Former President Donald Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence are returning to Arizona to endorse their rival Arizona Republicans for governor.
Trump is holding a rally in Prescott Valley that will also feature his endorsement candidates Blake Masters for the US Senate and Cary Lake for governor.
Pence, a friend and ally of Gov. Doug Ducey, appeared in Peoria and Tucson. He is endorsing Karyn Taylor Robeson in the Aug. 2 GOP gubernatorial primary.
Follow Republican reporters’ coverage of former President Trump and former Vice President Pence’s campaign visits to Arizona here.
Trump vs. Pence, Lake vs. Taylor Robeson: What you need to know as GOP factions battle it out in Arizona
Nancy McGill, 61, woke up at 5:30 a.m. Friday at her home in Tempe and headed to Prescott Valley without even eating breakfast.
She volunteers for Cary Lake’s Republican gubernatorial campaign and serves as a marshal for the crowd of thousands gathered at the Findlay Toyota Center, where former President Donald Trump is leading a rally.
“I feel like I have to be a part of it to make it happen,” McGill said. “The efforts of ordinary people are the strongest. More important than all the money in the world is having people behind you.”
Lake had been on McGill’s radar for years and felt noticed when the longtime news anchor abruptly left her job at Fox 10 Phoenix and criticized the state of journalism. But Trump’s endorsement won her support.
“I feel like it’s gold,” she said. “Everybody that Donald Trump has endorsed, he’s vetted very well.”
Lake’s primary opponent in the Aug. 2 GOP primary for governor, Karyn Taylor Robeson, hosted a big name from the Trump administration at a rally Friday in Peoria. Speaking to about 350 people, Mike Pence criticized Lake as a “convert” from the Democratic Party, citing her past support for Democrats such as former President Barack Obama and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
McGill is wary of Robson. But if Robeson prevails in the primary race, she will have her vote.
“Even though I don’t think she subscribes to all of my conservative values, of course I would,” McGill said. “These borders must be protected. I don’t think we would have a chance if we had a Democrat governor.”
Luke Lollar, 19, was wearing a black shirt. In its center, a silhouette of a non-playable character with dozens of syringes full of vaccine sticking out of his face. There is a QR code on the forehead. At the top is the message: “I hope my government will let me go outside today.”
But Lollar on Friday had been out since 3 a.m. when he and his father lined up outside the venue to make sure they got seats. He was coming off three hours of sleep and was there to see Trump, not any of the candidates the former president is promoting.
“He doesn’t care,” Lollar said of Trump. “He just says what’s on his mind. He cannot be bought, he cannot be bribed.’
Blake Marnell is “The Man in the Suit on the Wall,” known for the patterned orange-and-brown suit he wears to Trump rallies and the handlebar mustache he curls as he speaks. His shirt is bright red, and in bold white it says, “Finish the wall.” He has been to dozens of star-studded rallies targeting Trump and has seen countless Trump allies warm up the crowd before Trump speaks. Marnell, who lives in San Diego, was in Prescott Valley to see Trump again. He also wants to see gubernatorial candidate Carrie Lake. He can’t decide who he’s more excited about.
Lake is the only politician he has seen command a crowd like Trump. Earlier this year, he attended Trump’s rally in Florence, where Trump and Lake got in on the action. When Lake spoke, Marnell said even Trump seemed stunned by the roar of approval the raucous crowd elicited.
“She’s the only politician I’ve ever seen do that,” Marnell said.
Marnell left his Southern California home at 7:30 a.m. Thursday and pulled into the Toyota Center parking lot just after 2 p.m. He hasn’t slept since, instead spending the last 24 hours talking to constituents and taking pictures with fans who recognize him from social media. And he has a front row seat in the center,
“I tried to sleep, but I was so excited,” Marnell said. “It’s a lot of fun for me to come to these rallies early because you get to talk to like-minded people that you might not be able to meet anywhere else.”
— Greg Swirnowski
As seats began to fill Friday at the Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley and the first speakers prepared to take the stage, dozens of people waited in line outside in temperatures reaching nearly 100 degrees.
As they filtered inside, abandoned lawn chairs, coolers and more lined the metal barriers, remnants of devoted fans who camped out early and long since fled the heat.
No one had to be transported off the scene, said EMS Coordinator Daniel Thompson.
Instead, most of the medical staff’s work revolved around keeping IV patients hydrated and reminding people in line to eat and drink water while they waited.
— Lacey Lach
When former President Donald Trump visited Phoenix last summer, gubernatorial candidate Cary Lake was one of his opening speakers and was just beginning to gain traction among his Arizona base.
You’re about as likely to find a Kari Lake shirt or hat among today’s rally crowd as typical Trump MAGA merchandise.
Lake, a former Phoenix TV news anchor, brings with her a level of stardom unmatched by most state political figures. Dozens of people who had squeezed through the arena doors, finally escaping the heat as they made their way through security, were enamored as Lake and her team made their way through the metal detectors, beginning to chant her name within seconds.
Brooklyn Cole is 18, voting in her first election this fall and volunteering on Lake’s campaign.
Through that experience, Cole said, she was able to find a like-minded community among her colleagues, as well as a candidate she believed in.
“She’s going to work to help Arizona,” she said. “It’s good to see like-minded people who actually want to help Arizona.”
— Lacey Lach
A festive atmosphere set against a background of classic rock greeted Trump supporters in patriotic outfits and a who’s who of Arizona political figures who still filled the Findlay Toyota Center in Prescott Valley.
About 2,000 people were seated in one half of the stadium, most facing the podium where a series of speakers, including gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, will be heard, culminating in a scheduled appearance by former President Donald Trump at 7 p.m. Behind the podium was a large ” Save America” ” Banner and Seven Flags of the USA. Mike Lindell, the Trump-supporting CEO of MyPillow, spoke to local and national TV news outlets on a raised platform. Outside, people continued to move through security after passing the Donald Trump statue and merchandise booths.
Several legislative candidates were among those in attendance, with some expressing concern about one of the main themes of the event: alleged election fraud that robbed Trump of his rightful victory in 2020. It’s a theory that has been debunked by federal judges, local county recorders and election experts.
Liz Harris, a Chandler real estate agent promoting the election conspiracy who is running against five other Republican candidates for the state legislature in the Aug. 2 primary, told The Arizona Republic that she would be concerned about fraud in the primary. , even if he wins.
Former state legislator Anthony Kern, who was photographed on the steps of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 and is now running for the state Senate, held his fingers in the sign of the cross and stood back when a Republic reporter asked him a question. One of his handlers yelled at him to “keep moving!”
Janae Shamp, who is running for state senator in Legislative District 29, said her campaign saw an immediate boost after being endorsed by Trump.
“We were leading in the polls,” she boasted. “Now we’re leading even more.”
She said she was excited for her husband, Skip, to meet “the president.”
— Ray Stern
Former President Donald Trump on Friday endorsed veteran and small business owner Eli Crane for the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona’s 2nd Congressional District.
The winner of the Aug. 2 Republican primary in the largely rural district, which includes Apache, Coconino, Graham, Greenlee and Navajo counties, as well as parts of five other counties, will face Democratic incumbent Tom O’Halleran on the 8 November General Election.
In a written statement, Trump said: “With Eli as the Republican nominee, we will defeat Democrat Tom O’Haleran, a puppet of (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi, who is weak on borders, the Second Amendment, election integrity and is shame on the people of Arizona. Eli Crane has my full and complete approval!”
In response to the endorsement, state Rep. Walt Blackman of Snowflake, one of Crain’s Republican rivals for the House seat, called Crain a “fake America First candidate” and said that “hired consultants have again given bad advice to President Trump, when it comes to who I should support.”
“Ellie Crane is a bogus America First candidate who doesn’t live in our district and doesn’t understand our values in rural Arizona,” Blackman said. “It should come as no surprise that he never voted for President Trump or any Republican in a primary because he showed his true colors when he moved his business out of Arizona to avoid paying taxes in our state . …I look forward to serving in Congress and will be a tireless advocate and champion for President Trump’s America First agenda.
The crowded 2nd Congressional District GOP primary also features: Mark DeLuzio, the self-described “chief architect” of Danaher…
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