Former presidential advisor Steve Bannon made a quiet visit to Oro Valley on Sunday afternoon, part of a larger, national tour to get Republicans out to vote in the midterms.
Bannon was in his element in the packed ballroom as roughly 100 invited guests listened to him about the importance of getting their friends, family and neighbors to the polls in the next two weeks.
He answered questions from the crowd, but the 64-year-old political strategist wove a common thread into each of his answers: The midterm election isnโt about the governorship, Jeff Flakeโs Senate seat or a handful of House seats that represent Southern Arizona.
It is about President Trump.
Sitting down with the Arizona Daily Star after his speech, Bannon said his message is the same regardless of what congressional district he is in.
โWhat Iโm there to do is say, โHey, this is about Trump. You need to come out and vote like itโs a presidential election,โโ Bannon said.
He credits Democrats, whom he repeatedly refers to as โthe left,โ for making the 2018 midterm elections a referendum on Trump and mobilizing its base much earlier than the Republicans.
โWhat the left has done, theyโve accomplished one very important thing. Theyโve got a do-over,โ Bannon said.
On Sunday, Bannon was in CD 1, helping retired Air Force Lt. Col. Wendy Rogers in her fight to unseat Democrat Tom OโHalleran. That night, Bannon traveled to Flagstaff โ the largest city in the district โ to hold another forum with Republican officials and grassroots activists.
Rogers could be the key to retaining Republican control of the House.
โIf she can beat OโHalleran, weโll hold the House. Weโll hold the House by one or two seats. And thatโs why itโs so important, and thatโs why I wanted to come down here,โ Bannon said.
But that is true for 25 congressional districts that Bannon thinks Republican incumbents need to defend in the midterms successfully, plus the five or six seats including CD 1 where the GOP thinks they can flip the districts from blue to red.
โThatโs where the urgency is. Everybodyโs gotta pay attention here. You canโt be leaning on your shovel and say, โOh, since (Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh was successfully nominated), everythingโs OK.โ Itโs not. This is still very tough, and theyโre plowing money into it,โ Bannon said.
And the stakes, according to Bannon, couldnโt be higher.
โThe House is one that could go either way, and of course, everything originates out there. First off, the appropriation bill, if you lose the House, youโre not going to get the (border) wall. And youโre not going to get it in any kind of way, and theyโre not going to cut a deal in some lame duck session. Theyโre going to play hardball with Trump, and theyโve telegraphed that,โ Bannon said.
His super PAC, Citizens of the American Republic, is helping to fund his visits to the congressional districts. Occasionally, he previews his forthcoming film, โTrump @ War,โ to friendly audiences.
Bannon stressed that while he shared the stage with Rogers, his visit was designed to help motivate Republican voters throughout the state.
Hunched over a chair in a smaller conference room wearing his now signature one button-down shirt over another button-down shirt, Bannon disagrees with the recent decision by the National Republican Congressional Committee pulling funding out of Congressional District 2.
He blames the left for forcing the NRCC to spend money elsewhere, saying Republican Lea Marquez Peterson is a great candidate to take over Rep. Martha McSallyโs seat in the House.
โI donโt agree with their pulling out of that, but hereโs the thing: To put that in perspective for your audience, what the Democrats have done in โ18, what we did in โ10, they have spread the field. So what you have now is the committees have to go in, and their first priority is the incumbent thatโs defending a district,โ he said.
The race to watch is the Senate race, he says, calling it one of the most exciting races in the entire nation.
Bannon rattles off a condensed but detailed political biography of McSally, noting her razor-thin win over then-incumbent Congressman Ron Barber and tough primary fight against Jesse Kelly.
โShe is really a stunning campaigner now,โ Bannon said.
Bannon, who has ties to the Tucson community, predicts he will be spending more time in Arizona in the next two years.
โItโs been a state that conservatives can count on. You canโt count on that anymore. Itโs a battleground state,โ he said. โItโs clearly the heart of a big part of the Trump movement, and so we gotta hold our own here, and really start, I think, spending more time, focus on building the grassroots in Arizona.โ
