‘I’m Hoping It’ll Be Mark Kelly': Voters in Arizona Weigh In on Harris, Possible Running Mates

PHOENIX–Arizona, where then-presidential candidate Joe Biden won the vote by a 0.3 percent margin in 2020, is a prime election battleground in 2024. Recent polls show former President Donald Trump beating Biden. However, Trump is now 2 percentage points behind Vice President Kamala Harris, according to the latest Morning Consult survey. Both campaigns are spending heavily in the state.

The Epoch Times spoke with a number of Arizona voters in Maricopa County—the largest in the state—as they cast their votes in the July 30 primary election. They shared their thoughts on a host of national issues, including Harris’s elevation to presumptive Democratic nominee, their preference for her running mate, and Biden’s plan to reform the Supreme Court.

The Harris Campaign and Mark Kelly

Biden withdrew from the election on July 21 amid pressure from his party and endorsed Harris’s campaign later the same day. Multiple top Democrats quickly followed, and by July 23, Harris had the endorsement of enough convention delegates to become her party’s likely nominee.

Many voters in Arizona expressed relief that Biden was no longer running.

“Before Biden stepped down, I was really hoping that he would do that and then get behind Kamala,” Democrat Jamie Bish, who voted at the Living Word Ahwatukee in Phoenix, said. “I think she'll do really well because people are looking for something different.”

“I think it’s good that parties control their own,” Mary, a Democratic voter from Chandler, Arizona, told The Epoch Times, expressing approval for Biden’s withdrawal and Harris’s advancement.

Regarding Harris’s choice of running mate, voters spoke positively of Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), the state’s junior senator, who was first elected in 2020.

“I’m really hoping it'll be Mark Kelly, because I think he’s got a lot to offer,” Bish said. “He is Gabby Giffords’s husband.”

Kelly, a Navy veteran and former astronaut, is married to former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), who was shot in the head in 2011 and has since become a gun violence prevention advocate.

Other voters who indicated a preference for Kelly were also open to other candidates.

“I would be OK with Mark Kelly. I'd be OK with Josh Shapiro,” Mary said, referring to the Pennsylvania governor whose name has been mentioned on the shortlist of candidates.

“If it ends up being, for vice president, Kelly as the nominee, I think that there’s gonna be a very strong race, and he'll be able to bring a lot of Arizona border perspective,” Rep. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.), the Democratic Party’s nominee for the U.S. Senate, told reporters after casting his vote in the primary, in which he ran unopposed.

Some Democrats did not want Harris to choose Kelly as her vice president.

“I'd prefer [Mark Kelly] to stay in his seat,” said Ian, a 20-year-old college student in Phoenix who was dropping off ballots to be counted at the Church of the Beatitudes Polling Station.

Ashley Richey, an independent who voted at the Church of the Beatitudes, predicted that Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) will be Harris’s running mate because Michigan has 16 votes in the Electoral College.

Some voters believe that Harris is considering only white men for her running mate.

“She’s very, very liberal, so I think she’s going to pick somebody that’s more on the conservative side, a white guy,” David Murphy, an independent voter at a polling place at Living Word Ahwatukee, said.

“I don’t really care what color somebody is. I only care what you’ve done for me in the past and what you’re gonna do for me in the future.”

Reforming the Supreme Court

Biden’s withdrawal from the race has not stopped him from announcing major policy actions. On July 29, he announced a proposal for Congress to enact 18-year term limits for Supreme Court justices, impose a binding code of conduct on them, and pass an amendment to the Constitution that would overturn the court’s July 1 decision in Trump v. United States, in which the court ruled that U.S. presidents are immune from prosecution for official acts committed while in office.

The court has been heavily criticized by Democrats since it overturned Roe v. Wade, which 51 years ago established a constitutional right to an abortion.

Arizona voters of both parties appeared open to some of Biden’s proposed Supreme Court reforms, which Republicans have broadly rejected. However, they expressed a preference for stronger action to reform not just the court but also other federal branches.

“I think all of them should have term limits—every branch. Absolutely they should,” Murphy, who participated in the Republican primary, said. “You’ve got to have a little bit of accountability. I get it for gifts and stuff like that. You can’t, you know, try to influence a court. That’s not necessarily right.”

“If we’re going to have something proposed, it should be sweeping—not just for one branch,” Julie Magro, a Republican voter at the Living Word Polling Station who switched from being an independent, said.

“I absolutely agree with it. Absolutely—100 percent,” Bish said. “I think that they need term limits. ... I think that things have gotten a little carried away.”

Biden’s proposed constitutional amendment regarding presidential immunity drew a cooler reception.

“I don’t think we should be changing the Constitution,” Murphy said.

“It’s already been ruled on, so why revisit it?” Richey, who participated in the Republican primary, said.

Ballot Access and Proof of Citizenship

Voter eligibility has also become a campaign issue in the state. In 2022, then-Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, signed two bills into law.

House Bill 2492 required voters to provide proof of citizenship when voting in presidential elections and to vote by mail for any office, and House Bill 2243 required county recorders to cancel a voter’s registration if they have reason to believe the voter is not a U.S. citizen and don’t receive proof of citizenship.

The laws have been opposed by Democrats and Latino groups, who argue that it will suppress voting by U.S. citizens of Latino origin.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona invalidated several provisions of those laws on Feb. 29, ruling that they violate federal laws on civil rights and voter registration. On July 18, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit declined to reverse the district court’s decision, which will likely prevent their application before the 2024 election. However, the July 18 ruling leaves a proof of citizenship requirement in place for voters registering with the state form.

Some Arizona voters expressed approval of these state laws.

“We need to make sure that the right people are voting, that are legally able to vote,” Magro said. “I'd rather go through extra hoops for that than to have people voting who aren’t legally able to vote.”

“If you’re not a citizen, you shouldn’t vote,” Murphy said. “If you don’t have ID, you shouldn’t vote. That’s what they’re trying to do with bringing 20 million people in to give them amnesty so they can vote. That’s a travesty.”

Republicans have suggested that illegal immigrants who unlawfully cross into Arizona from Mexico are going to vote for Democrats.

“Due to the wide-open border that the Biden administration has refused to close—in fact, that they engineered to open—we now have so many non-citizens in the country that if only one out of 100 of them voted, they would cast hundreds of thousands of votes,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on May 8.

Early voting for the general election begins on Oct. 9 in Arizona.

Correction: Interview information in this article needed correction for accuracy.