President Biden will formally apologize to Native Americans on Friday for a government-run boarding school system that for decades has forcibly separated Native American children from their parents.

Democrats hope Biden’s visit to the Gila River Indian Community grounds on the edge of metro Phoenix will also give a boost to Vice President Kamala Harris’ turnout effort in Arizona, a the key state of the battlefield.

Biden, whose presidency is winding down, promised tribal leaders nearly two years ago that he would visit.

“He made commitments to Indian country and he followed through on every one of those commitments,” said Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a member of Laguna Pueblo, New Mexico.

Biden’s selection of the former congresswoman from New Mexico made Haaland the first Native American appointed to a Cabinet position. She, in turn, ordered a review of the troubling legacy of the federal government’s boarding school policies, leading to Biden’s official apology.

The president, in an exchange with reporters Thursday before leaving for Arizona, said apologizing for the U.S. government’s role in abusing and neglecting Native children was “something that should have been done a long time ago.” For decades, federal boarding schools have been used to assimilate children into white society, according to the White House.

The moment will also give Biden a chance to highlight his and Harris’ support for tribal nations, a group that has historically favored Democrats, in a state he won by just 10,000 votes in 2020.

The race between Harris and former President Trump is expected to be just as close, and both campaigns are doing their best to improve voter turnout among grassroots supporters.

“The race is now a turnout,” said Mike O’Neil, a nonpartisan pollster in Arizona. “Trend lines have been remarkably consistent. The question is, which candidate will be able to deliver voters in a race that appears destined to be decided by narrow margins.”

Biden has made only occasional campaign appearances for Harris and other Democrats since ending his re-election campaign in July.

But analysts say Biden could help Harris in her appeal to Native American voters — a group that has trailed others in turnout rates.

In 2020, there was a surge in voter turnout in Arizona tribal land as Biden defeated Trump to become the first Democrat to win the state’s presidential vote since Bill Clinton in 1996.

Biden is making the visit in his official capacity, and the official apology — something the tribes have long sought — seems sure to draw attention among Native Americans across the country.

At least 973 Native American children died in the US government’s abusive boarding school system over a 150-year period that ended in 1969, according to an Interior Department investigation that demanded a government apology.

At least 18,000 children, some as young as 4, were taken from their parents and forced to attend schools that tried to assimilate them.

“President Biden deserves credit for finally bringing attention to the issue and other issues affecting the community,” said Ramona Charette Klein, 77, a boarding school survivor and charter member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. “I think that will reflect well on Vice President Harris and I hope that momentum continues.”

She added that whoever is the next president must continue with concrete actions and begin to repair the devastation boarding schools have brought to the tribes.

Democrats have stepped up their outreach to Native American communities.

Both Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, met with tribal leaders in Arizona and Nevada this month. And Clinton, who served as a surrogate for Harris, met last week in North Carolina with the chairman of the Lumbee tribe.

The recent Democratic National Committee launch a six-figure ad campaign targeting Native American voters in Arizona, North Carolina, Montana and Alaska through digital, print and radio ads.

Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego, who is locked in a competitive race with Republican Kari Lake for Arizona’s open Senate seat, has visited all 22 federally recognized tribes in Arizona.

Harris recently kicked off a campaign rally in Chandler, near the site of the Gila River Reservation, with a shout-out to the tribal leader.

She also reminded the crowd that she was the first vice president to visit the reservation. She and husband Doug Emhoff visited the community last year.

“I strongly believe that the relationship between tribal nations and the United States is sacred … and that we must honor tribal sovereignty, embrace our trust in treaty obligations and ensure tribal self-determination,” Harris said.

The White House says Biden and Harris have built a substantial track record with Native Americans over the past four years.

He designated the sacred Avi Kwa Ame, a desert mountain in Nevada and the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni-Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon in Arizona as national monuments and restored the boundaries for Bears Ears National Monument in Utah.

In addition, the administration directed nearly $46 billion in federal spending to tribal nations. The money helped bring electricity to a reservation that never had electricity, expand high-speed Internet access, improve water sanitation, build roads and more.

Thom Reilly, co-director of Arizona State University’s Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy, said both the Harris and Trump campaigns — and their allies — have made a remarkable effort at microtargeting in Arizona.

Harris, Reilly noted, also focused on reducing Trump’s lead among Mormon voters in the state, a group that has historically favored Republicans. Trump, meanwhile, has placed a particular focus on young men as the campaign seeks to reduce the Democrats’ advantage with younger voters.

“They’re pulling out every stop just to see if they can wrangle a few more votes here and there,” Reilly said. “The Indian community is one of those groups that Harris hopes will over-perform and help make a difference.”

Madhani writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Graham Lee Brewer in Norman, Okla., contributed to this report.