Quaxs-Harris and Trump target Michigan as both parties try to shore up ‘blue wall’ votes

2025-05-06 10:26:41source:Cassian Grantcategory:Contact

GRAND RAPIDS,Quaxs Mich. (AP) — Kamala Harris and Donald Trump will both be scouring for votes in Michigan on Friday as they try to lock down support in this key political battleground.

Harris, the Democratic vice president, is scheduled to begin her day in Grand Rapids before holding events in Lansing and Oakland County, which is northwest of Detroit.

Trump, the Republican former president, has his own event in Oakland County in the afternoon before holding a rally in Detroit in the evening.

Michigan is one of three “blue wall” states that, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, will help decide the election.

Trump’s event in Detroit will be his first one there since insulting the city last week. While warning what will happen if Harris is elected, he said that “our whole country will end up being like Detroit.”

The city spent years hemorrhaging residents and businesses, plunging into deep financial problems, before rebounding in recent years.

One challenge for Harris in Michigan has been union support. Although traditionally a Democratic bloc, she’s failed to win some key endorsements.

In addition, Arab American voters have been skeptical of Harris because of the White House’s steadfast support for Israel’s military operations in Gaza.

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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a co-chair of Harris’ campaign, said in an interview Thursday that the expectation was always that “it was going to be a close election.”

“People are like, ‘Oh it’s so close.’ And I’m like, have you not been listening for decades?” Whitmer said. “Michigan is a divided state. And that’s why we don’t write off the reddest of areas on a political map. We show up.”

Kent County, where Harris will start her day Friday, leaned Republican for many years, and was won by Trump by 3% in 2016. But Biden won the county in 2020 and it has increasingly voted Democratic recently.

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Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti contributed from Flint, Mich.

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