A GOP mayor in Arizona explained why he doesn’t “recognize” his party even as he felt “a little out of place” at Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign rally in Glendale on Friday.
Mesa Mayor John Giles, who the Arizona GOP once censured in 2022 over his endorsement of Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) over Trump-backed challenger Blake Masters, said his party has been taken over by “extremists” committed to forcing “people in the center of the political spectrum out” of the GOP.
“So I have something to say to those of us who are in the political middle: you don’t owe a damn thing to that party,” said the lifelong Republican at the rally, which attracted an estimated crowd of over 15,000 people.
“In particular, you do not owe anything to a party that is out of touch and hell-bent on taking us backward. And by all means, you owe no displaced loyalty to a candidate that is morally and ethically bankrupt.”
Giles is the co-chair of the Republicans for Harris campaign committee and, in a column published by The Arizona Republic last month, urged party members to take a “moral and ethical responsibility to restore faith” in democracy.
“I would say in the spirit of the late Sen. John McCain, please, please, please join me in putting country over party and stopping Donald Trump and protecting the rule of law, protecting our Constitution and protecting the democracy of this great country,” Giles told the crowd.