Arizona
Trump and Harris have campaigned a lot in AZ. Here’s how many times
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Election season is heating up, and with it, candidates are ramping up campaign efforts. In swing states like Arizona, the effort is tenfold.
Arizona has been a strategic campaign stop not just because it’s a swing state but also because it borders Mexico. Border policies have been a hotbed issue during this election cycle, and candidates have made special visits to learn more about the issue.
Vice President Kamala Harris, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, former President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. JD Vance have all focused campaign efforts in Arizona, which has 11 electoral votes and could affect the outcome of this year’s election.
Here are the times each candidate has made a visit to Arizona during this 2024 election season.
When has Kamala Harris visited Arizona?
As vice president, Harris visited Arizona half a dozen times, but many of those visits were not specifically campaign opportunities.
Since becoming the Democratic nominee for president in July, Harris has visited Arizona twice.
- September visit to the border: Harris visited Douglas and the Raul H. Castro Port of Entry, which was in line with her attempts to reach voters concerned about the nation’s border security. Harris met with border patrol agents and walked along a stretch of fence at the U.S.-Mexico border. She also spoke at Cochise College in Sierra Vista, where she pledged to crack down on the fentanyl crisis.
- August rally in Glendale with Walz: Harris held a rally at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, her first appearance after becoming the Democratic party nominee for president. Walz also spoke at that rally, as well as Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and his wife Gabby Giffords. That night, Harris made her case to become president. She highlighted differences between her plans and those of Trump.
Before the Aug. 9 rally, she visited during a trip on June 24 focused on reproductive rights. She was not yet the presidential nominee at that point. During that June event, she appeared with actor Francia Raisa and Arizona Corporation Commissioner Anna Tovar to discuss abortion rights in Latino communities.
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When has Tim Walz visited Arizona?
Since becoming the Democratic nominee for vice president, Walz has made two campaign stops in Arizona.
- September visit to metro Phoenix: Walz’s most recent campaign visit to Arizona was on Sept. 11, the same day Harris and Trump debated each other. Walz made stops in Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix. He met with party leaders and Arizona politicians like Arizona Democratic Party Chair Yolanda Bejarano, Tempe Mayor Corey Woods, Gov. Katie Hobbs and multiple tribal leaders. He also met with students from ASU.
- August rally in Glendale with Harris: The first was on Aug. 9, when he and Harris held a rally at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale. At that rally, Walz made his case for vice president, and spoke on his values about gun reform and women’s rights.
When has Donald Trump visited Arizona?
During his 2016 campaign, Trump made seven visits to Arizona to campaign. He again made seven visits to the Grand Canyon State during his 2020 campaign.
So far during his 2024 campaign, Trump has made three stops in Arizona.
- September visit to Tucson: Trump’s most recent stop in Arizona came on Sept. 12, when he spoke at Linda Ronstadt Music Hall in Tucson. During that speech, Trump promised to bring mortgage rates down to 2% and said he will “ban all mortgages for illegal aliens,” and doubled down on false claims that immigrants are eating house pets in Ohio.
- August visit to the border and rally in Glendale: Trump again visited Arizona for a two-day visit on Aug. 22-23. On the first day, Trump toured of the U.S.-Mexico border. On the second day, Trump held a rally at Desert Diamond Arena. It was a notable rally in the Trump campaign because candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced his endorsement of the Trump campaign.
- June town hall at Phoenix church: Trump appeared at a town hall meeting on June 6 hosted by the conservative group Turning Point Action at Dream City Church in Phoenix. That event followed closely after Trump was convicted in a ‘hush money’ scandal, and he focused largely on critiquing the case as being politically motivated. He called for his conviction to be overturned on appeal.
When has JD Vance visited Arizona?
So far during his 2024 campaign, Vance has visited Arizona three times.
- September visit to metro Phoenix: Vance’s most recent was on Sept. 4, an event co-hosted by conservative group Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, at Generation Church in Mesa. He also spoke at the Arizona Biltmore on Sept. 5, an event where he made comments about late Arizona Sen. John McCain.
- August rally in Glendale with Trump: Vance’s other visit to Arizona was on Aug. 23, when both Vance and Trump held a rally at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale.
- August border visit: On the first day of August, Vance made a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border and spoke at an unfinished portion of the border wall in Cochise County. Vance blamed the Harris administration for having “bad” policies when it comes to the southern border.
Do the candidates have any more plans to visit Arizona before Election Day?
Walz recently announced plans to make a campaign stop in Arizona. Though his campaign didn’t specify which day he’ll be in Arizona, his campaign said the reason for his visit is to kick off early voting, which starts on Oct. 9.
Harris, Trump and Vance have yet to announce future dates for campaign stops in Arizona.
Reach the reporter at zbradshaw@gannett.com or on X at @ZachBradshaw14.
A new study has ranked Arizona as one of the worst states to move to for two years in a row, largely due to what it calls a poor quality of life.
The study conducted by Consumer Affairs analyzed the best states to move to in the United States, putting Arizona at the bottom of the list.
Before Arizonans get too defensive about the Grand Canyon State, Consumer Affairs used factors such as affordability, safety, economic strength and education to measure each state, leaving out factors like entertainment, retirement benefits and other considerations that may be important to people living here.
Popular states such as California and New York also landed at the bottom of the list due to their lack of affordability, even though they both have some of the best health care and education in the nation, Consumer Affairs noted.
Here’s why the study says you shouldn’t move to Arizona. Do you agree?
Why you shouldn’t move to Arizona
Arizona ranked No. 10 out of the worst states to move to, scoring especially poorly in quality of life.
Quality of life was measured by the state’s Social Progress Index, average air quality, weather, environmental protection and number of national parks. Due to Arizona’s extreme summers and Phoenix’s consistently poor air quality, it’s easy to see why Arizona ranked No. 44 in quality of life out of 50 states, even though the Grand Canyon is one of the most popular national parks in the nation.
However, Arizona also ranked poorly in other categories, sitting at No. 42 in health care and education, No. 41 in safety and No. 34 in affordability out of 50 states.
There was one category Arizona did impressively well in, ranking No. 5 in economic strength even as one of the youngest states in the country. Still, Arizona’s economic power wasn’t enough to boost its ranking.
Top 10 worst states to move to
Arizona wasn’t alone; some of the biggest states in the country were also considered the worst states to move to in 2026.
- New Mexico
- Louisiana
- California
- Arkansas
- Oklahoma
- Nevada
- Alaska
- Mississippi
- Oregon
- Arizona
Top 10 best states to move to
- Utah
- New Hampshire
- Idaho
- Minnesota
- Massachusetts
- Maine
- North Dakota
- Pennsylvania
- Iowa
- South Dakota
PHOENIX — Arizona’s ACA marketplace enrollment fell from 363,000 to just over 255,000 in a single year — a nearly 30% decline and the third-largest annual drop in the country.
Rising premiums and expired tax credits are driving the trend, with the average benchmark plan premium in Arizona now at $532 — up 30% from 2025.
In the player above, ABC15 Data Analyst Garrett Archer takes a look inside the numbers on how healthcare premiums are impacting health insurance enrollment.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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Arizona
Arizona man pleads guilty after illegally living in forest for years among ‘1,000lbs of trash’
A man in Arizona has pleaded guilty to violating federal fire restrictions and unlawfully residing in a national forest, after authorities said he spent years living at a makeshift campsite surrounded by what officials described as “approximately 1,000 pounds of trash”.
Mark Aaron Gatz was arrested on 25 June at his illegal campsite in Arizona’s Tonto national forest, according to court records. A United States Forest Service (USFS) officer wrote in documents submitted to court that Gatz had been operating an “illegal campsite” with a “hot wood burning campfire” despite fire restrictions and that he had told investigators that he had been living in the forest for about eight years.
The officer wrote that a records check found that Gatz had previously received multiple citations and was the subject of six outstanding federal arrest warrants for earlier violations, including for building fires during fire restrictions, constructing on national forest service lands, unsanitary conditions and occupying national forest as a residence.
Gatz “said that he knew about current fire restrictions but had to have fire to eat”, authorities said. The documents show that USFS officers made contact with Gatz multiple times over the last year or so, and issued him warnings as well as a violation notice for having campfires during fire restrictions.
Notes from officers’ previous encounters with Gatz earlier this year, submitted into the court docket, state that authorities observed “trash such as clothing, pans, tools, and plastic cups scattered throughout the campsite along with a structure that was four feet in height build using wood panels”.
During an encounter with Gatz in May, officers reported observing “approximately 1,000 pounds of trash” at the site, which they said included tires, plastic bags, trash bags, aluminum cans and other items. They also wrote that they found that the campfire site had been left unattended by Gatz the previous day while still hot.
In a separate report filed by law enforcement from an encounter in February, one officer wrote that “upon arrival at the camp, I was flabbergasted by the amount of debris in the area”.
Investigators said that during that encounter, the debris consisted of three ladders, six to eight totes “overfilled with debris”, five 55-gallon drums, eight tires, multiple bicycle frames, 5 gallons of motor oil, plywood and other “miscellaneous lumber”, and they wrote that trash was scattered over approximately half an acre of Forest Service land and creating what officers described as public safety concerns.
In a separate report from July 2025, officers said they observed what they described as a “large messy campsite” while patrolling the area due to complaints “from the district office abut one large messy camp”.
“There was roughly half an acre of resources ruined due to so much trash and goods on the ground for an extended period of time,” the officer wrote.
This week, after Gatz pleaded guilty, he was sentenced to time served and three years of probation, according to court records.
A representative for Gatz did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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