Chethana Janith, Jadetimes Staff
C. Janith is a Jadetimes news reporter covering science and geopolitics.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump crossed paths in Michigan on Friday, both campaigning in a fierce contest for the state's crucial 15 Electoral College votes.
The two focused on Oakland County, just northwest of Detroit, where an increasingly educated and diverse population, along with suburban opposition to Trump, has shifted the political landscape towards the Democrats in recent years.
In Waterford Township, Harris criticized Trump, calling him “full of big promises, but always failing to deliver,” and labeled him “one of the biggest losers of manufacturing jobs in American history.”
She expressed her support for labor unions and emphasized her goal to encourage the federal government and private businesses to hire more workers without college degrees.
Harris extended this blue-collar message during stops in Grand Rapids and Lansing, where she criticized Trump’s manufacturing record and assured union members that he is “no friend of labor.”
Meanwhile, Trump, before ending the night with a rally in Detroit, held a roundtable in Oakland County’s Auburn Hills. He pledged to revive U.S. auto manufacturing by imposing high tariffs on imported vehicles.
“I think the word tariff is more beautiful than love,” Trump remarked.
Michigan, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, forms the “blue wall” of battleground states that Trump won in 2016 but Biden reclaimed in 2020.
While Biden won Michigan by about 154,000 votes, Trump’s 2016 victory was a historic one, defeating Hillary Clinton by fewer than 11,000 votes, breaking a Democratic streak since 1992.
Already, more than 944,000 early votes have been cast in Michigan, representing 13% of the state’s registered voters, according to the secretary of state’s office.
Both campaigns are targeting key groups in Michigan, including union workers, Black voters, suburban moderates, and Arab Americans dissatisfied with the Biden administration’s response to Israel’s war in Gaza.
Race for Arab American Voters
On Friday, Trump visited a campaign office in Hamtramck, a city with a significant Muslim and Arab American population, accompanied by its mayor, Amer Ghalib, who recently endorsed him.
During the visit, Ghalib brought up concerns about Trump’s promise to carry out mass deportations of undocumented immigrants if re-elected. He asked, "Democrats keep telling our community that you will deport them, even though many are second- and third-generation immigrants. How would you respond to these accusations?"
“Fake news,” the former president responded.
Earlier in the day, Trump had told reporters he planned to speak soon to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who he said is doing a “good job.” He said Biden is “trying to hold him back, and he probably should be doing the opposite.”
Harris, hours later in Waterford Township, acknowledged the “very difficult” year for members of the Arab American community.
She touted the support of “Arab American leaders” and named Wayne County deputy executive Assad Turfe but said she recognized that Israel’s military campaigns in Gaza and in Lebanon have troubled members of the sizable Arab American and Muslim communities, who she said have “deep and proud roots in the Detroit metro area.”
Harris also reiterated her belief that the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar could create an opportunity to renew negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas.
“Sinwar’s death can and must be a turning point. Everyone must seize this opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza, bring the hostages home and end the suffering once and for all,” she said. “And I continue to believe diplomacy is the answer to bringing lasting stability across the Israel-Lebanon border.”
Harris Challenges Trump’s Appeal to Blue-Collar Voters
Earlier in the day, Vice President Harris addressed union members in Lansing, playing clips of Trump criticizing the work of auto workers and attacking United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain. She also highlighted Trump’s remark about hating to pay overtime when he ran his businesses before entering politics.
Trump has courted auto workers in Michigan with pledges to impose steep tariffs on vehicles imported from Mexico and China. He has also proposed making interest on car loans tax-deductible.
The Harris campaign’s decision to highlight Trump’s own words comes as Democrats try to bridge a gap between union leaders, who largely support Harris and align closely with her party on labor policies, and their members, who in some cases align more closely with Republicans on cultural issues.
“Listen to his words,” Harris said after the 35-second video played for the audience. “He’s saying that auto workers are essentially engaged in child’s play, that children can do it.”
“He’s got his club, and I’m going to tell you, union workers are not part of his club. Let’s be clear about that. No matter what he does at his rallies,” she added. “To compare it to child’s work? When we here know the work you do is complex. You do it with great care. You work hard. You are highly skilled. You are highly trained, and the best auto workers in the world is who you are.”
Trump Revisits City He Once Criticized
Trump's visit to Detroit marked his first return to the Motor City since his controversial comments at a Detroit Economic Club event last week. During that speech, he likened Detroit, the state's largest city, to a "developing nation" and warned that if Harris wins on November 5, "the entire country will end up like Detroit."
Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s Fight Like Hell PAC launched a radio ad Friday highlighting Trump’s disparagement of Detroit.
“Donald Trump recently came to Detroit and talked trash about our city. He called Detroit a failure and a mess. We know he’s wrong. Detroiters don’t give up on each other or their city, something Donald Trump will never understand,” Whitmer says in the 30-second spot.
In his return to the city Friday, Trump told the crowd that Election Day “will be liberation day in America.”
Trump said that he thought Detroit “has such great potential” but that Democrats have “been wreaking havoc on this place” and undermining its long-promised comeback.
“I am proclaiming to the people of this state that by the end of my term, the entire world will be talking about the Michigan miracle and the stunning rebirth of Detroit,” he said.
