The president is coming to Arizona on Tuesday, as he makes an effort at “counter-programming” during the Democrats’ largely virtual national convention. Details were still being worked out Thursday, but Trump is scheduled to go to Yuma, which has been a frequent stopping point for the president and administration officials during Trump’s term.

His purpose will come as no surprise: touting his border-security record.

Trump’s visit is part of a swing through several battleground states next week in an effort to make news during the Democrats’ convention, which was to be held in Milwaukee but will mostly happen online and on the air. Trump is also planning to visit Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Minnesota next week.

In Arizona, polls suggest Biden has a small lead over Trump, who won the state by a 3.5 percentage-point margin over Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Yuma has been a hot stopping spot for Trump and administration officials. Trump was there on June 23 this year and in August 2017. Vice President Mike Pence has also visited, as have all of Trump’s confirmed and acting Homeland Security secretaries: John Kelly, Kirstjen Nielsen and Chad Wolf.

How police unions endorsed Trump

Pence came to Tucson on Tuesday to accept the endorsement from an association of Arizona police unions and trot out his ticket’s “law-and-order” message.

“We’ve stood for the rule of law,” Pence said. “We’ve stood without apology with the men and women who serve in law enforcement. We’ll always back the blue.”

But how did the Arizona Police Association arrive at its endorsement? The association is a group of police unions in Arizona, executive director Joe Clure explained.

“We were contacted by the Trump campaign folks and asked for an endorsement. We put a motion out,” he said.

The resulting vote was unanimous. Not every union that is a part of the association actually cast a vote, but all that did voted to endorse Trump, Clure said.

The Tucson Police Officers Association and the other 12 members of the Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Arizona agreed to support endorsing Trump, said Sgt. Jason Winsky of the Tucson association.

It’s a somewhat awkward position for Winsky, the public face of the Tucson officers union: His sister, Laura Conover, is a progressive Democrat supporting criminal justice reform who just won the election as Pima County’s top prosecutor.

The Biden campaign didn’t participate in the Arizona Police Association decision or that of the National Association of Police Officers, Winsky said.

The Biden campaign said it did have some conversation with the national organization, but Trump spoke to that national group of police unions himself. They subsequently endorsed him for president.

“I think what turned the tide there is that they didn’t participate whatsoever,” Winsky said of the Biden campaign.

Of course, police unions traditionally support conservative politicians, perhaps more so during this period of protest and controversy over police behavior.

Justin Harris, president of the Arizona Police Association and a Glendale officer, criticized city leaders around the country while explaining the endorsement this way at the Westin La Paloma on Tuesday:

“These liberal socialist elected officials have essentially told their constituents that law and order is no longer a priority. Essentially, folks, they’re letting the inmates run the asylum.”

Of course, the president the unions are endorsing, who is attempting to win reelection as a law-and-order candidate, has been accused regularly and credibly of engaging in lawlessness himself.

Trump has consistently used the presidency to make money at his own properties, including from government and foreign customers; he withheld military aid to demand that Ukraine announce an investigation of his opponent, Biden; he was responsible for separating thousands of children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border; and he’s been accused of sexual assault by more than two dozen women. So, we’ll see how far the law-and-order argument goes.

McSally warns Dems out to add new states

Sen. Martha McSally warned that Democrats would try to add two more stars to the American flag to cement their hold on the Senate if they are allowed to take control of Congress and the White House in November.

“They’re going to make D.C. and Puerto Rico a state and get four new Democrat senators. We’d never get the Senate back again,” the incumbent Republican predicted in a recent interview with NBC national political reporter Vaughn Hillyard.

It was one of several examples McSally gave as to why this is a “tipping-point election.”

“If (Democrats) win the White House, the Senate and the House, they’re already saying they are going to ram through the most radical agenda we’ve seen in American history,” she said. “That is out of step with Arizonans.”

Hillyard posted McSally’s statehood comments on Twitter, along with a number of other excerpts from his interviews with her and Democratic challenger Mark Kelly for a story that aired Aug. 9 on MSNBC .

CPLC forms political advocacy arm

Chicanos Por La Causa has set up its own political advocacy wing, and it will be headed by a former longtime Tucsonan.

Joseph Garcia, former city editor of the Tucson Citizen, will head the CPLC Action Fund, a 501©(4) advocacy organization.

Such groups may get involved in political advocacy as long as that is not their primary activity, under IRS regulations.

The new CPLC Action Fund participated in a limited way in Arizona’s primary election but will be more deeply involved in the general election through voter registration, voter education, get-out-the-vote efforts, endorsements and campaign support, Garcia said in a written statement.

CPLC president and CEO David Adame will serve as chairman of the advocacy group’s board, which is overseen by a separate board.

Oro Valley race was close, but no recount

The race for three Oro Valley town council seats was close — just 34 votes separated the top two vote-getters — but not close enough for a recount.

Councilman Steve Solomon won reelection in the Aug. 4 vote and will be joined on the council by Harry “Mo” Green and Tim Bohen.

Not making the cut in the five-candidate, nonpartisan contest were incumbent Bill Rodman and former council member Bill Garner.

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Contact: tsteller@tucson.com or 807-7789. On Twitter: @senyorreporter.