Vice President Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz (D), visited Wisconsin and Michigan on Wednesday in hopes of keeping campaign enthusiasm up in two states that are likely to determine the outcome of November’s election.
The Democratic candidates spent their first full day together with stops in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and Detroit, where they addressed crowds of several thousand people alongside notable supporters including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D), musician Bon Iver and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain.
Campaign officials said the rally, held Wednesday night at an airplane hangar in Detroit, was the largest for a Democratic candidate this term and announced that Walz had raised $36 million in the 24 hours since joining the candidate.
“This is a place full of working people, students, caring people. Think about it: You got here early, you found a place to park, you stood in the sun, you sat here and waited. You did it for a simple, eloquent and beautiful reason: you love this country,” Walz said in Michigan. “I couldn’t be prouder to be on this list and to help lead Kamala Harris to be the next president of the United States.”
In her usual speech, Harris stressed the election would be close and introduced Waltz, highlighting his background as a prosecutor and telling the crowd, “I know what kind of person Donald Trump is.”
She outlined her policy priorities, including providing affordable health care and paid leave, lowering the cost of living and protecting access to abortion, and framed the election as a choice between moving forward or backward.
“This election is going to be a fight, and we love a good fight,” Harris said. “When you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for. We know what we stand for.”
In his speech Wednesday, Walz referenced the Great Lakes and its importance to the region and joked about the Michigan rivalry between the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions, a sign he hopes his Midwestern roots will help him rally support among Blue Wall supporters on the campaign trail.
The Harris campaign has touted its infrastructure in battleground states such as Wisconsin and Michigan. The campaign said it has 48 field offices in Wisconsin and 50 in Michigan. Wednesday marked Harris’ sixth visit to Wisconsin and fifth to Michigan this year.
Trump narrowly won Michigan and Wisconsin in 2016, but President Biden won both states in 2020. Former President Biden last visited Michigan in late July after the Republican National Convention.
The former president has attacked Harris as a “radical” liberal, criticized her intellect and unfairly questioned her mixed-race heritage, while his campaign has attacked her over the Biden administration’s record on immigration and inflation.
Since Harris entered the race, polls have shown extremely close races in both Michigan and Wisconsin.
Marquette Law School Registered Voter Survey A Wisconsin poll released Wednesday showed Trump leading Harris, with 50 percent approval and 49 percent disapproval. But the numbers are flipped among Wisconsin voters, with Harris leading 50 percent and 49 percent disapproval.
A Decision Desk HQ/The Hill average of polls in Michigan shows Harris leading Trump in the state by 1.2 percentage points.
“Let’s make a decision now. We know it’s going to be a tough fight. We know it’s going to be close, but let’s not make it so close that they can’t say anything,” Waltz said, alluding to election fraud that Trump has repeatedly warned about. “Let’s just win by a landslide.”
