PHOENIX – Former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is registering voters in Arizona and Georgia, sounding the alarm on Vice President Kamala Harris’ border and economic policies in the two key swing states.
“I laughed out loud when you addressed her as the border czar,” the former gov told The Post in an exclusive interview.
Ducey, whose last two years in office coincided with Biden’s first two years in the White House, graded the administration poorly on the border.
“I served alongside three presidents: Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden. Joe Biden was by far the worst on the border,” adding that the border was in much better shape under the Trump administration.
“Today, the border is wide open and unprotected. Kamala Harris had never been to the border. She had never taken the border issue seriously as a United States senator or as vice president,” he continued.
Still, the Harris campaign is touting a recent executive order from the White House which capped asylum claims as border arrests began dropping off.
But many Republicans say this change came too little, too late.
“She’s never been to Arizona’s border to this date. And that is an issue that she has failed on…This was all avoidable with attention to the border, and this is something that Kamala Harris will have to answer for in this presidential campaign,” Ducey told The Post.
Beyond the border, Ducey’s administration was known for its economic reforms like income tax cuts, eliminating regulations on businesses, and balancing the state budget.
As the former Chief Executive Officer of Cold Stone Creamery, Ducey’s business reputation preceded him, and his passion for free markets has him taking up a new project this election cycle.
Now retired from government, Ducey heads up Citizens for Free Enterprise, a pro-business group that’s working to register voters who may care about free market issues, but may not otherwise be political junkies.
“The political discussion is deeply divided. It’s highly focused on personalities, and we want to talk about a principle, free enterprise, and the policies that support it,” Ducey said.
The last presidential election came to states like Arizona and Georgia, where Biden won narrowly by about 11,000 and 12,000 votes respectively.
With margins like those, targeted voter registration efforts are a strategy of addition for political causes.
“No one out there is doing what we’re doing,” Ducey said. “Most everyone else is focused on the same people that are highly invested, and it’s a turnout game on that side.”
“We’re focused on people that everyone else is missing, but could be game changers in these elections when we engage them.”
Ducey added that even in growing states like Arizona, Texas, and Tennessee, Americans are still facing the headwinds of financial woes like inflation.
“There’s been a winning playbook for good economic growth and development. But the policies of the Biden administration and this Federal Reserve of pumping so much money into the economy has really raised prices.”
In Arizona, the presidential and senatorial campaigns are full steam ahead to sway swing voters. The Arizona Republican Party opened a field office in hotly competitive north Phoenix on Monday.
Meanwhile, the “Republicans for Harris” coalition launched this week with Mesa Mayor John Giles, a Republican who has endorsed multiple Democrats in recent elections.
“I think the time has come for us, as Arizona Republicans, to admit the obvious, and to start saying the quiet part out loud, which is that our party’s nominee is not qualified for office, and that we need to vote for the adult in the room, and that is Kamala Harris,” Giles stated.
On the Senate side, “Republicans and Independents for Ruben” also launched, and Republican Kari Lake is expected to announce a Democrats and former Democrats coalition for supporters of her candidacy later this week.
