Politically homeless have place with Harris, Repubs Flake, Giles say

Former GOP US Sen. Jeff Flake reiterated his support for Vice President Kamala Harris in Scottsdale on Oct. 30, gathering with advertising executive Tim Riester and other Arizona Republicans to cross the aisle and boost the Democratic nominee in the final days of the race.

“I’m a lifelong conservative Republican,” said Flake, who backed President Joe Biden in 2020 and served as his US ambassador to Turkey. “I am supporting Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, not in spite of being a conservative Republican, but because I am a conservative Republican.”

Flake and Riester were joined by GOP Mesa Mayor John Giles and Sam Campana, the former mayor of Scottsdale, and dozens of other Republicans and Independents who support Harris. They said their group is still growing.

The afternoon event at Indian Bend Wash Visitor Center was held less than a week before Election Day on Nov. 5, and one day before Harris and Trump host dueling events in the metro Phoenix area.

Harris and former President Donald Trump are neck-and-neck in Arizona polls, with most giving Trump a slight edge over the vice president.

The Harris campaign has made a concerted effort to reach out to Republican and Independent voters in the Phoenix suburbs who were an instrumental part of President Biden’s victory four years ago. That voting bloc has become even more essential this cycle because Republicans grew their voter registration edge during the Biden era.

As a member of the business community, Riester said he initially had high hopes for Trump’s first term in 2016. He also noted that when he hires people to work at his advertising company, he looks for capabilities like problem-solving, ethics, humility and patience.“As a Republican, when Donald Trump first got into politics, I was as hopeful as most. We thought his presentation of being a business leader and a businessman would really help bring a fresh, new perspective to leadership for the country. But what I learned is that Donald Trump had none of these required capabilities,” Riester said.

Perhaps illustrating his point, Riester’s remarks were interrupted several times by someone shouting at him to “get a job, d—s.”

Riester said he felt pressure to speak up about supporting Harris in hopes that it would inspire other Republicans to do the same.

“If we don’t stand up and speak how we feel, other people may be afraid to go out and vote their heart and what they know is right,” Riester said. “I want you to know if you’re a Republican who supports Trump, so were many of us originally. This is not against you. We’re not attacking you. We’re not in opposition to you. We’re doing this because we believe you and we and all of America deserve better.”

During her remarks, Campana noted she was the first woman mayor of Scottsdale and Harris would be the first woman president if she is elected next week. Campana said Trump’s first term was “miserable” and that voters should take his comments at face value. In contrast, she touted Harris’ career as a prosecutor in California and said the tie-breaking votes Harris cast in the Senate during Biden’s term “changed Arizona for the better.”

“We are a western state full of hard-working, honest people, divided almost equally among Republicans, Independents and Democrats. But for every Republican that you see standing up here, there are literally thousands more Republicans, and growing every day who are going to support her,” Campana said.

Giles, the Mesa mayor who has been an outspoken Harris backer in both Arizona and the national media, made an appeal to the “somewhat politically homeless” to help wrestle back control of the state GOP and make it a body “that we can be proud of.”

“We are doing everything we can, and over the next few days, to encourage people like us who are somewhat politically homeless, that have subscribed to the principles of the Republican Party, that have been shut out and told to get out of the room by those who currently are occupying the leadership of the Arizona Republican Party,” Giles said. “I hope that those Republicans out there who still haven’t cast a vote will join us in reclaiming the party.”