This Mayor Could Help Harris Win Arizona. And It Might Cost Him.

The gathering had all the standard fare of a Harris fundraiser: snarky ribbings of Donald Trump, anxious talk about his potential return to the White House and inspired praise for his Democratic opponent. Except for one thing: the room was filled with Republicans.

The draw of the evening was the Republican mayor of Mesa, Arizona, John Giles, who is athletically slim and was dressed in a dark blazer with clear-frame glasses that night. Mesa is a deeply conservative city in Arizona, but Giles has emerged as one of Harris’ chief evangelists to right-leaning voters in this crucial state.

“Kamala Harris is a much better Republican than Donald Trump,” he declared to the small room of fellow Republicans in downtown Phoenix. “She governs from the center. She’s pragmatic. She’ll help us to solve problems.” Though everyone in the room agreed with most everything Giles had to say, the “better Republican” line elicited laughs.

The event was organized by a pro-Harris PAC called, “Arizona Republicans Who Believe in Treating Others with Respect.” A school principal, a retired nurse, a former state legislator, Giles’ wife Dawn and a dozen others had gathered in a law firm’s skyrise office for the pro-Harris fundraiser in mid-September. The PAC’s co-chair, a kindergarten teacher named Suzanne Lunt, distributed cookies in plastic wrap which read, “Country Over Party.”





https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2024/10/28/john-giles-harris-republicans-arizona-00185652