In pivotal Arizona, Vance and Walz offer an immigration split screen

TUCSON, Ariz. — In a stop here Wednesday afternoon, Sen. JD Vance told a crowd of supporters that “Trump’s message to illegal aliens who are in this country without any right to be here, pack your bags. Because in four months, you’re going home.”

Fifteen miles north later in the day, Gov. Tim Walz told supporters that Vice President Kamala Harris would work for “what you want … an earned pathway to citizenship for those who’ve lived here in this country for years.”

In a span of roughly six hours, the vice-presidential candidates offered voters a clear split screen in how Democrats and Republicans view one of this year’s more salient electoral issues: immigration and the southern border.

Trump and Vance’s campaign has been heavily focused on closing the southern border and assailing broad swaths of immigrants, often with misleading or false claims. Harris and Walz have conversely shaped their message around cracking down on asylum claims and illegal crossings while showing compassion for the millions of immigrants in the United States, many who fled their home countries in search of a better life.

The candidates’ visits underscore the significance of the state, which President Joe Biden narrowly flipped in 2020. Pima County, where Tucson is located, leans blue — Biden won the county by more than 18 percentage points in 2020, an increase from Hillary Clinton’s win in 2016. Harris will campaign in the state Thursday night, and Trump will do so on Sunday.

A poll of likely voters in the state released this week found 40 percent said immigration and border security is the single most important issue when deciding who to vote for in November. Polls have also shown that voters trust Republicans over Democrats when it comes to the border, and in a border state like Arizona, many voters said the issue is top of mind.

Vance kicked off the day at the at the Tucson Speedway racetrack, taking the stage 15 minutes early and speaking for around 20 minutes — telling supporters he would condense his remarks because of the intense heat at the outdoor venue. He spoke to several hundred attendees without a teleprompter, predicting that Republicans will flip the state, while flanked by two giant statues of anthropomorphic cactuses wearing sunglasses, red bandannas and cowboy hats.

Vance devoted the event to criticizing Harris — showing jeering attendees a clip of her declining to distance herself from Biden in an interview on “The View”; blaming her for the increased cost of food, energy and housing; and framing her as unable to fix problems she helped create as vice president. He did not mention Walz during the event, though he did discuss his opponent later in the day at an event in Mesa.

“Tucson is facing a historic border crisis and a historic increase in crime and fentanyl and drug trafficking and sex trafficking. Kamala Harris bears the failures. She bears the responsibilities for the failures of the Joe Biden regime. Don’t let her run away from a record,” Vance said, claiming “the wide open southern border has affected Tucson, maybe more than any other community in our country.”

Supporters waved signs with messages like “Trump secure border Kamala open border” and “Latino Americans for Trump.” Many wore shirts featuring the photo of Trump moments after he was shot in the ear in an assassination attempt earlier this year. Outside the venue, vendors sold other swag, including shirts that depicted Trump in a mariachi outfit.

Bob Padgett, 79, an attendee at the Vance event from Oro Valley, praised him as “very bright, very authentic, and his success story is over the top.”

Asked about Walz’s nearby appearance, Padgett said “Dope. D-O-P-E.” He said that Walz lost credibility after inconsistencies in his record were identified, like Walz claiming to be in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests though he wasn’t there until later that summer. (Walz said he misspoke).

Walz later took the stage at Palo Verde High Magnet School over two hours late, long after the school gymnasium hit capacity. He drew a larger crowd than Vance, but hundreds of supporters waiting outside in the 98 degree heat were turned away by event staff who said that no one else was allowed inside on order of the fire marshal. Following the directive, the venue held one of the smaller crowds Walz has addressed in recent weeks, but the supporters who made it inside made the most of delays by dancing in large groups to Beyoncé and doing the Cupid Shuffle.

Walz, speaking off a teleprompter, told supporters that border crossings are now lower than they were under Trump and that Harris worked to negotiate a bipartisan border deal that Trump blocked for electoral reasons.

“This issue should not divide us. It should unite us. She wants a solution,” Walz said.

Walz continued, “[Trump] came down here, he comes down to Arizona and tells you, ‘Oh, I’ll build a big, beautiful wall and Mexico will pay for it.’ He had four years, he built like two percent. Mexico paid nothing.”

Unlike Vance, he explicitly attacked his opponent by name multiple times during his speech, calling him out for saying he created stories about Haitian immigrants eating pets and for his answer on family separation during the debate.

As attendees streamed out of the high school past large flags reading “Keep abortion legal” and vendors hawking stacks of “Dogs Against Trump” and “Cat Ladies for Kamala” buttons, Walz fans projected the same confidence as the Vance supporters across town hours before — both sides confident that Tucson will be close, but is theirs to lose.

“I love him. He’s just a down-to-earth, really good guy. He’s almost like the guy that politicians want to pretend to be, he really is,” Lori Gunnell, 63, a supporter from Bisbee, said of Walz. She shuddered at mention of Vance.

“I just think he’s creepy as hell, I really do. And I think he’s an opportunistic … He said Trump was like Hitler, and now he’s his sidekick. And I’m like, I don’t trust him,” she said of Vance.

Both vice-presidential contenders also targeted portions of their speeches toward Latino voters — a key voting group who in polling has shown some drifting away from traditionally supporting Democrats.

“Our message to Kamala Harris is, why don’t you show some compassion for your own citizens and for your own people? Close down this border,” Vance said.

“Latinos in particular ought to be pissed off about Kamala Harris’s wide open southern border,” he added. “Think about what an insult it is to Latinos who came to this country, whose parents or grandparents came to this country, who waited in line, who paid the fees, who worked hard, who did it the right way. It is an insult to them to have Kamala Harris welcome people who break our laws.”

Walz’s rally coincided with the launch of the campaign’s new effort to reach Latino men, called Hombres con Harris. Actor and singer Jaime Camil told attendees at the rally, “There is so much on the line for the Latino communities across the country, for our livelihoods, our health care, and for our families.”