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Michelle Obama, in her first public campaign event of this U.S. election, will join Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in Michigan on Saturday, while Republican candidate Donald Trump holds his own rally in the battleground state.
With some 8.4 million registered voters and 15 electoral college votes of the 270 needed to win, Michigan is one of seven competitive U.S. states that will decide the election. It is part of the “Blue Wall” that is considered Democrats’ best chance of electing Harris, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
In Michigan, Harris and Trump are battling for voters that include a large Arab American and Muslim population concerned about Israel’s war in Gaza, and union workers worried about how electric vehicles could reshape the U.S. auto industry, which is headquartered in Detroit, the state’s largest city.
Former President Trump has courted auto workers by pledging car-loan tax breaks and crackdowns on Chinese car sales. Earlier this month he made detrimental remarks about Detroit, a majority Black city that Republicans have criticized for its crime rates, even as they dropped significantly in recent years. He said of Harris: “Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president.”
It’s a level of celebrity clout that surpasses anything that Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, has been able to marshal this year. But there’s no guarantee that will help Harris in the close race for the White House. In 2016, Hillary Clinton lost to Trump despite firing up her crowds with musical performances and Democratic allies.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsTrump brushed off Harris’ attempt to harness star power for her campaign.
“Kamala is at a dance party with Beyoncé,” the former president said Friday in Traverse City, Michigan. Trump, the Republican nominee for president, is scheduled to hold a rally in Novi, a suburb of Detroit, on Saturday before a later event in State College, Pennsylvania.
Harris and Michelle Obama will be in Kalamazoo, in the southwestern part of the state. It will be the former first lady’s first time hitting the trail for Harris.
It’s also the first day that early in-person voting becomes available across Michigan. More than 1.4 million ballots have already been submitted, representing 20% of registered voters.
When Clinton was running against Trump, Michelle Obama inspired Democrats with the slogan “when they go low, we go high.”
But this year, at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, she adopted a more biting approach. She accused Trump of ”doubling down on ugly, misogynistic, racist lies as a substitute for real ideas and solutions that will actually make people’s lives better.”
Before the rally with Obama, Harris is expected to stop at a doctor’s office in Portage, where her campaign said she’ll talk about reproductive rights with healthcare providers and medical students.
Democratic President Joe Biden is scheduled to be in Pittsburgh for a campaign event with the Laborers’ International Union of North America.
With inputs from agencies.
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