A town-hall-style campaign stop Tuesday with Mike Pence at the historic Fox Theatre downtown was substantially more subdued than the boisterous rally by Donald Trump at the Convention Center a few months ago.
The man who could become the next vice president drew about 1,000 people to the event, which had far fewer disruptions than his running mate’s Tucson rally in March.
Pence, the governor of Indiana, started his speech by saying he prayed with his wife when Trump called him and asked him to be his running mate.
“I said yes in a heartbeat because you have nominated a man who never quits,” Pence said. “He is a fighter. He is a winner, and up until very recently he has been doing it all on his own.”
Supporters in the theater, nearly at capacity, rose to their feet, cheering loudly as Pence spoke.
“It seems like the entire country is crying out for something new,” Pence told the crowd. “Let’s just decide here and now, in Tucson, that Hillary Clinton will never become president.”
Pence briefly skimmed over immigration issues, quickly stating that Trump will “build a wall to ensure our nation’s safety.”
He focused most of his comments on criticism of Clinton and President Obama, repeatedly referencing the Affordable Care Act and the “poor judgment” of both the president and the Democratic nominee.
He also talked about the need to ensure that a Republican president be the one to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court.
Pence spoke for about 20 minutes, then took several questions from the audience.
When an audience member asked how he and Trump would help to “make amends” with Israel, calling it “our only ally in the Middle East,” Pence touted his time spent as chairman of the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on the Middle East. He said when Trump becomes president, “They will again know American strength, and if they know nothing else, they will know that America stands with Israel.”
“She is not only our ally in the Middle East, she is our most cherished ally in the entire world,” Pence said.
There were some clashes between supporters and critics at Trump’s event in March, including one in which Tucsonan Bryan Sanders said he was sucker-punched by a Trump supporter.
Sanders was also at the Pence event, but it was uneventful. One person was escorted out of the theater for disrupting Pence’s speech.
Richard A. Szilay, a Tucson veteran, was one of the few protesters outside.
Szilay was standing across the street from the Fox, holding an American flag upside down.
“We’re talking about American values, but when it comes time to pay the dues, we always distract ourselves with boisterousness,” he said, pointing to the Fox marquee with Pence’s name on it.
