Vote Early.
Donald Trump does not care about veterans.
Kamala Harris, the Vice President in the Biden/Harris Administration who promoted and signed the PACT Act, one of the biggest healthcare initiatives for veterans, in recent memory, does.
Vote for the Down-Ballot races along with the Presidential.
With 85 percent of Arizonans voting early, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and Maricopa County Recorder Candidate Timothy Stringham appeared at a Veterans for Harris/Walz Event at the IHOP in East Mesa by Signal Butte and Southern, thanking the veteran volunteers who were taking the time to send out campaign literature and turn out the vote.
They also stressed the need to get Arizonans to vote early and down-ballot as well as Presidential.
They also reminded listeners that Donald Trump, unlike Kamala Harris, with his constant belittling of veterans including war heroes George H.W. Bush and John McCain, did not care for the people serving in the nation’s military.
Mr. Stringham spoke first, telling the volunteers that as a member of the military himself, he was fighting to protect Americans’ access to the ballot box, saying “As veterans, we told ourselves, we were out there to protect everybody’s right to vote.”
He advised the volunteers that being the election recorder for the largest demographic county in the state is vital to protecting Democracy in Arizona and that it was wise to take the election for who holds that office seriously.
Later when asked by this writer about the importance of voting down ballot for local races like his, Stringham replied:
“Local officials are making decisions on policing your streets and how we’re funding police. They make decisions on our local jail system, our local education system, on our roads, and actually running the elections. And to me, that’s what’s most important is not necessarily who you vote for, but making sure that every single American in 2024 who has a right to vote can meaningfully exercise that right to vote. And the fact is no matter who’s President of the United States, their ability to come into your community and fix all your problems is going to be relatively small…”
Senator Kelly, wearing his military hat and jacket, spoke next and immediately praised the efforts of the volunteers, saying “Thank you for your service to our country.”
He then repeated a phrase that he has used at past events, telling the volunteers “To win this election, we do not need a Navy. We need an Army. An army of people and in our state, veterans could be the difference between winning and losing this election.”
The former Navy Captain and Astronaut then repeated his critique of Donald Trump saying “Donald Trump has a certain unique lack of understanding of us: People who serve in the military and why they serve this idea that there’s something larger than ourselves.”
Kelly went on to further disparage Trump, saying the former White House occupant never understood people willing to serve their country in the military, calling the fallen or even those that survived like George H.W. Bush and John McCain “suckers” and “losers.”
Continuing his commentary on Trump’s lack of Presidential mettle, Kelly conveyed:
“We have somebody who has served as commander-in-chief who had no business being commander-in-chief. That doesn’t understand that position. He doesn’t understand members of the military. And when you look at the generals that worked under him General, John Kelly, McMasters, Mattis. None of them have endorsed this guy for re-election. And then you may have heard General Milley’s recent comments (calling Trump a Fascist.) So he has no business being anywhere near the Oval Office again, and I think there’s a special burden on Veterans and Service Members to get that message out there.”
“It all comes down to what you guys are doing. It’s knocking on doors, making phone calls. And writing these postcards to get out the vote that all adds up to about one percent. Kamala Harris is going to win…It’s going to be a very close election. So, please keep doing what you’re doing here. You know. Folks, this is not rocket science if it was, I could help. This is about which side, which campaign works harder than the other. And we’ve got a huge team of people here. We’ve got thousands and thousands of volunteers knocking on hundreds of thousands of doors, making millions of phone calls. Keep it up all the way to election day. Voting has already started. And we just got to turn people out. And if you can to the extent that you can change somebody’s mind at this point, it was a service member or veteran or people care about service. Please share that message.”
Later in response to a question from a reporter from KTAR, Kelly compared Vice President Kamala Harris’s appreciation of military service with Donald Trump’s lack of it, saying:
“I’ve spent a lot of time with the Vice President. She understands service members and appreciates their sacrifice. Donald Trump doesn’t get it. The contrast between the two of them can not be more clear. Donald Trump, who has what I feel is contempt for people like me and other people who served in the US Military, and Kamala Harris who is ready to be President. She’s ready to be Commander-in-Chief and she understands service and sacrifice. She is going to be a President for everybody. I don’t think Donald Trump is a President for people who are serving in the military. That’s pretty clear.”
In addition to those comments, Senator Kelly praised the efforts of the Biden/Harris Administration with their support and signing into law the Pact Act, which he said was “The largest expansion of Veterans Healthcare in decades. That benefits service members and Veterans here in the state of Arizona.”
After responding to the question from the reporter from KTAR, Senator Kelly replied to my question on the importance of volunteers also stressing the importance of the down-ballot races, saying:
“It’s incredibly important. I mean ballot initiatives like bringing back the woman’s right to choose here are one of the initiatives on the ballot…You got to get all the way through it (filling out the ballot,) I’m working through some of the Superior Court judges right now. As I fill out my ballot, it takes a little bit of time, but it is really important. The Maricopa County Recorder race is critical right, but I hope people set aside some time to do their research and make sure they vote for Kamala Harris, Ruben Gallego, and Democrats down the ballot.”
After the event, two retired veterans who are volunteering for the Harris/Walz Campaign spoke about the importance of this election and the need to elect Democrats up and down the ballot.
On the importance of the election, Andrea Lemay said: “(This election has) a little bit more on the line than before, particularly veterans and women’s healthcare.”
On the need to vote for Democrats down the ballot as well as the Presidential race, she replied “I would say (they are) as important as the Presidential.”
Jeffrey Gass, who traveled from Colorado to volunteer with his daughter, another retired veteran, said that this election was “120% important…I’m just afraid of where the country would be if Trump got re-elected.”
He also praised the legislative achievements of the Biden/Harris Administration including strengthening the Affordable Care Act, passing the CHIPS Act, and securing, unlike Trump, the Infrastructure, Bill.
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