A handful of local and national politicians visited Tucson’s south side this week to encourage early voting and highlight opportunities for Hispanic community members to thrive under a Kamala Harris presidency.

On Sunday, U.S. Representatives Jesús G. “Chuy” García from Illinois and Tony Cárdenas from California stopped by the El Pueblo Neighborhood Center for a “Cruisin’ for Kamala” event, where attendees enjoyed a lowrider show, free tacos and aguas frescas.

For some attendees, this was their first engagement with the Harris-Walz campaign. A common sentiment among newcomers was appreciation for political events being held on the south side, an area that doesn’t see many of these types of gatherings. 

“I think it’s really cool for a candidate to reach out into a community, try to understand their culture and provide them something that’s fun and culturally relevant,” said attendee Alessandra Clark.

 Steven Cota-Robles echoed this sentiment.

“It’s celebrating all of the possibilities we have, like having tacos and aguas frescas, and it’s just so inviting for the community,” he said. “I even saw some unhoused people that they fed. It brings out the best in the community.”

Garcia and Cárdenas urged attendees to cast their votes early for Harris, Governor Tim Walz and other Democratic candidates, with Cárdenas criticizing former President Donald Trump’s attitude about women and the working class. 

“Think about whether or not he has disrespected people like the abuelita across the street, think about whether or not he has disrespected girls and women of every age,”  Cárdenas said. “Think about whether or not he has tried to make our country divided about those people and his kind of people.”

Garcia appealed to the crowd, reminding them that Trump has “long shown that he does not care about Latino men and their families.”

Trump “will make life worse for Latinos through his Project 2025 agenda,” Garcia said.

The pair talked about Harris’ Opportunity Agenda for Latino Men, which aims to lower costs, increase homeownership and expand opportunities for Latino men and their families.

Orlando Chavez, a University of Arizona student and photographer, brought his 1950 Chevy Deluxe to display at the car show. He said he helped fix up the car with his dad, who gifted it to him when he turned 16. He's been driving it ever since. 

“With lowriders in this country right now, we are an underrepresented community and I think Kamala Harris is the candidate to bring us into the limelight,” Chavez said. 

Pima County Recorder Gabriella Cázares-Kelly weighed in on the significance of the lowrider community, calling it “a heart of Pima County.”

“It's a proud group and they incorporate their community, their culture, their language within all that they do,” she said. “For them to be making a political stance in support of a president that has spoken about the importance of diversity, culture and representation makes sense.”

Cázares-Kelly said that a key difference in the Harris-Walz campaign is the focus on local connections.

“In the past, organizers representing political campaigns came to Tucson from other parts of the country and they don’t even know who to go to,” she said. “So, they’re reaching out to who is visible. And if your visibility is only in white retired communities, you’re only going to get white retired audiences.”

Cázares-Kelly noted that the Harris-Walz campaign features people already familiar with and known to the community, like Patrick Robles, the Southern Arizona Director for the Kamala Harris campaign. 

Robles was born and raised on Tucson’s south side and got his start in Pima County politics, working for Pima County Supervisor Ramón Valadez, Pima County Attorney Laura Conover and Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs. 

Robles has been a staple at campaign events in Pima County and across the state, chatting with voters, hyping up the crowd and introducing young people to elected officials.

“When you hire people who are from the community to hold events and host events for your own community, it’s much more powerful,” Cázares-Kelly said. 

Monday afternoon, U.S. Senator Mark Kelly, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, and Tucson Mayor Regina Romero made a stop at the Valencia Library during an “early vote food truck” rally.

This was the second Tucson visit in two weeks for Giffords and Kelly, who was fresh off his airplane tour of rural Arizona and told the crowd he’s had one day off in the past nine weeks. The pair appeared at former President Barack Obama’s rally in Tucson earlier this month.

They were joined Tuesday by several dozen community members, many of them south side residents, who gathered in the parking lot and enjoyed a gentle breeze and the aroma of the Sonoran hot dogs cooking nearby while waiting for the speakers to arrive. 

A handful of notable south-siders were in the crowd, including longtime Sunnyside school board member Eva Carrillo Dong and Isabel Garcia, co-chair of the Coalición de Derechos Humanos and a retired Pima County Legal Defender.

Tucsonan Patricia Maisch was also on-hand and shared a hug with Giffords after her remarks. Maisch was in the crowd on January 8, 2011, during the attack on Giffords life, and has been a fierce advocate for gun reform in the years since.

Mayor Romero greeted the crowd, switching between English and Spanish as she talked about the importance of the Latino vote and the need to talk directly with Latinos about the stakes of this election.

She reminded attendees about Trump’s early statements about Mexicans when he first announced his candidacy in 2016.

“He told us what he thought about Mexicans, as rapists, as murderers. That Mexico sends the worst,” she said, her voice breaking. “No. My dad was not the worst. He was a Mexican immigrant that worked the fields in this country. As they continue to do.”

She said that these sentiments by Trump and many of his supporters don’t stop with Mexicans, but extend to Latinos, immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers and even American citizens. She quoted Maya Angelou:  “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.”

“They are telling us who they are. Racist. Xenophobic. Homophobic,” Romero said. “We have got to vote for sanity. We have got to vote for democracy in our country.”

The backdrop was fitting, as the library opened up an early voting site Monday, with a steady stream of voters filing in to drop off their ballots.

Giffords was greeted with chants of “Gabby! Gabby!” as she took the microphone. She talked about her work in politics and the shooting that almost claimed her life and ended the lives of several others.

She told the crowd that Harris has spent her life in public service, standing up for voters like them and working hard to defend their rights. Giffords urged them to vote for the candidate who will work for the American people, and encourage others in their life to do the same.

“Winning elections isn’t rocket science. If it was, I could help,” Kelly said, taking the stage next. “But it’s not. It’s all about which campaign works harder. Who knocks on more doors, who makes more phone calls and who makes sure people have the information on how to vote and when to vote and where to vote.”

Kelly talked about the Harris-Walz campaign’s “army of volunteers,” saying that more than 120,000 people have signed up to knock on doors, make phone calls and send postcards.

“At this point in a campaign, that is the difference between winning and losing,” he said. “That is everything. And the consequences of this election, just as it was in 2016 and 2020, would not be more clear to people.”

Cody Christensen had already heard from Kelly and Giffords this election cycle, as he sat in the stands during the recent Walz and Obama rallies.

“It was amazing,” he said of sitting on the stage behind Obama during the event. “It felt like a once-in-a-lifetime experience and it was so cool to be around Obama and hear his voice. It was so calming and reassuring.”

Christensen wasn’t about to miss the chance to hear from Kelly and Giffords again, saying that he voted early and was excited to show up and do everything he can to support the blue team. He was decked out in Harris-Walz gear and sporting a button for Kirsten Engel, the Democratic candidate for Congressional District 6. 

“I’m pretty confident about Kamala Harris’ chances,” he said. “In talking to a lot of my neighbors and friends who didn’t seem to be involved in the last election, they’re now a lot more enthusiastic and involved in this one.”

Isabela Gamez is a University of Arizona alum and reporter with Tucson Spotlight. Contact her at gamezi@arizona.edu.

Caitlin Schmidt is Editor and Publisher of Tucson Spotlight. She previously worked for the Arizona Daily Star and has been reporting on Southern Arizona for a decade. Contact her at caitlin@tucsonspotlight.org.