Harris calls on Michigan to vote early, hoping for a boost in the critical battleground state

Vice President Harris on Monday courted voters in Michigan, urging them to vote early in hopes of a boost just over a week before Election Day in the critical battleground state.

“We need you to vote early Michigan because we have just eight days to go, eight days left in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime and as everybody here knows, this is going to be a tight race until the very end. So, we have a lot of work ahead of us, but we like hard work,” she said at a rally in Ann Arbor. “Make no mistake, we will win.”

“Now is the time to get out the vote Michigan,” she later said as a sea of attendees holding blue and yellow “vote” signs chanted behind her.

Harris spent the day in Michigan on Monday, traveling around the state to meet with union workers before she held her rally. Former President Trump and Harris are neck and neck in Michigan, with Trump polling slightly ahead at 48.2 percent, compared to Harris’s 47.9 percent, according to aggregate polling from Decision Desk HQ/The Hill.

“In nine days, when we look back, we will be able to say and know that we did everything we could to remind our friends and our classmates and our coworkers that we’re all in this together,” Harris said at the rally.

Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), also joined Harris at the rally.

“Let’s also approach these eight days knowing our power to build community, knowing our power to build coalitions, knowing our power to reach out to one another, reminding us that nobody is alone, that we are all in this together,” the vice president said.

She also addressed pro-Palestine protesters who interrupted her remarks, which has happened at the last several of her rallies.

“On the subject of Gaza — hey guys, I hear you — on the subject of Gaza, we all want this war to end as soon as possible and get the hostages out and I will do everything in my power to make it so,” Harris said.

“We’re not about the enemy within, we know we’re all in this together. That’s what we are fighting for,” she added, referring to Trump’s insistence that his political rivals are “the enemy from within.” 

The Michigan city of Dearborn is home to 100,000 Arab Americans, who make up the majority of the population. Democrats are concerned that the anger over the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza could hurt Harris’s chances in Michigan after tens of thousands of voters voted uncommitted instead of for President Biden during the state’s primary when he was on the ticket.

Harris repeated her plea to young, Gen-Z voters, which are a critical voting bloc that Democrats are hopeful will turn out for Harris and give her an edge over Trump, even though polls have started to show a shift towards the former president in recent days.

Harris asked for first-time voters to raise their hands, saying, “Can we hear it for our first-time voters!”

“See that’s why I know the future of our country is bright,” she said.

While Harris made an appeal to Michigan voters in Ann Arbor, the home of the University of Michigan, Trump was in Atlanta to court swing state voters at Georgia Tech’s campus.

Walz introduced Harris, who praised her running mate as someone who is “always bringing the joy.”

“He understands what it means to be a leader who lifts people up instead of trying to beat people down. That is Tim Walz,” she said.

Walz, in his remarks, focused on the campaign’s central theme of freedom, highlighting that he and Harris are both gun owners.

“I’ve talked about — I know you’ve got it in Michigan, it’s a Minnesota thing — golden rule, mind your own damn business and we’ll get along better,” he said, outlining that he and Harris are for freedom for seniors to retire with dignity by strengthening Social Security and freedom for children to go to school without fear of gun violence.

“I’ll take no crap on this, I know guns. I’m a veteran. I’m a gun owner,” Walz said. “Kamala and I are both gun owners, we know that you can uphold the Second Amendment but also uphold our first responsibility, protecting our children.

“Interesting fact here, both members of the Democratic ticket are gun owners. The Republican nominee can’t pass a background check,” Walz said, knocking Trump, who is a convinced felon after he was found guilty in May on 34 counts in a hush-money case.

Walz also made a plea to men specifically, calling on them to vote for Harris because the lives of the women they know are on the line after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) spoke earlier in the rally and singer Maggie Rogers performed before Walz was introduced by University of Michigan student Guari Chawla.

Earlier on Monday, first lady Jill Biden and Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz made their first joint campaign stop in Traverse City, Mich.