Former President Donald Trump returning to Arizona for rally with Kari Lake, Blake Masters

Former President Donald Trump will return to Arizona for an Oct. 9 rally in Mesa to support his endorsed Arizona candidates ahead of the Nov. 8 election.

Trump is expected to speak in support of his endorsed candidates including Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Blake Masters and “the entire Arizona Trump Ticket.”

Trump last visited Arizona in July before the primary and held a rally at a Prescott Valley arena to boost his favored candidates, including Lake and Masters.

The event will be held at Legacy Sports Park in Mesa.

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Parking lots, vendors and registration will open at 7 a.m. and doors open at 11 a.m. Remarks will start around 1 p.m. and Trump is scheduled to speak at 4 p.m.

The rally comes as early voting kicks off in Arizona. Counties begin mailing ballots to voters on Oct. 12, the first day of early voting. Arizonans have until Oct. 11 to register to vote in this election and voters can request a ballot by mail until Oct. 29.

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Arizona GOP candidates endorsed by Trump face tough races, according to a recent Arizona Republic and azcentral.com/Suffolk University statewide poll.

Katie Hobbs, the Democratic nominee for governor, took a single percentage point lead over Lake, 46% to 45%, meaning the race is a toss-up. Both candidates are aiming to win over the one in five independent voters who remain undecided in the race.

Masters, the Republican Senate nominee, isn't faring as well. He trailed Democratic incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly by 7 percentage points in the poll.

Trump-backed candidates in Arizona largely dominated their GOP primaries, showing the former president’s continued sway over Republicans in the state.

Trump also endorsed Abe Hamadeh for attorney general and Mark Finchem for secretary of state, among others.

Trump and his circle are facing ongoing and mounting legal woes on multiple fronts related to the Mar-a-Lago search, the aftermath of the 2020 election, his businesses and the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.

And the Washington Post reported this week that American Freedom Tour, a company that organized paid speeches for Trump after he left office, is struggling financially, including with paying employees, vendors and investors, and has had to cancel events.

At the July rally in Prescott Valley, Trump spoke for around 1 hour, 40 minutes, raising false claims of election fraud, attacking Democrats from Joe Biden to Kelly and hailing his administration a success. He encouraged Arizonans to vote for “an outstanding slate of true conservative warriors” such as Lake and Masters, who also spoke at the summer rally.

The Mesa rally will be held by Trump’s political organization Save America.

General admission tickets for the Oct. 9 event can be reserved online at https://events.donaldjtrump.com/events/save-america-rally-in-mesa-az.

Reach the reporter at Alison.Steinbach@arizonarepublic.com or at 602-444-4282. Follow her on Twitter @alisteinbach.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Donald Trump returning to Arizona to support Kari Lake, Blake Masters