Tim Walz delivers speech in Mesa minutes before start of presidential debate

PHOENIX- Minutes before the presidential debate, Tim Walz took the stage in Mesa to promote the policies of his running mate Kamala Harris and criticize her opponent Donald Trump.

Inside the Mesa Convention Center, the Minnesota governor delivered a 10-minute speech on gun violence, the economy and immigration.

When talking about fundamental freedoms, Walz touted the Harris’ campaign stance to allow people to make health care choices, pursue education without debt and freedoms for students to go to school without fear of gun violence.

“Going back to school is a joyous time, it should be a time of excitement, of hope but … for too many of our children, it’s a time of terror,” Walz said. “I know guns, I’m a veteran and I’m a hunter but, I will not allow them to make this about the Second Amendment when our first responsibility is to the safety of our children.”

Walz, a former teacher, mentioned the shooting at a Georgia high school that led to four deaths and has put the issue of gun control back in the political forefront. In a rally in Arizona last week, Trump’s running mate JD Vance remarked that he doesn’t like that school shootings are a fact of life.

“They tell us we have to accept this even though it doesn’t happen anywhere else, but I’ll tell you what, we’re not going to roll over. This is America for God’s sake and we can fix this epidemic of shootings,” Walz said.

Harris v. Trump

With the debate on the horizon, Walz pitted Harris’ political stances against that of Trump, specifically on the middle class.

He said the Harris administration would aid the middle classes ability start a business, own a home, afford prescription drugs and have education opportunities. Walz attacked Trump and Vance’s claims that illegal immigrants have hurt the economy.

“They want to blame everything on immigrants. They don’t want to talk about Wall Street. They don’t want to talk about the price gougers.”

Walz continued to bring up a talking point that the Democrats have used against Trump. Project 2025.

The governor said that Trump would use Project 2025 as a template for his administration by cutting the taxes for the rich, fire experts in government and will ban abortion.

Trump has said he will not utilize ideas from Project 2025.

Why was Tim Walz interrupted by protestors?

Shortly into his speech, a pro-Palestinian protestor began to shout from the audience and held up a Palestinian flag.

Walz stopped for a moment but continued with his speech and the protestor was removed from the audience.

Harris faced a similar situation in an Arizona rally in August. Unlike Walz, the vice president addressed the pro-Palestinian protests and voiced her support of a ceasefire in Gaza.

Shortly into Walz’ speech, a pro-Palestinian protestor began shouting and attempted to interrupt Walz.

There was some yelling, some chanting, before that person was removed.

Walz didn’t really react and tried to continue speaking.

Here’s a vid of it: pic.twitter.com/loMQ8qt06O

— Balin Overstolz (@balin_om) September 11, 2024

The battle for Arizona

Neither campaign have hid how important Arizona will be in deciding the upcoming general election. Since late July, both campaigns have barnstormed throughout the Valley in an effort to appeal to vital voters and promote top priority issues in the state.

On July 31, JD Vance made his Arizona debut as Trump’s running mate. In a visit to Glendale, he promoted the main points of the Trump-Vance campaign, highlighting secure borders, lowering prices, restoring American dominance in energy, lowering taxes and bringing back manufacturing jobs.

A day after the rally, Vance visited the Arizona-Mexico border and used the time to criticize President Joe Biden and Harris on how their administration has handled the border.

A week later, Harris named Walz as her running mate, beginning a tour of battleground states that included Arizona. In a rally at Desert Diamond Arena, Walz introduced himself to voters and Harris spoke on abortion rights and immigration reform.

The political back and forth continued two weeks later when Trump held a rally in Glendale. Similar to Vance, Trump targeted immigration, crime, and closing the border. It was also the night where Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took the stage to publicly endorse the former president.

The Trump campaign didn’t let their presence dissipate for long due to Vance returning to the Valley in early September for a speaking event in Phoenix and Mesa.

Walz’s visit marks the fifth political engagement by either campaign in a span of 41 days. It’s not hard to see why.

In 2020, Biden won the state’s 11 electoral after narrowly beating Trump by just 10,457 votes. Arizona turning blue disrupted a streak of five straight presidential elections where the state had become a Republican stronghold.

Despite the Grand Canyon State going for Biden in 2020, the race is looking to be extremely close for either candidate. FiveThirtyEight’s election forecast, which is based on various polls, currently has Trump leading Harris 46.2% – 45.5%. The New York Times election polls tells a similar story with both candidates neck-and-neck at 48%.