KJZZ’s Friday NewsCap revisits some of the biggest stories of the week from Arizona and beyond.
Chip Scutari of S+C Communications and Sam Richard of Consilium Consulting joined The Show to talk about new developments in the case of the so-called "fake electors," Vice President Kamala Harris picking her running mate and the two of them campaigning in Arizona — and more.
Conversation highlights
If Walz helps Harris in Arizona
MARK BRODIE: So let's start. Sam, and I'll start with you on Tim Walz, the governor of Minnesota, becoming Kamala Harris' running mate. The two of them will be in Glendale [on Friday] for a rally after sort of barnstorming through a number of Midwestern states. Specifically for Arizona, does walls help Harris in this state at all, do you think?
SAM RICHARD: I think absolutely and clearly, not only on a personal level, I'm a son of two public school teachers who graduated from the University of Minnesota. So I think that there are, I'm not unique in the fact that it's a lot easier to shovel the sun. So a lot of our early migratory patterns were folks that came from the Midwest.
So I think that Gov. Walz’s affect and his approach to policy, his approach to being a good neighbor and a decent man filled with some memorable quips and, and joy and hope along for the ride is gonna really resonate well here in Arizona.
BRODIE: Chip, what do you think? Does Walz help? I mean, obviously the sort of the conventional wisdom with a running mate is do no harm, right? Like you don't want them to mess things up for the top of the ticket. Does he, does he help Harris in Arizona? Does he potentially cause harm here?
CHIP SCUTARI: I think he does a great help in balancing the ticket. Vice President Harris has not won a solo campaign when it's just been here on the ballot outside of the liberal bastion of California. So I think, Tim Walz with the kind of aw shucks Midwestern dad vibe really balances that out. I think he can help with white working class folks.
And I think, you know, if you, you think of Donald Trump versus Gov. Walz, you know, Donald Trump may be that leaf blower that you're hearing over and over, which I do on my morning walks. I hear a leaf blowers and I say, “ugh.” And compare that to Tim Walz. He may be your neighbor who when you go on vacation, you say, hey, Tim, can you, can you mow my lawn? You know, that he's got that aw shucks kind of personality, but he's also super smart and he's been engaged and done a lot of different things in his career.
And I think, just objectively looking at it, you know, the Democrat base, coalition is back since Kamala Harris got in the race and Joe, President Biden stepped down. The, the electoral map has shifted Arizona, Georgia, Nevada are now in play. So they're riding momentum.
You can't, I mean, I think Republicans, even the biggest Trump supporters would admit they have the energy, they have the momentum now. Can they keep it until Election Day or at least when, until early voting starts is the big challenge right now.
Could Arizona go for Harris in the election?
BRODIE: Well, so how much, Chip, do you think Arizona is in play now that the race is set we assume between now and November? You know, because earlier when President Biden was in the race, Arizona was, the polls were showing, it was not particularly close. That, that former president Trump was pretty far ahead here. Do you really think Arizona is in play now for, for vice President Harris?
SCUTARI: I do, I think it'll be super close, you know, one on the margins like it was in 2020. I don't know if it'd be as close as 10,457 votes or whatever it was in 2020 but I do think it's in play and I think Walz, you know, whatever, you know, people go after his record being too progressive with, you know, things he did in Minnesota that may not play in, in rural Arizona.
But I think he's kind of a natural campaigner and the one thing you notice just looking at it objectively is him and the vice president seem to get along. They're so different. They come from two way different parts of the country, but they seem to just generally get, you could tell on stage, the candidates are awkward, you know, but they seem to, you know, have a genuine embrace. They seem to get along and I think he'll be a great balance of the ticket.
And I think, and we’ve seen in presidential campaigns whether it's Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan or Donald Trump, personalities do trump policies. So, nerds like us will re-examine and vet their policies. Most Joe Six Packs and Jane Six Packs out there aren't going to know every policy that they support or don't support.
RICHARD: Absolutely. And I'd rather share a six pack with Gov. Walz and Vice President Harris than the folks on the other ticket. Absolutely. And I think another important, you know, thing to enter into the conversation here is that, you know, we talk a lot about different voting blocs and kind of how they ebb and flow.
You know, Democrats running for president have lost fewer rural counties since [former President Bill] Clinton in ‘92 in every subsequent presidential election. So I think having someone who represented rural southern Minnesota and has that affect coming onto the presidential ticket, I think that you're going to see some of that reversal that, that, you know, Republican candidates and especially, and Trump has kind of dug into in rural counties. And I think you'll see that play out here in Arizona, too.
Mark Kelly’s future in the Senate
BRODIE: Well, Sam, let me ask you because obviously Mark Kelly, Arizona senator, Arizona's junior senator, was on the short list of finalists to be Vice President Harris's running mate. And there was some conversation that Kelly might be able to help Harris with what seems to be, at least based on what Republicans are talking about right now, kind of a weak point, which is the border and her role in trying to deal with the border, whatever you want to call her actual title.
Do you think that Walz is able to in any way help with that, or maybe do you consider potentially a missed opportunity to not select Mark Kelly and sort of try to shore up that potential weakness?
RICHARD: Yeah, I mean, despite my Minnesota Homerism, you know, Arizona is home and I'm proud of it, so obvious, obviously, I, I think that it was a missed opportunity in some senses, but you know, the fact that Sen. Kelly was an important part of the conversation shows how important Arizona is going to be to this ticket.
And I think also because of the strength and the early momentum that the Harris ticket has shown you had an opportunity to kind of think further ahead. And I think that Sen. Kelly is going to be an important voice in a very tight U.S. Senate that supports a Harris-Walz administration.
BRODIE: Chip, do you think this gives, gives Kelly a little more maybe gravitas in D.C.?
SCUTARI: Absolutely. He was talked about for the last two weeks as, you know, the final three candidates for VP. But I think one of the things in D.C. or the powers that be in the Democratic National Party were worried about is if Mark Kelly was on the ticket and they won, you know, Gov. [Katie] Hobbs would appoint another Democrat, but they'd be up for a re-election or they have to run for election in 2026. And that could be a dicey proposition. You know, Mark Kelly is a pretty special candidate with a very unique bio, being a fighter pile, an astronaut. So I don't know how much that came to play, but I'm sure it did somewhat.
RICHARD: We've already had that, an exhausting series of, what is it, five or six U.S. Senate elections.
BRODIE: Let’s keep the streak going, come on, we're going to miss it next time. [LAUGHS]
Can Harris-Walz reach McCain Republicans in Arizona?
BRODIE: So Chip, speak, last, last point on the, the presidential race. I want to ask you about the, the Republicans for Harris group. We heard a clip from Mesa Mayor John Giles just a moment or two ago. It would seem that, you know, the sort of the conventional wisdom is for a Democrat to win in Arizona, you need Republican votes. I mean, how, how broad based do you anticipate this coalition is going to be and will it be enough to, to really help Vice President Harris?
SCUTARI: Yeah, as I mentioned before, you know, this, this election's going to be super-tight, one on the margins. But I think a popular mayor of Arizona's third-largest city like Mayor Giles of Mesa can really help in the East Valley.
And if you look at the election results between Kari Lake and Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb in the Senate race, the one area where he did better than her is the East Valley. So if, if Mayor Giles and you know, former McCain advisor like Paul Hickman, the CEO of the Arizona Bankers Association; Bettina Nava, another close McCain advisor; if they get out and really campaign hard in the East Valley for Harris that could help put her over the top.
And there's no, there's an excellent story in Axios about how the LDS voters, Mormon voters could help swing the selections in few key places across the country. So we'll have to pay attention to that.
BRODIE: Yeah, Sam, how do, how do you anticipate the Harris-Walz ticket trying to appeal to maybe the McCain Republicans that, as Chip said, could be key in, you know, determining whether the Democrats or Republicans win Arizona.
RICHARD: Yeah, I think to kind of build on what Chip was saying earlier. I think that more and more of the last few election cycles, especially in kind of a Trump dominated world, you're seeing political conversations focus less on which team jersey you're wearing and kind of what you care more about.
And I think that this idea of Republicans for Harris has a lot more to do with the joy and hope and decency that that ticket is bringing versus kind of the, the, the, the charred earth vision of America that the Trump-Vance ticket is seeming to purport.
