Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz were in the Valley last week, rallying with thousands of supporters at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale. But, they also made another stop in the Valley after their rally at Cocina Adamex, a Mexican spot on Seventh Avenue in downtown Phoenix. It continued a long tradition of candidates eating at Mexican restaurants when they swing through Phoenix — from George Bush to Bill Clinton to Barack Obama.
But, how do they decide where they’re going to go? And what are the politics that play into it? For more on that, The Show sat down with someone who’s worked on a lot of campaigns in Arizona: longtime politico Christa Severns.
Full conversation
CHRISTA SEVERNS: Well, it's like a pageant or like the Miss America contest because you've got, you've got many things you're working on. You've got security, you've got location because you don't want to go someplace that's halfway across the valley just for a meal. That means you've got a motorcade through two freeways. So you're pissing off everybody with that. So you've got to look for a location that's near something else that you're doing and then you got a message.
So if you'll notice in pageants, the prettiest girl doesn't always win, the one that wins is the one that will be able to carry forth the duties in the princess way. And in this pageant, you're looking for a place that's not going to cause controversy, but that will send across a message to a community and also that the secret service can wrangle around and make safe.
LAUREN GILGER: OK. So there's a lot things you're balancing. Fair enough. Let's talk about some famous Arizona examples of this over the years. This goes back a little ways in sort of presidential campaign history. What are the first ones that come to mind for you?
SEVERNS: Dick's Hideaway, which was George Bush and that one I got to give him credit for. I thought that was pretty cool because Dick's Hideaway is a hideaway and they went with the McCains. The McCains live in the neighborhood. And so it sent a message, I don't think the McCains and the bushes were actually getting along at that point, but you know, they were out there doing their meal.
And so the message there was clear and it was before I think the Kerry debate and it was Mexican food. It hit all of the buttons on that one. But again, that's like the coolest place I've seen a candidate go because there are some …
GILGER: What are some of those examples?
SEVERNS: Ponchos, Bill Clinton. Now, the rumor at that point was that they were going to go to Los Dos Molina, which is just down the street, I believe though, the rumor got out about that, and Secret Service said no, too many people have heard of it or we're going to be there. We got to go somewhere else, which is how they got to Ponchos. That's down in south central and they had been down somewhere near there for an event and, you know, you could go in there and there's a picture of Bill Clinton on the wall, where he sat.
GILGER: Often presidential tables will follow this. Yes, after these visits, right, some little placard at the table. What about when Obama came to the valley and went to Macayo’s? This was controversial with local food critics at the time. What's your take?
SEVERNS: Oh, Macayo’s is an Arizona institution. It's a family owned business and it's probably in a good location. It was near where they had to be. So it was perfect. Again, they're not going to these restaurants for the best food of whatever it is they're going because it's going to be reliable. The Secret Service says it's OK, and the message is OK.
GILGER: What about more recently in the last election cycle? We saw President Biden here a couple of times and, and Vice President Harris, they went to Barrio Cafe with Silvana Salcido, which has recently closed. But that was a very political choice it seemed to me.
SEVERNS: But it was also a great choice because here is a woman who has made it won many culinary awards and the food is good and trying to send a message of support for women chefs and Mexican food.
GILGER: And Mexican food, right? So we have to talk about this. It's always Mexican food. It seems in Arizona which makes sense in a certain way. First of all, just because we have great Mexican food, but we also have a large population of Latinos here in the Valley. Is this political, is this, you have to like a rite of passage to come to Arizona and eat Mexican food.
SEVERNS: You don't have to, but it's the safe bet. They're not going to go to a chain, they're not going to Chili's and you know, you need a local place, you need the local flavor. So that, that's why they defer to it. And usually they don't have a lot of time to figure it out either. So either the national campaign gets a list of places or somebody here comes up with a couple.
GILGER: There are some pitfalls to Mexican food, right? Like Tim Walz when he was here was joking about how he cannot eat spicy food. There's this story I read about that's sort of an infamous example of this when Gerald Ford went to Texas and tried to eat a tamale with the husk on. I mean, this is not without a little bit of risk.
SEVERNS: Well, you know, everything has a little risk. So it's like when somebody orders a big glass of milk, you know, is there, is there a drink? OK. Is that an issue or not? You know, people talk about it, but in the long run really, it's not going to be a big deal. But if someone did eat a tamale with the corn on it, that would be a problem. And that advanced person would get fired.
GILGER: Because there is somebody whose job it is in the campaign to figure out what they're going to order, how they eat it, If there are any local pitfalls they might fall into.
SEVERNS: Right. That is somebody's job.
GILGER: That's so interesting.
SEVERNS: Yeah, it's all, it's all been figured out ahead of time.
GILGER: Because it can turn into a meme so quickly today.
SEVERNS: It was always an issue. But now it's really an issue with social media. Yeah. So, I don't think you're going to see a lot of quinoa and salads because you're going to have, you know, it's going to get in people's teeth.
GILGER: So, but this brings up a point. Right. Quinoa, because that's sort of an upper crusty kind of food. There's a level of politics to this, that I think is very interesting. Like what it says about the candidate or what they're trying to portray about themselves with what they eat, where they go and what they order too.
SEVERNS: Sure. All of this is really, it's based on polling. It's based on research because you got to figure out. All right, how are you going to get more votes than the next guy? What are the groups of people you're appealing to? Who can you appeal to? You've got a base and then you've got those people that maybe switch over or whatever. So, the first thing you want to do is not offend anybody. Second thing you want to do is figure out, OK, does this work with the group that I'm looking at trying to appeal to me?
GILGER: Another thing I want to ask because this is kind of what I was thinking about when I was researching all of this. Can they order a drink like a beer, a glass of wine or is everybody going to be drinking lemonade at a restaurant if they're going on campaigns?
SEVERNS: It's a really good question. I mean, I have seen,, I've seen them wait until after they've left it. So it's like I just, well, do you really want to see a picture of Tipper Gore holding a beer? I mean, I guess, you know, it's fine. It's just, it just saves headaches.
GILGER: OK. So last question for you. Where would you send a candidate? Should they be coming through today?
SEVERNS: I've been thinking about that. It's like, can we have a hot dog? Can we have a good burger? You know, can we go to Pizzeria Bianco? Can we do this more like Anthony Bourdain? Let's go to the Fry Bread House. It's a James Beard Award winner. It's in central Phoenix. Let's go someplace that tells our story in a new way, in a new way.
