Campaign staff for Vice President Kamala Harris couldn’t spell “Tucson” correctly for this week’s rally, but it’s likely they don’t think it’ll impact their voter turnout.
Press passes for the rally on Thursday with former President Barack Obama at the University of Arizona identified the major city as “Tuscon.” Though the misspelling clearly didn’t catch the eye of organizers, it did catch the eye of attendees and achieved some virality on X.
“We’d like your vote, but can’t seem to spell the name of your town correctly,” said America First Policy Institute policy director Jordan Kittleson.
We’d like your vote, but can’t seem to spell the name of your town correctly. pic.twitter.com/1cqmEqIxzG
— Jordan Kittleson (@JKKittleson) October 18, 2024
“They spelled Tucson wrong,” posted Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk.
They spelled Tucson wrong.
HAHAHAHAHAHA pic.twitter.com/2KQDdQQCRh
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) October 18, 2024
Obama also made an error in identifying Tucson. His X page claimed that the former president was stumping for the Harris-Walz ticket in Pennsylvania in a post promoting his livestream.
Arizona! Tune in now to hear me talk about the importance of voting for @KamalaHarris and @Tim_Walz. https://t.co/YMoVbwD8CK
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 18, 2024
Also at the rally were Congressman Ruben Gallego, the Democratic Senate candidate; Senator Mark Kelly; former congresswoman Gabby Giffords; Governor Katie Hobbs; Tucson Mayor Regina Romero; Arizona Democratic Party Chair Yolanda Bejarano; and Democratic congressional candidate Kirsten Engel.
Rather than promote Kamala Harris, Obama spent more of his speech attacking Donald Trump than he did promoting Harris. Obama spoke Trump’s name nearly 40 times and spent 40 of his 50 minutes onstage discussing him.
“Donald Trump is a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down that golden escalator nine years ago, and when he’s not complaining he’s trying to sell you stuff,” said Obama.
When Obama did mention Harris, he opened with her work as the California attorney general pushing for a fairer settlement for homeowners during the home mortgage crisis, then claimed Harris would lower housing and medical costs, in addition to implementing tax cuts and credits, and legalizing abortion.
Obama also made mention of his 2008 presidential opponent, the late Senator John McCain.
“One of the most disturbing things about this election and Donald Trump’s rise in politics is how we seem to have set aside the values that people like John McCain stood for,” said Obama.
Likely one of those responsible for the misspelling was Harris campaign volunteer Chris Cosico, who addressed the crowd at Thursday’s rally. Cosico described himself as “one of many very talented organizers” with the Harris campaign.
Cosico has served as the field organizer for LD18 and a regional organizing director. Prior to joining the Arizona Democratic Party, Cosico worked as an EMT.
The campaign workers made the same mistake as the major foreign news outlet, India Today.
Gallego made his appearance shortly after the much-anticipated unsealing of his divorce records, which didn’t pan out to the October surprise for which some had hoped.
The latest national polling average from the New York Times and Project FiveThirtyEight indicate that Harris has a two-point lead over Trump nationally, but put Trump at a three-point lead over Harris in Arizona.
