A lifelong Mesa resident stood before a crowd of over 20,000 Tuesday and revealed the worst-kept secret in Arizona.
“I have a confession to make: I’m a lifelong Republican,” Mesa Mayor John Giles told attendees of the Democratic National Convention. “I feel a little out of place, but I feel more at home here than in today’s Republican Party.”
Republicans urge support for Harris
The DNC has boasted a lineup of prominent Republican speakers throughout the week, sprinkled in with progressive powerhouses, in an effort to build universal support for the Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris.
Tuesday night, after hearing from progressive leaders US Sens. Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer, and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, the crowd was introduced to Mesa, Arizona Mayor John Giles. Giles, a lifelong Republican, brought the crowd to its feet as he echoed the same message as the ideological opposites who spoke before him.
“We need an adult in the White House, and we’ve seen what happens when we don’t have one,” said Giles. “These days, my city of Mesa’s on the move. I’m going to ribbon-cuttings every single week. All because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris reached across the aisle—and they delivered to my conservative community and countless more across the country.”
Giles’ ideological journey
Giles has bucked his party’s presidential preference since their nomination of Donald Trump in 2016, and has been a thorn in Republicans’ side ever since. After being caught on a hot mic calling Trump an “idiot” in 2017, Giles went on to endorse US President Joe Biden in 2020, and formed the group Republicans for Harris in 2024 to offer Arizona conservatives an alternative to Trump.
The Republican Party of Arizona censured Giles for his support of Biden in 2020, and he was attacked by fake elector and Arizona Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, in August for backing Harris. Hoffman called Giles and any other Republicans who support Harris “whores” who have sold out their values in exchange for admiration from Democrats.
“Anyone who follows Sen. Hoffman, I think, was not surprised by those comments,” Giles told The Copper Courier. “He’s hyperpartisan, and—you know, I don’t think anybody takes him very seriously.”
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Could Giles deliver Mesa?
Despite being unpopular with hardliners in his party, Giles has proven to be incredibly popular with voters. He won a special election in 2014 with 72% of the vote, ran unopposed in 2016, and secured a final term in 2020 with a commanding 33-point lead against his opponent. That, coupled with the growing number of Democratic victories for candidates in Mesa’s local elections, could be enough to sway the city’s voters to Harris.
“I have an urgent message for the majority of Americans who, like me, are in the political middle,” said Giles. “Let’s turn the page. Let’s put country first. And let’s put the adults in the room our country deserves.”
