PHOENIX (AP) — President Joe Biden is at last making his way to Indian Country, paying a long-promised visit to a reservation in Arizona that Democrats hope could provide a boost to Vice President Kamala Harris’ turnout effort in a key battleground state.
President Joe Biden is at last making his way to Indian Country, paying a long-promised visit to a reservation in Arizona that Democrats hope could provide a boost to Vice President Kamala Harris’ turnout effort in a key battleground state.
Biden’s visit to the Gila River Indian Community’s land on the outskirts of metro Phoenix will be his first to Indian Country as president — something he promised tribal leaders he would do nearly two years ago.
During the visit, Biden intends to formally apologize to Native Americans for the U.S. government’s role in the abuse and neglect of Native children sent to federal boarding schools to assimilate them into white society, according to the White House.
But it is also a chance for Biden to spotlight his and Harris’ support for tribal nations, a group that historically has favored Democrats, in a state he won just by 10,000 votes in 2020.
The race between Harris and former President Donald Trump is expected to be similarly close, and both campaigns are doing whatever they can to improve turnout among bedrock supporters.
“The race is now a turnout grab,” said Mike O’Neil, a non-partisan pollster based in Arizona. “The trendlines throughout have been remarkably steady. The question is which candidate is going to be able to turn out their voters in a race that seems to be destined to be decided by narrow margins.”
Biden has been used sparingly on the campaign trail by Harris and other Democrats since he ended his reelection campaign in July.
But analysts say Biden could help Harris in her appeal with Native American voters — a group that has trailed others in turnout rates.
In 2020, there was a surge in voter turnout on some tribal land in Arizona as Biden beat Trump and became the first Democratic presidential candidate to win the state since Bill Clinton in 1996.
Biden is making the visit in his official capacity and a formal apology — something tribes have long sought — seems certain to garner attention among Native Americans across the country.
