President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign is making it clear that Arizona is truly a battleground, with the president, vice president and his wife and the president’s daughter all scheduling stops this week.
Trump’s visit to Phoenix for a rally of Latino voters Monday was followed Wednesday by a stop by daughter and senior adviser Ivanka Trump. Vice President Mike Pence has two events planned Friday, while Karen Pence is set to visit Tucson on Thursday.
Arizona hasn’t voted for a Democrat since Bill Clinton won the state as he secured a second term in 1996. But Republicans are taking seriously polling that shows Democrat Joe Biden with a slight lead.
Ivanka Trump stopped by a Latinos for Trump campaign office in south Phoenix on Wednesday, greeting volunteers and joining them in phoning voters. She then went with Republican Gov. Doug Ducey to a business roundtable event where she touted her father’s economic policies as creating growth in Arizona and across the nation.
Citing a revamped trade deal with Mexico and Canada, streamlined regulations and a booming economy she said voters need to remember her father’s policies set the stage for that growth.
“In January 2020 the economy was setting records on every single metric, often No. 1 in history,” Trump said. “Every single group was experiencing an incredible boom that was coming as a result of smart economic policy.”
And Trump said her father will deliver more economic growth if he is re-elected. “We have no doubt that it will soar to new heights once we put this pandemic behind us,” she said.
She also said more tax cuts are coming, if voters chose her father in November.
“The president has promised more tax cuts and he will deliver,” Trump said. “He delivered the largest tax cuts in 30 years within the first year of this administration and he’ll do it again and he’ll do it quickly if given four more years.”
Biden promised to visit Arizona after Labor Day, but so far has yet to do so.
On a press call with reporters ahead of President Trump’s Monday visit, Arizona Democrats said they are not worried about the lack of local campaigning, noting that the pandemic has changed the rules for in-person rallies.
Still, the Biden campaign is pushing out campaign messaging, announcing Wednesday a new $65 million ad buy in Arizona and other battleground states targeting Trump on health care. An ad set to appear in Arizona features a father who is worried about the heart condition his young son has had since birth and underscores the Biden campaign’s promise to protect health care coverage.
Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
