Donald Trump, Kamala Harris urge Michigan to vote early. Agreement ends there

LANSING — Donald Trump and Kamala Harris rallied voters in Michigan on Saturday, using the first day of statewide early in-person voting to urge their supporters to cast ballots in what could be a narrow presidential election. 

Harris rallied with former First Lady Michelle Obama in Kalamazoo, where both Democrats called on voters to embrace a “joyful” campaign that will prioritize lower costs of living and safeguard reproductive rights.

Harris highlighted what she called stark differences between her and Trump, who she criticized as an “unserious man.” But she warned that the “consequences of him ever being president again are brutally serious.” 

“We need you to vote early, Michigan,” she said. “The election is here, and the choice is truly in your hands.”

Trump, speaking Saturday afternoon in Novi, touched on topics ranging from bolstering Michigan’s automotive industry to attacking Harris on things such as electric vehicles, border security and health care for transgender citizens. 

He also pushed supporters to take advantage of the state’s early voting option, though he slammed the process at the same time. 

“We’re already leading in the early vote,” Trump claimed without evidence, “which is something no Republican has done since they went into this ridiculous system.”

Trump asked supporters in the crowd how many had already voted early but few cheered, prompting him to joke: “So much for our early voting drive.”

While the state’s new early in-person voting option was lightly used in the August primary, Michiganders on Saturday reported long lines in some parts of the state, including west Michigan and metro Detroit.

Through Friday, nearly 1.5 Michigan voters had already cast absentee or early in-person ballots, according to the state. That included 13,203 in-person votes in Detroit, East Lansing and Canton Township, which were the only three municipalities that began early in-person voting last week. 

Trump’s case to Michigan

In a nearly hour and a half-long speech Saturday, Trump returned to many of his greatest hits, touching on the economy, immigration and slamming Harris for ongoing wars abroad in Ukraine and Gaza.

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Trump reiterated his vow to resurrect the Michigan auto industry by curbing imports through the aggressive use of tariffs, a threat he claimed has already deterred Chinese firms from building plants in Mexico. 

"I am proclaiming 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. 

Trump also rallied late Friday in Traverse City, where he took the stage at roughly  10:30 p.m. — hours after he was scheduled to speak. The delay was due, in part, to a lengthy interview with podcast host Joe Rogan. 

Trump littered his Novi speech with a series of insults, calling Harris a "dope" and an “idiot" and lashing out at several others — including Anderson Cooper, who he called "Allison Cooper" in a homophobic taunt of the openly gay CNN anchor. 

He also claimed "cows are going to disappear" because Democrats want to reduce methane emissions and argued Harris had changed “15 policies in order to be able to run” for office, referencing a previous call for a fracking ban Harris no longer supports.

It’s not the first time Trump has suggested Democrats would ban bovines. In his 2020 presidential campaign, he claimed they “don’t want cows” because they’re “bad for the ozone layer.” Four years later, Democrats have not banned cows, and there are an estimated 87.2 million still living in the US.

Trump additionally attacked Harris for allowing gender reassignment surgeries for transgender inmates in federal prison even though his own administration had reportedly allowed gender-affirming treatments and officials had said the federal government was obligated to pay for surgery if deemed medically necessary.

Harris, Obama call on Dems to ‘do something’

Speaking at Kalamazoo’s Wings Event Center Saturday afternoon, Harris highlighted the “different visions” she and Trump have for the future of the country, suggesting that Trump is focused on the past and benefiting himself, while her campaign is “focused on the future and you and your family.” 

Harris suggested the stakes are even higher than they were in the 2016 and 2020 presidential cycles because Trump has become “increasingly unhinged,” pointing to former Trump chief of staff John Kelly’s comments that Trump said in office that he wanted generals like Adolf Hitler and suggesting that Trump could follow through on past suggestions to terminate the US Constitution. 

Trump has denied the accuracy of Kelly’s comments to the press and has claimed that his 2022 Truth Social post suggesting that “massive fraud” in the 2020 election allows for the termination of constitutional rules and regulations was mischaracterized.

Harris asked attendees on Saturday to “imagine Trump with no guard rails” and once again connected the former president to Project 2025, a policy platform led by Washington-based Heritage Foundation that calls for overhauling the federal government. 

Trump has claimed he had “nothing to do” with crafting the document, though many of Trump’s former associates helped develop the proposal. 

Though the crowd was generally supportive, a handful of protesters criticized the Biden-Harris administration's position on the Israel-Hamas war, an issue that’s continued to divide traditionally Democratic voters in Michigan.  

At one point during Harris’ speech, an attendee interrupted to call for an end to the war, asking the candidate, “have you no decency?” before getting drowned out by the rest of the crowd. 

Harris responded that she supported ending the war and bringing hostages home, “but now I am speaking about 2024.” 

Before Harris took the stage, Obama said the race is too close for her liking when Harris is the only candidate in the race who has outlined a clear set of policies and is not a convicted felon. She repeated her earlier call from the party’s national convention for Democrats to “do something.” 

“I lay awake at night wondering what in the world is going on,” Obama said. “The real question is, as a country, are we ready for this moment? Are we willing to do what it takes to let ourselves get across the finish line, or are we going to let ourselves get distracted and fall for the scam?” 

Trump’s voting claims

Even as he urged supporters to vote early, Trump argued for allowing only a single day of voting with mandatory voter identification and paper ballots. 

Michigan already uses paper ballots. Voters are asked to present ID but if they don't have one can sign an affidavit under penalty of perjury. Non-citizens cannot vote, and “one-day voting” has not existed since before World War II, when absentee ballot usage was allowed nationwide. 

Michigan voters additionally initiated “no reason” absentee voting in 2018, which was first tested in a presidential election during 2020. 

In his Saturday speech, Trump continued to cast aspersions on US elections,  claiming without evidence that "there's bad stuff going on."

Multiple statewide audits  and investigations have disproven that any widespread fraud occurred in the state’s 2020 presidential election, which Trump attempted to overturn. He is now fighting related criminal charges. 

Democrats highlight abortion rights  

Harris and Obama on Saturday repeated pleas to consider reproductive rights a fundamental issue when they head to the polls. 

It’s not a new argument for Democrats, who for months have warned voters that a second Trump presidency and Republican-majority Congress could easily undo many state-level protections like Michigan’s implemented after the US Supreme Court stripped federal abortion protections outlined in Roe v. Wade. 

Harris highlighted recent cases around the nation where pregnant women’s deaths have been connected to state-level abortion restrictions and said Trump has refused to acknowledge the pain and suffering he’s caused by appointing anti-abortion justices to the nation’s highest court. 

This year’s election “is a fight for freedom, like the fundamental freedom of a woman to be able to make decisions about her own body and not have her government tell her what to do,” said Harris, vowing to sign legislation codifying federal abortion protections if approved by Congress.

As president in 2018, Trump advocated for a 20-week national ban on abortion and has more recently taken credit for the fall of Roe v. Wade. But as he campaigns to return to the White House, Trump has more recently said he thinks laws governing abortion should be left to the states. 

Obama made a direct appeal to men, urging them to consider the women in their lives who could be negatively impacted by restrictions on reproductive care and arguing Trump “would put all of us in danger no matter what state we live in.”

“There is the tragic but very real possibility that in the worst case scenario, you might be the one holding flowers at the funeral — you might be the one left to raise your children alone,” Obama said. 

And for women whose men in their lives are supporting Trump, Obama said they are allowed to vote for Democrats privately: “Regardless of the political views of your partner, you get to choose.” 

Trump targets Novi, northern Michigan and Muslims

Trump’s focus on Traverse City and Novi this weekend comes with some precedent — the former president is hoping to not just retain support but recoup voters who may have strayed from him four years ago. 

Novi voters backed Democratic President Joe Biden over Trump by nearly 5,900 votes in 2020 — a far wider margin than the 1,749 votes Hillary Clinton won the city by in 2015. In Oakland County, Trump lost to Clinton by nearly 53,900 votes in 2016 and to Biden by more than double that — 108,177 votes — in 2020.

In northern Michigan, Trump in 2020 again won Grand Traverse (where Traverse City resides) Antrim, Charlevoix, Emmet and Benzie counties, all of which have been reliably conservative areas in northern Michigan. 

But in each, his winning margin shrunk substantially compared to 2016 — both in percentage terms and by a combined 6,900 votes.

While Trump spoke in Oakland County Saturday, he additionally spent a significant amount of time talking about his attempts to make inroads with the Arab American community in metro Detroit, primarily in Wayne county.

He was joined on stage by a handful of Muslim leaders, including Dearborn Heights Mayor Bill Bazzi and a group of men he called imams but did not identify.

“We’re spending billions of dollars overseas, but yet we can’t take care of our infrastructure here in the United States,” Bazzi told the crowd, “and this is the reason why I support and I endorse President Trump — because we are going to stop the wars, we’re going to make the United States safe again, and also we’re going to make the world safe, have some respect around the world.”

Why Harris came to ‘Kamalazoo’

Once a bastion of Republican politics, Kalamazoo County has trended Democratic in recent decades. Voters there have backed a Democratic candidate in every presidential election since 1992. 

The Harris campaign is prioritizing outreach to moderates and conservatives who dislike Trump in the election’s closing weeks.

Harris recently picked up an endorsement from former US Rep. Fred Upton, a Republican who represented Kalamazoo and southwest Michigan for 36 years in Congress.

In endorsing Harris, Upton — who voted to impeach Trump after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol — called Trump “completely unfit to serve” and said his vote for Harris is his first for a Democratic presidential candidate.

Harris was last in Kalamazoo July 17, shortly before President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed her to take his place. 

During Saturday’s rally, Harris acknowledged a nickname some local supporters had christened her with, riffing off the city’s similarity to her own name.

“I know you want to say Kamalazoo, I heard you,” Harris said.