Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump will make a campaign appearance in Tucson on Thursday, speaking at the 2,200-seat Linda Ronstadt Music Hall, while Doug Emhoff, husband of VP Kamala Harris, will also make a campaign swing here the same day.
Trump’s campaign said he will “deliver remarks on our struggling economy and the rising cost of housing.”
The former president’s campaign announcement focused on Latinos, making a pitch that “Arizonans trust President Trump to Make America Affordable and Safe Again” with a somewhat corny play on his “MAGA” branding.
Specific details of Emhoff’s campaign stop were not yet available Monday afternoon. The Harris campaign said the event is part of the “New Way Forward battleground tour to mobilize support, drive enthusiasm, and reach the voters who will decide this election.”
Trump made a photo-op stop at the border on August 22 in Cochise County, and spoke the next day in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale. In that political swing, the former president went back to his greatest hits, describing what he said is crime caused
by illegal immigrants, and a faltering country beset by economic issues.
“We have to have strong protection in our country, or our country is going to wither away,” Trump told reporters, standing next to the border wall.
Monday, the Trump campaign said his stump speech in Tucson would “highlight Kamala Harris’ devastating policies that have wreaked havoc on Arizonans and the many reasons Hispanic voters are flocking to the Republican Party.”
Trump has repeatedly emphasized his plans for mass deportations of immigrants, saying Saturday at a rally in Wisconsin that “Getting them out will be a bloody story.”
Last month, Democrats criticized Trump’s Cochise visit, including U.S.
Sen. Mark Kelly, who said that Trump was coming to the
Arizona border for a “photo op.”
“He’s coming here to take a photo,” Kelly said. “But Arizonans and
Americans across the country, they see through this, and they know that
there’s only one person who is actually interested in finding some real
solutions to solving the issues at our border, and that is Vice
President Harris.”
Kelly added that Trump tanked the Border Act of 2024,
which would have increased border enforcement and was supported by the
National Border Patrol Council. The legislation, crafted by independent
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, Republican Sen. James Lankford of
Oklahoma and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, was unveiled
in February, but after Trump blasted the effort, House Speaker Mike
Johnson declared it “dead on arrival.”
The morning after the
bill’s introduction, the Republican party leader posted on his Truth Social network that “Only
a fool, or a Radical Left Democrat, would vote for this horrendous
Border Bill, which only gives Shutdown Authority after 5000 Encounters a
day, when we already have the right to CLOSE THE BORDER NOW, which must
be done.”
Kelly said that Trump “blew the whole thing up. He told
Senate Republicans that they were not allowed to vote for this and they
didn’t walk away from this legislation. They woke up one morning (and)
because of what Donald Trump said, they ran away from it.”
Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign never paid an $82,000 invoice for security
for a rally at the Tucson Convention Center arena. That venue has a
maximum capacity of 8,900. Tucson city officials said they now require
payment in advance to ensure political campaigns don’t skip out on
bills.
This week’s contract for using the 2,200-seat Music Hall at TCC will
run about $145,000, with the Trump 47 Committee Inc. joint fundraising
committee footing the cost, city officials said. A committee representative signed off on a contract for the rental on Monday morning, according to a copy provided by the city. That agreement includes $155,000 to cover estimated crowd control and security provided by the Tucson Police Department.
The contract requires the entire $145,222.70 estimate to be paid upon receipt.
Trump is scheduled to speak around 2 p.m. on Thursday, with doors opening at 11 a.m. Attendees must sign up with a confirmed mobile phone number to receive tickets to the event, Trump’s campaign site said.
The Trump campaign referred to the venue as the “Tucson Music Hall,” but it was renamed for the native Tucson music legend and longtime outspoken Democrat Linda Ronstadt in 2022.
With Congress back in session, U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani is unlikely to attend Trump’s campaign event this week. The Southern Arizona Republican did not attend Trump’s Cochise stop last month. The GOP congressman has worked to paint himself as “bipartisan,” in order to not appear to be in lockstep with Trump, despite the former president’s endorsement this year.
Southern Arizona’s other member of Congress, U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, is still limiting public appearances in the wake of cancer treatments earlier this year. The Democrat is also unlikely to appear at the event for his party’s presidential campaign.