HOUSTON (AP) — Kamala Harris returns to Michigan on Saturday for a rally with former first lady Michelle Obama, the latest in a series of her campaign’s high-profile combinations intended to boost turnout among the Democratic Party faithful.
Harris appeared with Beyoncé on Friday in Houston, and she campaigned with former President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen on Thursday in Atlanta.
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 often fired up crowds with musical performances and Democratic allies, but she lost to Trump.
Trump 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.”
Democratic President Joe Biden is scheduled to be in Pittsburgh for a campaign event with the Laborers’ International Union of North America.
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Megerian reported from Washington.
