Barack Obama visits Tucson Friday to campaign for Kamala Harris

Former President Barack Obama will visit Tucson Friday for a get-out-the-vote rally.

“President Barack Obama will travel to Tucson, Arizona to rally voters, encouraging them to vote early or return their mail ballot for Vice President Harris, Governor Walz and Democrats up and down the ballot,” said a press release from the Harris campaign.

The event will take place from 2 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 18, according to information shared on the RSVP page. Interested parties can sign up to attend here.

It is one of a range of recent visits by both Democratic and Republican candidates and staff members in an effort to close a tight voter gap and win Arizona. Both vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and J.D. Vance were in Tucson in early October, and candidate Donald Trump and first husband Doug Emhoff came to town in September. Several state senators and other politicians from California and New Mexico are simultaneously running a “Hombres con Harris Tour Kicks-Off” that starts in Arizona and aims to mobilize Latino men.

Recent general election polls show a tight race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, with Trump taking a lead of around 2 percentage points or more in recent polls from early October.

Though Pima County has voted for the Democratic presidential candidates in the last two elections, Arizona is considered a swing state, which means it has voted Republican in the past but at times swung Democratic, often with tight margins. Joe Biden won the state by 0.3% of the vote , or 10,457 ballots, in 2020.

Early voting in Arizona has begun. Early-voting centers are open now and ballots were mailed Oct. 9 and will be arriving in mailboxes. Registered voters can request an early voting ballot until Oct. 25 . Election day this year takes place on Nov. 5.

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