Presidential campaigns converge in Michigan to fight for ‘blue wall’

Trump will gather in Macomb County on Friday to address workers and union workers who have been defecting to the Republican Party since the billionaire reality TV star burst onto the political scene in 2015.

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On Sunday, Harris will try to mobilize college voters in East Lansing, home to Michigan State University. And her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz (D-Minn.), will campaign Friday in Flint, the storied city where General Motors was founded.

The Trump campaign is showing confidence that it is in a much better position than four years ago, when President Joe Biden flipped the blue wall of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania. On Thursday, the Trump campaign released a memo titled “President Trump is on the Brink.”

The campaign is focused on convincing the few remaining undecided voters and mobilizing its base as “the majority of President Trump’s voters will vote on Election Day,” a campaign memo said.

Meanwhile, Harris’ campaign is seeking to gain support from black voters, especially men.

“What you see with the Harris-Waltz campaign is a continued presence in the state of Michigan in different communities,” Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, a Democrat, said Thursday afternoon during a rally. voting against black men in Flint. “Governor Walz will make three stops tomorrow in Flint. A couple of days ago I was with the vice president in Ann Arbor. I was with her in Kalamazoo a few days before, so both campaigns are focusing on Michigan, which is good.”

Republicans, however, are not conceding the state. The former president will hold a rally in Warren, Michigan, late Friday afternoon, and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), will standoff in Portage, Michigan, earlier in the day. Trump plans to end the election cycle with a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he previously closed his 2016 and 2020 campaigns.

Gilchrist dismissed Trump’s stop when asked Washington Equizor.

“It shows he is superstitious,” he said.

Michigan is a key part of the Blue Wall, but the race is tight

Of the three blue wall states, Harris has the best showing in Michigan, according to polls. RealClearPolitics’s Average poll for battlefields.

The vice president leads Trump by less than 1 point, 48% to 47.6%, while her lead is narrower in Wisconsin, 48.3% to 48.1%, and in Pennsylvania, Trump leads Harris at 48.2%. against 47.6%.

Another survey from Washington Post shows Trump leading Harris 47% to 45% among registered voters, and Harris leading Trump 47% to 46% among likely voters. But the survey results are within the margin of error.

Recent CNN polls conducted by SSRS showed Harris leading Trump 48% to 43% among likely voters.

With the race so tight, Trump will need to win Grand Traverse, Saginaw and Muskegon counties to get the best bathtub that will turn Michigan red.

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Harris and Trump are fighting for several influential districts

Harris’ biggest obstacle in Michigan as she tries to rebuild a grand tent coalition is the sizeable Arab and Muslim American population, whose anger at the Biden administration’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas could favor Trump. Earlier this year, organizers encouraged more than 101,000 voters in the state to cast no-strings-attached ballots during the Democratic primary.

Trump took advantage of confusion among Democrats by touting the support of Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Buzzi and Hamtramck Mayor Amer Ghalib, as well as the support of Arab and Muslim American leaders, at his rally in Novi, Michigan, on Saturday.

But Harris responded with support from Wayne County Deputy Executive Assad I. Turf, the highest-ranking official of Arab descent in America, and three Muslim Hamtramck council members who defied their mayor’s support for Trump and endorsed Harris.

Michigan’s strong labor unions are another key group that could decide which candidate wins the state. The influential United Auto Workers endorsed Harris for president over the summer, but the vice president still has to work to win the votes of UAW members in Michigan.

Along with campaigning with UAW President Sean Fein, Harris and Walz have seized on Trump’s threats regarding the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act and the loss of thousands of manufacturing jobs under Trump as one attempt to win the blue-collar vote in Michigan. .

Trump’s efforts to join the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, giving President Sean O’Brien an opportunity to speak at the Republican National Convention, led to victory after the union did not endorse a candidate this cycle after endorsing Biden in 2020. The International Association of Fire Fighters also did not approve of this cycle.

The former president has made inroads among black male voters, hoping to damage the Democratic coalition, forcing the Harris campaign to step up its efforts over the past month. However, black men who spoke with Washington Equizor at a GOTV event in Flint refuted fears that Trump could win a record number of votes this cycle.

“Every black man I know is voting for her,” George Louis, a 32-year-old record production company employee, said at the Flint event. “As we stand up for our own, we want black women to stand up too.”

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Joshua Cook, a 25-year-old entrepreneur from Flint, urged the roughly 20 black men gathered Thursday to do research on both candidates, emphasizing that they don’t just follow opinions on social media sites like TikTok.

“I believe we’re going to show up and show ourselves,” Cook told the magazine Washington Equizor about black men trying to vote for Harris. “As I said, I am working closely with this campaign. I feel like I’m reaching the people I need to reach.”