Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and her running mate for Minnesota Governor Tim Walz held a rally in Glendale, Arizona outside Phoenix at the Desert Diamond Arena on Saturday night that was only partially filled, with large sections blocked off. But that didn’t stop Harris from lying that his rally was “the largest in Arizona political campaign history.”
Image source.
Desert Diamond Arena has a capacity of 20,000. Harris’s campaign dubiously told reporters that attendance was 15,000 when the video showed about one-third of the seating arena was blocked off in the upper group and two parts of the club level.
While the claimed 12,000, or even 15,000 would be a good crowd, it’s not a record and nowhere near capacity.
In 2016, then-candidate Donald Trump held a rally in Prescott Valley, Arizona that drew 20,000 supporters according to police.
Photos and videos posted by reporters and the Harris-Walz campaign show a large black curtain blocking thousands of empty seats almost entirely around the arena’s upper deck along with an empty section of the club level.
A video posted by Jessica Swarner with the Copper Courier taken from a section of the upper deck open to seating only shows that three sections of the upper deck are covered or left empty:
A view from the 200 level of the Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale at the Harris Walz rally. @CopperCourier pic.twitter.com/IDJsvaMpFg
— Jessica Swarner (@jessica_swarner) August 9, 2024
Harris: “About yesterday: Some are calling our rally the largest in Arizona political campaign history.”
About last night: Some are calling our rally the largest in Arizona political campaign history. pic.twitter.com/f1jlv498mw
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) August 10, 2024
Walz boasted about the size of the crowd during his speech:
Walz: You know, nobody cares about the size of the crowd or anything. pic.twitter.com/ML1XXGfRqY
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 10, 2024
The campaign told journalists in attendance of 15,000:
Governor Walz took the stage. The Harris campaign estimated the crowd at 15,000.
“No one cares about the size of the crowd or anything,” laughs Walz pic.twitter.com/yQwvGBQ6wv
– Natalie Brand (@NatalieABrand) August 10, 2024
Excerpt from Associated Press, October 6, 2016:
Police estimated the turnout for Trump’s event in Arizona at 20,000
Prescott Valley police estimated about 20,000 people showed up for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign rally at an arena in the Yavapai County community on Tuesday.
About 7,500 people were allowed into the Event Center and police Sgt. Jason Kaufman said there were about 13,000 people left outside.
A video posted by Harris-Walz campaign staff shows the arena’s upper deck blocked off by a large black curtain:
Many of the biggest campaigns to date out here in Arizona, loose @KamalaHarris knowing he was with her.
But as @Tim_Walz he said, who cares about the size of the crowd? pic.twitter.com/OTPXFEoCzc
– Daniel Wessel (@da_wessel) August 10, 2024
Video posted by ASU journalism student Emily Holshouser shows the upper deck and club section of the arena blocked off.
I was at a Kamala Harris rally in Glendale, Arizona today, where I spoke to young voters (and experienced my first presidential campaign event). Chappell Roan blasting on the speakers, with people doing the Hot to Go dance in the audience. Very high energy. pic.twitter.com/OQF9Cg4rry
– Emily Holshouser (@emilyytayylor) August 9, 2024
The 360-degree view posted by the campaign shows the blocked sections:
Arizona fired up for @KamalaHarris and @Tim_Walz pic.twitter.com/aPTgSFcZ7q
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 9, 2024
Newspapers like The Guardian incorrectly reported that the arena was “packed”:
Harris and Walz rock crowd at Phoenix rally – but ‘we’re the underdogs’ https://t.co/cLAnVz5eVC
– Guardian US (@GuardianUS) August 10, 2024
And the Harris campaign posted a fake comparison photo from a Trump rally in Billings, Montana taken before the crowd filled the arena to capacity without the blocked off section.
Meanwhile in @realdonaldtrumppublic meeting… https://t.co/uZ73w1de7D pic.twitter.com/lhCZvG4KxF
— Kamala HQ (@KamalaHQ) August 10, 2024
The Republican Party’s RNC research notes the rally is by invitation only (did they get 6,000 rejections?) and that ID is required to enter:
IT’S ALL FAKE: Crazy Kamala’s rally in Arizona tonight is “invitation only.”
Why wouldn’t they want the event open to the public? Except… pic.twitter.com/soajXLLE9K
– RNC Research (@RNCResearch) August 10, 2024
