In Phoenix rally, Trump touts Arizona Republican ticket, cautions midterms are no sure thing

PHOENIX — President Donald Trump used his first Arizona appearance of 2026 to deliver a warning to his own party: presidents almost always lose the midterms, and he needs Republicans to defy that pattern.

“For some reason, even if you have a great presidency … the party does poorly in the midterms,” Trump told a packed Dream City Church in north Phoenix on Friday. “It doesn’t make sense. I’m still trying to figure it out.”

The roughly 50-minute speech at Turning Point Action’s “Build the Red Wall” rally toggled between a victory lap on Trump’s first-year record and an appeal not to let it breed complacency. He reached back to 2024 for his lesson.

“Don’t believe the polls,” he said. “We made (2024) too big to rig. Just keep going. No matter what you see, go out and vote.”

He credited the organization hosting him with helping deliver the state.

“In 2024, Turning Point’s grassroots army helped us win Arizona in an absolute landslide,” Trump said. “We’re going to win the midterms.”

Trump used the stage to thank some of the state’s GOP leaders and candidates, name-checking GOP Chair Sergio Arellano, state Senate President Warren Petersen, state Treasurer Kimberly Yee, state Rep. Alex Kolodin and former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb, who is running for the AZ-05 congressional seat.

The loudest applause came for former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio.

“There were no border problems when he was here,” Trump said. “He endorsed me right at the beginning … long before any of the politicians.”

His warmest words went to gubernatorial candidate U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs.

“Andy, you better win,” Trump said with a laugh. “I hate to lose him from Congress … but he’ll be a great governor.”

Before Trump took the stage, Biggs and other candidates made their own case.

‘Veto Katie’ becomes a common refrain

Biggs built his speech around the bills he said Gov. Katie Hobbs killed. Arizonans, he said, are missing out on tax relief, benefits for small-businesses, law enforcement funding and a measure requiring election results on election night.

“We will restore confidence in our elections. We’ll get our results on election night, unlike Katie Hobbs, who vetoed that as governor,” Biggs said. “Veto Queen Katie Hobbs.”

Rep. Abe Hamadeh dispensed with the policy list and went straight at the governor.

“I don’t know if she’s crooked, because honestly, I think she’s too stupid to be crooked,” he said. “She’s been an absolute nightmare for our state.”

In an interview before his speech, Biggs struck a different tone, naming water as the single biggest issue facing the state, a topic that went unmentioned from the stage.

“We definitely could use another dam,” Biggs told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

He cited a proposed desalination plant in Yuma and water reclamation projects he said he is pursuing with the federal government alongside Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton.

“That will save us 150,000 acre feet a year,” Biggs noted.

Biggs explained that his experience as a former state Senate president and his decade in Congress made him uniquely qualified for the job.

“I’m an Arizona native. I know this place. I love this place,” Biggs said.

Full-ticket push make up a ‘red wall’

The “red wall” brand is designed to convert Trump’s border-wall imagery into an electoral organizing metaphor.

“One brick at a time, one voter at a time, one conversation at a time, one neighborhood at a time,” Rep. Paul Gosar told attendees.

But the push went well beyond the governor’s race.

Gosar vouched for Rodney Glassman for attorney general.

Hamadeh broadened the target list to the full Democratic statewide bench.

“We have a cartel lawyer as secretary of state, we have an illegitimate climate activist parading around as an attorney general,” Hamadeh said, referencing Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Attorney General Kris Mayes.

Rep. Eli Crane called the governor’s office the most important race on the ballot and urged the crowd to rally behind Biggs.

“Republicans aren’t the solution to all of your problems,” Crane said. “But Democrats are pretty much the cause of all of your problems.”

Democrats have a response to Trump’s visit

The Arizona Democratic Party issued a response after Trump’s rally.

“The Trump economic agenda: Republicans broke it, Arizonans have to buy it,” said party chair Charlene Fernandez in a statement. “From high gas prices to worsening inflation, Arizonans are paying more because Republicans like Biggs, Schweikert and Ciscomani are committed to backing Trump’s war with Iran and cost-raising tariffs.”

A look ahead at Arizona’s election calendar

Arizona’s primary is set for July 21. Biggs faces U.S. Rep. David Schweikert and two other Republicans for the gubernatorial nomination. Hobbs is unopposed on the Democratic side.

Early polls show a tight general election. A Noble Predictive Insights survey in March put Hobbs ahead of Biggs 42% to 37%.

The midterm election is Nov. 3.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Heidi Hommel contributed to this report.

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