Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., will campaign this week in Tucson, Ariz., where his is expected to deliver a major address entirely in Spanish.
The Clinton campaign claimed it’s “a first for an organized campaign rally during a U.S. presidential campaign.”
Kaine will speak on Nov. 3 “about the high stakes of this election and the choice voters face,” the campaign explained in a statement made available to the Washington Examiner.
Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton is also scheduled to campaign in Arizona days before the election.
Their campaign said Monday, “For the first time since 1996, Arizona is competitive in the presidential election due to demographic shifts and a dramatic increase in Latino voter registration over the last several months. Arizona has also seen strong growth in voter enthusiasm in support of Hillary Clinton’s positive, inclusive vision, and her commitment from day one to listening to the concerns of the Latino community.”
“At the same time, Arizonans have increasingly rejected Donald Trump’s offensive and dangerously divisive rhetoric,” the statement added. “In Tucson, with one day left of in-person early vote, he will host a GOTV rally with supporters.”
Clinton leads her opponent, GOP nominee Donald Trump, by only 0.6 points in Arizona, according to a RealClearPolitics polling average.
however, a number of political analysts have predicted this year that Democratic-leaning Hispanics will turn out in numbers great enough to hand the Grand Canyon State to Clinton on Nov. 8.
Clinton leads Trump nationwide with Hispanic likely voters by more than 50 points, according to an NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey released on Oct. 17.
And when it comes to Arizona, the Latino vote is nothing to be ignored.
The state’s Hispanic population numbers at around 2.1 million, making it the sixth largest concentration of Latinos in the nation, according to the Pew Research Center. Of those millions in Arizona, 992,000 are eligible voters, meaning the state has the “fifth largest Hispanic statewide eligible voter population nationally,” Pew noted. Put another way, 22 percent of Arizona eligible voters are Hispanic.
Hispanics also vote, according to turnout estimates in past elections.
“In the 2010 and 2014 midterm election, Latinos represented 12% of all votes cast statewide. In the 2012 Presidential Election, Latinos were a record 17% of all voters in Arizona,” according to the non-profit Latino voter registration group One Arizona.
The Clinton campaign has deployed millions of dollars and campaign assets recently to the traditionally deep-red state.
“In Arizona, we are going to be expanding our television buy and dramatically expanding our direct mail and digital advertising programs by over $2 million,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook told reporters recently.
Along with ad buys, the Clinton campaign has also dispatched some of its tops surrogates to the area, including First Lady Michelle Obama, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Chelsea Clinton. Arizona has gone red in nine out of the last 10 presidential elections. The last time that the Grand Canyon State voted to put a Democrat in the White House was in 1996 when it went blue for Bill Clinton.
