Trump declares he won't debate Harris again at Tucson rally

At a Thursday rally in Tucson, former President Donald Trump declared that he won’t debate Vice President Kamala Harris again. At about the same time, CBS News announced it had invited both presidential candidates to participate in an October debate at Arizona State University. But by Trump’s telling, Harris had lost, and there was no need for another round.

"When a prizefighter loses a fight. You've seen a lot of fights, right. The first words out of that fighter's mouth is, I want a rematch. I want a rematch. And that's what she said. I want a rematch," Trump said.

Trump went on to repeatedly disparage immigrant communities and further spread debunked rumors about legal Haitian migrants in Ohio. He also championed his favored candidates further down the ballot, including Republican Senate hopeful Kari Lake and West Valley congressional candidate Abe Hamadeh.

Trump appeared at the Linda Ronstadt Music Hall. In a post on Facebook and Instagram on Wednesday evening, Ronstadt herself said she was saddened to see Trump bring his “hate show” to her hometown of Tucson — a town she said with deep Mexican-American roots and a joyful, tolerant spirit.

'Border Kari Lake'

Introducing Border Kari Lake. That’s the name Trump bestowed Thursday on one of his staunchest allies, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Arizona.

Trump is famous for giving nicknames to his political enemies, but nicknames for allies are rare. “She’s tough on the border. So if you don’t mind I’m going to call her Border Kari Lake,” Trump said to loud applause in Tucson. Lake, who’s in a tough race against Democrat Ruben Gallego, stood and pumped her fist from the front of the auditorium.

Trump posted on his social media site earlier in the day that Lake and Ohio Republican Senate nominee Bernie Moreno “should be running almost exclusively on the Safety and Security of their States, not allowing Illegal Aliens to get anywhere near Arizona or Ohio, and getting the ones that are already in - OUT!”

Out of town visitors at rally

Not everyone who waited hours to see him at Tucson’s Linda Ronstadt Music Hall will be able to help him win here.

Andres Lopez flew in from the San Francisco Bay Area to see Trump in person for the first time. Lopez, a 31-year-old Army veteran who’s never voted before, said he’s excited to see young people like him getting behind Trump. Hearing the stories of people who were victims of crimes committed by people living in the country illegally motivated him to get involved, he said.

Trump, who has campaigned on border security since his first day as a candidate nearly a decade ago, frequently shares the stories of young people sexually assaulted or killed by immigrants who were not living in the country legally. He brought several family members of crime victims to a news conference at the Arizona-Mexico border last month.

“He’s pretty much saving the country. Look at all the kids, they’re all in danger. All the illegals, they’re killing the kids here and they’re also getting away with it. I don’t want my kid to end up like one of those kids.”

Lisa Schwartz of Barrington, Rhode Island, said she’s extremely confident Trump will win. If he loses, she said, that will be a sign the election was stolen from him.

“I think America is waking up and I think people are starting to realize the administration we have now put us in a rut between wars, the economy, prices of gas,” said Schwartz, a 61-year-old retired school nurse who has a home in Tucson but votes in Rhode Island.