By james art 
- Sen. JD Vance visited Arizona as part of the Trump-Vance campaign’s latest effort to reach out to voters.
- He drew attention to immigration issues, blaming the Biden-Harris administration for the increase in immigration over the past few years. He also promised action against Mexican drug cartels.
- Voters are feeling a general sense of weariness as the 2024 election cycle draws to a close, but some are hopeful about what lies ahead after Election Day.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A wave of people wearing “Make America Great Again” hats and shirts lined up at a gun and ammunition manufacturing facility to hear Sen. JD Vance’s final speech before Election Day on Tuesday.
“In just three short days, we will return the White House back to the American people,” Vance told several thousand people Saturday afternoon in Scottsdale at Dillon Precision. “We’re in a very, very good place in Arizona, but I don’t want us to be lazy.”
During his 20-minute speech, Vance said former President Donald Trump would fix what Vice President Harris broke.
Vance was joined by Donald Trump Jr., Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, Senate candidate Carrie Lake, Arizona State Senate candidate Karyn Werner, Arizona State Representative Steve Montenegro and Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Gina Svoboda, all of who helped make the case to voters for supporting Vance and Trump. Vance’s wife, Usha, also accompanied him to the event, but she did not make any remarks.
JD Vance: There’s ‘a lot more joy on our end’
Speaking on immigration, Vance talked about the huge number of migrants who have passed through Arizona in the past few years, blaming the policies of the Biden-Harris administration for perpetuating the crisis at the southern border. He also criticized the current administration for not cracking down on Mexican cartels that traffic deadly drugs into the US
“Here is my solid promise that when Donald J. Trump becomes president of the United States, we’re going to go to war against the Mexican drug cartels, we’re going to get this poison … out of our country, and we’re going to get back to basic sanity,” Vance said. He went on to promise a “golden age of peace and prosperity” and to “make the American dream more accessible again.”
The Republican vice presidential candidate has criticized Harris for avoiding unsigned media interviews and for her responses to questions in interviews she has given.
“(The media will) say, ‘Well, the Kamala Harris campaign is a joy campaign,'” Vance said. “I think we’ve got a hell of a lot more joy on our side right now.”
He urged people to join his “big tent party”, adding: “You are welcome in this big tent as long as you believe in common sense, but we need to stop electing politicians who call half the country rubbish. who call half the country Nazis who call half the country fascists.
Trump Jr. recounts trip to McDonald’s, Charlie Kirk talks numbers
Donald Trump Jr. introduced Vance with an anecdote about a recent father-son fishing trip he took with his 10- and 14-year-old children, which included a visit to McDonald’s. “Let’s be clear, when Donald Trump Jr. has sticker shock at McDonald’s, it’s a serious problem.”
He admitted he was “comparatively spoiled” as he was “the son of a Manhattan billionaire”. But he added: “Growing up, I didn’t realize that McDonald’s was a luxury item,” before blaming President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Kirk repeated a number for Arizona fans to know. “Here in Maricopa County, there are 400,000 Republican ballots that have yet to be returned,” Kirk said. “We have to find those ballots and we have to get them into the system.” Besides being one of the few swing counties, Maricopa County is also one of the largest counties in the US by population.
Kirk, whose organization runs ballot-chasing events in Arizona, said he remembers the “sickness in his stomach” when Trump lost the Grand Canyon state in 2020.
“We are literally next to sections that voted for Joe Biden. We are next to areas that voted for Mark Kelly. And not because they won the argument,” he said, urging voters to exercise their right to vote and take their friends and neighbors with them to the polls.
The Turning Point founder also hit out at Arizona Attorney General Chris Mayes, a Democrat, for saying he would investigate Trump over his comments about former Rep. Liz Cheney at an event in Phoenix earlier this week with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.
Trump called Cheney a “radical war hawk” and said her feelings on war would change if “guns were pointed in her face.” Harris and Cheney criticized Trump for the remarks, and Mays said he would investigate the presidential candidate.
“I have already asked my chief of the criminal division to begin reviewing this statement, analyzing it to see if it qualifies as a death threat under Arizona law,” Mays, a Democrat, said in a televised statement. Kirk shot back, saying, “Instead of our attorney general doing the cartels that are killing our children, she’s trying to investigate Donald Trump’s speech.”
At one point, Kirk, who grew up in Chicago, said the one thing he loves about Arizona is that there are “very few native Arizonans unless you’re a (Latter-day Saint),” adding jokingly, ” They’re usually fifth generation, right?” He said that’s true at least in the Turning Point offices.
What is Arizona’s appeal to outsiders? “This state is what California was in the 1950s,” he said, adding that the state has a spark of opportunity, hope and a taste of the “American spirit.”
Lake, during his spirited remarks, gave the audience a taste of the Republican plan to reform “fake news.” The Senate candidate threatened media network licenses issued by the Federal Communications Commission. “We’re going to take a long, hard look at the FCC licenses that these people have. We give them these licenses and they lie to us,” she said.
Voters tired but resilient
At one point, Lake asked how many people had already voted, and most hands went up. She advised in-person voters next week to stay in line until they cast their ballot.
“I know we’re all sick of commercials. We’re sick and tired of just the weight of this political season, but in three days we’re saving our country, we’re taking our country back,” she said.
Even though they’ve already voted, many voters say they’re trying to keep their energy high during these final days of voting. Barry Marion and Sam Odell lined up to pick up yard signs after the event. Former President Donald Trump has been seen at a rally before. “He’s been here in Arizona non-stop,” Odell said.
Marion said he supports Vance’s arguments for closing the border and ending human trafficking. Democrats are running “four-to-one ads against us. The money they’ve raised compared to what the Republicans have raised is a whole different ball of wax. But at least the Republican Party is telling the truth,” she said.
Odle is also tired of the ads. For him, Trump and Vance are for freedom and justice. “Everyone should be treated equally. … This is what we must return to. And if you look and see what Trump actually did with his policies, you know, I call it justice. Make America Right Again. He hopes Election Day will bring change.
Mark Hackert, retired, 69, said he felt “excited about the conservative movement.” This is his first rally in years.
“Normally I would vote on election day … but this is the first time I’ve voted early,” he said, pointing to printer and voting machine malfunctions that undermined voter confidence. “Most people here voted early.”
“My faith is ultimately in Jesus,” Hackert said. “And you know, it doesn’t matter who wins, I’m not going to riot.”
