7 Times Obama Delighted Arizona Democrats During His Phoenix Rally

With just days to go before an Arizona midterm election that will bring new leadership to the state and could determine which political party controls the U.S. Senate, Arizona Democrats called in the big guns.

It was standing room only on Wednesday night at Cesar Chavez High School in Laveen, a predominantly Latino village in southwest Phoenix. Former President Barack Obama came to the Valley to stump for U.S. Senator Mark Kelly and Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, two candidates in tight races, and the whole of Arizona’s blue down-ticket.

The atmosphere inside the high school gymnasium was electric thanks to the energy of a thousand galvanized Democratic voters — and at least one foul-mouthed heckler. Obama is attempting to mobilize tepid Democratic voters in six battleground states in the closing days of a hotly contested midterm election that concludes on Tuesday.

Key races in Arizona — including for U.S. Senate, governor, secretary of state, and attorney general — are close. Arizona Democrats aren’t in the mood to gamble their luck in a bright purple battleground arena. Not without a fight.

“Our democracy is on the ballot,” Obama told the crowd. “And nowhere is that clearer than here in Arizona.”

A Wall Street Journal poll published on Monday indicates that Republican voters are more excited than Democrats about casting ballots nationwide. Arizona is no exception.

Kelly told Phoenix New Times before the rally that he hoped Obama would “remind Arizonans just how much is at stake in this election” and “make sure voters are fired up and ready” to elect Democrats on Tuesday.

“We are the party of hope,” said U.S. Representative Ruben Gallego, a Phoenix Democrat, evoking one of Obama’s famous mantras as the packed crowd chanted another one: “Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!”

Obama was joined on stage by Adrian Fontes, the former Maricopa County Recorder who faces Mark Finchem, a state lawmaker endorsed by former President Donald Trump who has emerged as a conspiracy theory czar. Obama was also flanked by Kris Mayes, a former member of the Arizona Corporation Commission gunning for attorney general against Big Lie acolyte Abe Hamadeh.

“Arizona is going to come through for the country,” Mayes said, hinting at the Grand Canyon State’s potential role as Senate kingmaker. “We will save American democracy.”

Hobbs and Kelly also shared remarks before Obama took the stage.

“Democracy is the system that sent Barack Obama to the White House,” Hobbs said. “Democracy is the system that will send Kari Lake back to whatever dark corner of the internet she came from.”

Kelly was introduced by his wife, former U.S. Representative Gabby Giffords, who sustained traumatic brain injuries after she was shot during an assassination attempt in Tucson in 2011. She’s now a leader in the push to enact gun control measures nationwide.

Mesa Mayor John Giles, a Republican, also attended the rally and hedged his position on partisan loyalty.

“You don’t owe a political party a damn thing,” Giles said, urging his fellow conservatives to take up the mantle for the late Republican U.S. Senator John McCain and “always put country and state over party.”

He added that, if elected, Lake “will spend more time traveling to Mar-a-Lago than to Mesa,” drawing raucous cheers.

Obama hasn't spoken publicly in Phoenix since he was president. His stop on Wednesday was part of a swing through six battleground states.

Here are seven of Obama’s pithiest remarks that had the crowd stomping its feet with approval.

On Republicans: ‘Own the Libs’

Obama said he knows what the Republicans’ objective is in this election cycle.

“They want to own the libs,” the two-term president said, referring to right-wing memes online that play down political violence as examples of “owning” liberals. "They want to own the libs, even if it solves no problems.”

Referencing the violent attack on U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's husband in San Francisco on October 28, Obama said the rhetoric was harmful and ought to be condemned — especially after Lake made jokes about the assault.

Of Republicans, Obama said, “They’re only interested in making you angry and finding someone to blame for it. That way you may not notice that they’ve got no answers.”

On Lake: ‘This Isn’t a Reality Show’

Obama jabbed at Lake, the one-time television news anchor, over her lack of leadership credentials and persistence in saying that the 2020 presidential election was rigged.

“If Kari Lake is your governor, we know exactly what she’ll be focused on because Donald Trump told us,” he said, referencing Republican plans to relitigate the conspiracy theory that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.

Lake interviewed Obama in 2016 when she was still a journalist. At the time, Obama didn’t peg her as a dangerous right-wing extremist, he said. After all, she donated a pile of cash to his 2012 campaign war chest.

“This isn’t a reality show,” Obama said. “It turns out being president or governor is about more than snappy lines and good lighting.”

On Masters: ‘He Does Not Care About You’

Obama sought to portray Blake Masters, the Trump-backed Republican looking to unseat Kelly, as being unfit for public office, too.

“He does not care about you,” Obama told voters. He further tore into Masters’ calls to “cut the knot” and privatize Social Security.

“It’s not a gift,” Obama said. “They earned it.”

He also reviled Masters’ assertion that abortion is “demonic” and said it “creates a dangerous climate because if your opponents are demonic, well, then there’s no constraint on what you think you can do to them.”

On Hamadeh: ‘Democracy as We Know It May Not Survive’

In 2008, Hamadeh voted for Obama — although he did so illegally at the age of 17 and while fudging his mom’s ballot, which she intended as a vote for McCain.

If conspiracy theorists such as Hamadeh are elected, Obama said, “Democracy as we know it may not survive. Arizona, that is not an exaggeration. That is a fact."

Like Lake, Hamadeh has expressed his wish to decertify the result of the 2020 presidential election in Arizona, even though there is no legal mechanism to do so.

“Most GOP politicians, they’re not even pretending that the rules apply to them,” Obama said. “They seem willing to just make stuff up.”

On Trump: ‘Don’t Throw a Tantrum’

Obama paid homage to McCain, the former Arizona senator and political foe who later became a friend, in highlighting the importance of a peaceful transfer of power across political affiliations.

“Your own John McCain graciously conceded,” he said of the 2008 election that awarded Obama his first trip to the White House over McCain. “He wished me luck.”

In 2016, Obama stayed awake until 3 a.m. on Election Night “to congratulate someone who opposed everything I stood for,” he said of Trump's win over Hillary Clinton.

Trump wasn’t so graceful after losing his bid for a second term in 2020 when Arizona played a key role in unseating him.

“If you don’t get your way, you don’t throw a tantrum,” Obama said.

The days of cordial discourse with McCain and even Senator Mitt Romney, whom Obama bested in the 2012 presidential contest, “feel like a long time ago,” he said.

On Heckler: ‘That’s Garbage’

Obama’s 55-minute monologue was interrupted only once when a heckler began shrieking obscenities from the audience. Obama capitalized on the unrest and used it as a teachable moment.

“Wait, wait, hold up, hold on,” he said as law enforcement officers dragged the belligerent man out of the building. “You have to be polite and civil when people are talking, and then you get a chance to talk.”

Obama responded to the heckler, who squawked that the former chief executive was the root of America’s problems: “It’s safe to say that’s garbage.”

On Phoenix Suns: ‘Looking Pretty Good’

Obama teased rumors that he’s part of an ownership group mulling the purchase of the NBA’s red-hot Phoenix Suns. “There have been these rumors about me and the Phoenix Suns,” Obama said. “The Suns are looking pretty good.”

Star shooting guard Devin Booker has led the Suns to a 6-1 start this season. Obama wants Arizona Democrats to add a few wins of their own on Election Day.

“I think anybody would value a partnership with someone like that,” Suns coach Monty Williams said ahead of Obama’s arrival in the Valley. “I would love to just pick his brain and just sit and listen for hours about life and decisions and things like that.”

Obama polished off his speech with these succinct words: “Better is worth fighting for.”