PHOENIX — Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), Republican vice presidential candidate, and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), Democratic vice presidential candidate, will both headline campaign rallies in the Grand Canyon State on Wednesday, as early voting begins in a race that appears to be a dead heat.
About a week after the two faced off in the first and only vice presidential debate, Vance and Walz will travel to Tucson to encourage voters to turn out and take advantage of early voting.
This will be Walz’s second solo trip to the Southwest since becoming Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate. He will first participate in a veterans and military families event in the city of Chandler, which is southeast of Phoenix. Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ), who is running for Senate along with Jim McCain, son of the late Sen. John McCain (R-AZ), an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump, will also be at the event.
Walz will then participate in an event with Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis and other tribal leaders in Phoenix before wrapping up his Arizona swing with a campaign rally in Tucson in the evening.
Vance will hold a rally Wednesday afternoon in Tucson to encourage voters to “take advantage of the different voting options available — whether by mail, early in-person, or on Election Day — and ensure their voices are heard,” according to a release from his campaign.
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The effort comes as Trump has relayed inconsistent messaging on early voting, often sowing doubt in the legitimacy of early voting and resurrecting his claims of early and mail voting fraud, despite Republicans and GOP-aligned groups investing millions of dollars in battleground states to embrace those methods.
The former president has promoted early voting in recorded remarks played at the Republican convention and in ads. However, at his rallies on the campaign trail, he has complained about the practice being vulnerable to fraud and said it cost him the 2020 election.
“We used to be a state where Republicans really embraced voting by mail – and this inconsistent message is just not helping,” said a GOP consultant based in Phoenix, speaking on the condition of anonymity. “Completely relying on your voters to come out on Election Day is a losing strategy, and it only adds to delays in vote counting.
“It could also lead to less votes for our candidate because things happen, and sometimes people can’t make it out to the polling sites because of unforeseen circumstances — car troubles, work, family, you name it,” the consultant added. “So many of us do not believe any of the fraud claims.”
The first week of October has been busy for both campaigns in the state. Actress Jennifer Garner and former Trump administration official Stephanie Grisham campaigned for Harris on Oct. 5, and Kerry Washington, the popular actress from the show Scandal, hit the campaign trail with actors Glenn Close, Jessica Alba, and Michael Ealy on Oct. 6 to encourage early voting.
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Second gentleman Doug Emhoff will be in Arizona on Oct. 8 for campaign events, and GOP House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) is hosting a get-out-the-vote rally supporting Trump on the same day. Donald Trump Jr. also has six political events on Oct. 9 to promote early voting for his father, hosted by Turning Point Action.
Harris will visit the state for the second time in two weeks on Oct. 11 to encourage early voting. She recently traveled to the Arizona-Mexico border in late September. According to an average of recent polling, Trump has a one-point lead over Harris in Arizona.