Vice President Kamala Harris is making the closing statements of her campaign in battleground states as Election Day quickly approaches. In Arizona, a state where former President Donald Trump has gained some advantage, she is hoping to appeal to moderate Republicans who connected with the late Sen. John McCain, to help her win its 11 electoral college votes.
In 2020, suburban McCain voters were key to helping President Joe Biden win the state, becoming the first Democrat in a quarter-century to carry Arizona in a presidential race.
Four years later, Harris is promising Arizonans to govern as an institutionalist and cast Trump as a radical who is a threat to the American way of life, according to NBC News. She has sought to drive the message home by blasting advertisements in the state with some of McCain's biggest allies, including the late Senator's son Jim McCain, former Sen. Jeff Flake and Mesa Mayor John Giles.
"There are people, like myself, who are traditional Republicans— but just can't see themselves voting for a Democrat at the top of the ticket. And so they need to be comfortable with her," Giles said in an interview, adding that not only is he anti-Trump, but also is pro-Harris.
Giles added that convincing Republicans to support her is not only among her top priorities, but also among her biggest challenges.
"They need to know that she is not a wild socialist, progressive person that is contrary to their very soul, that she is someone who's going to govern from the middle," Giles said. "And is going to work on solving problems."
Harris seems to be aware of the challenge ahead of her, and the importance of bringing these voters to her side of the aisle.
At a recent campaign event in The Grand Canyon Event, the Vice President spoke repeatedly, and fondly of the late Senator, and praised him for his vote that helped save the Affordable Care Act.
"It required one more vote to keep it intact, and that vote was the late, great John McCain," Harris said in Chandler, just outside Phoenix. "A great American, a war hero: John McCain. And I'll never forget that night."
The strategy has brought criticism from another faction of Republicans, particularly the Trump campaign, which dismissed the tactic.
"Democrats are trying to capitalize on so-called soft Republicans, or whatever they're deeming this 'Republicans for Harris' group, but on the ground we're not seeing that go anywhere. It's more of a facade that it is any effort they're putting behind it," said Rachel Reisner, the Trump campaign's director of battleground state communications.
Similarly, Meghan McCain, the daughter of the late Senator also called out Democrats for trying to "reinvent history." The media personality said back in September that she will not be supporting Harris or Trump in November.
"Now, I know democrats want to reinvent history and turn my Dad into an illusion you guys need him to be depending on the political moment you need to bastardize his memory for..." McCain wrote in a post on X.
"But please don't make me start sharing what I remember him actually saying about Kamala Harris..." she added.
Trump is currently enjoying a slight lead in Arizona, being 2 percentage points ahead of Harris, at 48.7% to 46.7%, according to a polling average by FiveThirtyEight.
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