Mesa Mayor John Giles, co-chair of the Arizona chapter of Republicans for Harris, addresses the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago on Aug. 20, 2024. (Photo by Kelechukwu Iruoma/Cronkite News)
MESA – Election season is in full swing. Arizona is one of the most important states in this year’s presidential “race to 270.” The purple state contains 11 electoral votes that could make or break either campaign for former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris. And Republicans in Arizona who are publicly switching their support to Harris could have an impact.
“I remain registered as a Republican because I think it most closely identifies with where I’m at politically,” said Mesa Mayor John Giles, who has endorsed Harris. “There are absolutely things about the Biden-Harris administration that I have policy differences with. I think the fearmongering from the Trump campaign about Vice President Harris being a socialist or calling her Comrade Harris, you know, those are way overblown. I think she’s demonstrated that when it comes to governing and when it comes to problem solving, she will do that. She will compromise, and she’ll work with Republicans, and she’ll govern from the middle.”
Last month, Giles was a speaker at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, which has since been a talking point for Democrats. The nonpartisan mayor, who holds a nonpartisan office, is a registered Republican and is co-chair of Arizona Republicans for Harris. Giles has been vocal in his support in his last term as mayor and has also joined the Arizona Latter-day Saints for Harris-Walz Advisory Committee. The group, which launched last week, wants members of the church to consider voting for a Democrat in this election.
“I’m calling on other religious people to join us in telling people it’s OK and more than OK, to be a person of faith and be supporting somebody other than Trump,” Claudia Walters said at the committee’s news conference last week. Walters is co-chair of the advisory committee and a former Mesa vice mayor.
Walters made it clear that members of the church who might be opposed to liberal views of gender, same-sex marriage and abortion should put their views aside and vote for Harris.
“It’s difficult to identify what the Trump policies are right now because he is very much a populist. Donald Trump’s policies change whenever, you know, the winds change,” Giles said, noting he thinks the party is “no longer being anchored by loyalty to principals, but just subject to the whims of an individual. Then that individual will change his position to pander to whatever he thinks will be the most successful for him personally.”
Paul Lewis, an associate professor of political science at Arizona State University’s School of Politics and Global Studies, said he didn’t think there would be much effect from Giles and others switching sides to support Harris.
“I think it is more something the Harris campaign can trot out there and say, ‘Hey, look, we’re not just a traditional base of Democrats here, but we appeal to a broad swath of people.’ It’s also a way to increase their messaging about Trump being dangerous or objectionable,” Lewis said.
Jimmy McCain, another Arizona native and political figure, also crossed party lines to endorse Harris. McCain is the son of the late John McCain, a Republican senator from Arizona and GOP presidential nominee in 2008.
“I think Jimmy McCain’s statement is, hopefully, getting the attention of people in the Republican Party,” Giles said. “There’s going to be some generational changes. People that may have come from a traditional Republican background, if the policies continue to not reflect modern day, younger generation’s priorities, then they’re going to lose people in the party.”
From left, Arizona Latter-day Saints for Harris-Walz Advisory committee co-chairs Claudia Walters and Joel John, and committee member Monica Chabot, hold a news conference Sept. 19, 2024, in Mesa. (Photo by Nash Darragh/Cronkite News)
Those generational changes come from mainly voters age 18-29, according to Arizona-based HighGround Public Affairs Consultants. Polls show that the race in Arizona in slight favor of Trump, according to FiveThirtyEight, a data polling site.
“Younger people in polls tend to skew more liberal or Democratic,” Lewis said.” It’s a demographically more diverse age group. … We know that Latinos, Blacks and Asian Americans on average tend to identify more as Democrats. There are people with socially liberal attitudes with issues like abortion rights, same-sex marriage, LGBTQ issues more generally. The polling skew is not that surprising to me. The question is how many of those people actually turn out and vote.”
Giles agreed that there’s a general divide within the parties.
“I’m hoping that that’s part of what saves the Republican Party eventually. Frankly, I think a lot of the policies that you’re seeing that Donald Trump is pandering to represent an older generation,” Giles said. “And a lot of these kinds of white Christian nationalist-motivated policies will not be part of the winning philosophy in the Republican Party any longer.”
Giles expressed frustration with what the Republican Party has become.
“I still am baffled by the MAGA party’s lack of desire to help Ukraine. I’m still baffled by the Republican Party’s enthusiasm over tariffs,” Giles said. “Those aren’t long-standing Republican principles. So it is tough because I am opposed to a lot of Donald Trump’s principles, because I don’t think they are Republican. I have to add that Donald Trump cut taxes, which was great, but at the same time, he increased spending, resulting in $2 trillion of additional debt. So again, I don’t see him as someone who really represents the Republican base.”
Giles said his decision to oppose the Republican candidate was one that received a lot of backlash. “I’ve been censured by the party. I’ve received probably hundreds of emails telling me that I’m wrong, the polite ones tell me that I’m wrong. There’s plenty that are a little more colorful than that, so absolutely, there’s been pushback,” Giles said.
But Giles said he was more overwhelmed by the positive feedback he has received not just from the left but also from Republicans. “Frankly, I’ve been more impressed and taken aback by the reaction I’ve gotten from people that have expressed support for the things that I’ve been saying, including a lot of Republicans.”
