly and his wife, former Rep. Gabby Giffords, spoke before Harris and Walz. Giffords and Walz both served as freshman lawmakers in 2007 before Giffords was shot and killed in an assassination attempt in 2011. Giffords joined Walz in Minnesota when he signed a gun safety bill in 2023.
Also speaking at the start of the rally was Rep. Ruben Gallego, who is challenging Trump protégé Kali Lake for Arizona’s vacant U.S. Senate seat in November.