LANSING, Mich. — Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris told Lansing auto workers Friday she would work to protect a General Motors Co. plant from being shuttered, calling Republican Donald Trump “no friend of labor” during remarks to members of the United Auto Workers.
Harris honed in on the future of GM’s Lansing Grand River Assembly during a speech at a UAW hall on Lansing’s west side, less than two miles from the plant where unionized auto workers assemble Cadillac sedans.
She highlighted recent remarks by GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance describing a $500 million federal grant to convert the GM facility to an electric vehicle assembly plant as “table scraps,” compared with larger job losses he contends could be on the horizon for the auto industry through the transition from gas engines to battery-electric propulsion.
“Trump’s running-mate called your job ‘table scraps,’” Harris said, gesturing with quotation marks. “So let me just say, needless to say, I will always have your back, and we’ll keep fighting to make sure that you keep your jobs right here in Lansing and keep these most noble and important jobs for America’s strength. That’s the work you all do.”
Trump and Vance have not said whether they would honor the Biden administration’s $500 grant for Lansing Grand River Assembly’s conversion to an EV plant. Harris said Friday if Trump and Vance win the Nov. 5 election, they could threaten the plant’s future. The grant comes from the Inflation Reduction Act, which Harris cast the tie-breaking vote on in her role as president of the U.S. Senate.
In speeches in Lansing and Grand Rapids, Harris blasted Trump’s economic record and promised that, if elected, she’d sign a law making it easier to join a union and negotiate for better pay and working conditions. Harris is expected to hold a third campaign rally Friday night in Waterford Township.
In Grand Rapids, Harris referenced Trump made to The Detroit News in August 2015 when he suggested automakers should move their plants out of the state so they could pay their workers less.
“And when the UAW went on strike to demand the higher wages they deserved, Donald Trump went to a non-union shop and attacked the UAW. He said striking and collective bargaining don’t make a ‘damn bit of difference,’” Harris said at an afternoon rally at Riverside Park in Grand Rapids.
“Now Donald Trump is making the same empty promises to the people of Michigan that he did before, hoping you will forget how he let you down the last time. But we will not be fooled.”
During a speech at a non-union auto parts plant in Macomb County last September, Trump dismissed the UAW’s ongoing strike against GM, Ford Motor Co. and Stellantis.
“Your current negotiations don’t mean as much as you think,” Trump said.
The strike ended with the automakers agreeing to a 26% pay raise for UAW members over the four-year life of the new contract.
Meanwhile, Trump was campaigning in Wayne and Oakland counties on Friday and planning a rally at Detroit’s Huntington Place convention center.
An appeal to union voters
In Grand Rapids Friday afternoon, Harris took stage as both the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns blitz the state this weekend amid ongoing absentee voting by mail.
Harris also plans to campaign in Detroit on Saturday, the first day of early, in-person voting in Michigan’s largest city. Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is expected to arrive in mid-Michigan late Saturday night to attend a church service Saturday morning in Saginaw.
In Grand Rapids, Harris promised to sign the PRO Act, legislation that would protect collective bargaining rights, including giving the National Labor Relations Board more enforcement power and allowing unions to conduct elections online.
Lines of supporters snaked through Riverside Park in Grand Rapids early Friday morning ahead of Harris’ afternoon remarks, overflowing from a staging area set up with risers, folding chairs and a large stage in the middle of the park. The visit marked Harris’ first stop in West Michigan since becoming the Democratic nominee in August.
The Trump campaign in a Friday statement dismissed Harris’ chances in the state that Trump narrowly won in 2016 and lost by 154,000 votes to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020.
“Given Kamala Harris can’t even put together a half decent answer on what she’d do differently than sleepy Joe Biden over the last four years, another campaign visit isn’t going to move the needle for her failing campaign,” said Victoria LaCivita, communications director for Trump’s Michigan campaign. “Michigan will prove itself to be Trump Country when it votes for a return to the peace, prosperity, and stability of the first Trump presidency in November.”
‘Contrary to what my opponent is suggesting’
In her remarks Friday, Harris also rejected Trump’s claims about a federal “mandate” that would force people to drive electric vehicles.
“Contrary to what my opponent is suggesting, I will never tell you what kind of car you have to drive,” Harris said.
“I will invest in manufacturing communities like Kent County. Together, we will retool existing factories, hire locally and work with unions to create good-paying jobs, including jobs that do not require a college degree. Because … I know a college degree is not the only measure of the skills and experience of a qualified worker.”
Harris said Trump makes “big promises and he always fails to deliver,” saying U.S. automakers announced the closure of six auto plants while Trump he was president, including General Motors in Warren and Stellantis in Detroit, with thousands losing jobs.
Harris made a plea to Republican and independent voters, noting her support from more than 100 Republican leaders who participated in a rally earlier this week in Pennsylvania. Among them was former Michigan congressman Dave Trott, a Republican from Birmingham.
“I believe all of this shows that the American people want a president who works for all of the people and that has been the story of my entire career,” Harris said. “In my career, I’ve only had one client: The people.”
Harris also took a swipe at Trump after reports surfaced that he had declined an interview due to exhaustion.
“His own campaign team recently said it is because of exhaustion,” Harris said. “If you are exhausted on the campaign trail, it raises real questions about whether you are fit for the toughest job in the world.”
Harris has been criticized for only recently starting to do more news media interviews after weeks of not taking questions from reporters.
Absentee, early voting push
The visits to the swing state come with 18 days left until Election Day and as absentee ballots are rolling into clerk’s offices across the state. As of Friday morning, clerks had received 944,819 completed absentee ballots after issuing nearly 2.2 million, according to data from Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson’s office.
Early, in-person voting in Detroit starts Saturday and in Canton Township and East Lansing on Monday. But the rest of the state won’t begin early, in-person voting until Oct. 26 to comply with the nine days of early voting mandated through Proposal 2 of 2022.
Harris urged attendees to take advantage of the early voting options and to encourage others to do the same.
“Everybody here knows to do, we’ve got to energize and organize and mobilize and remind our neighbors and our friends that their vote is their voice, and your voice is your power in a democracy,” Harris said.
Other campaign events are in the works for next week in the run up to statewide early, in-person voting.
Former Democratic President Barack Obama will be in Detroit on Tuesday and is expected to urge Harris supporters to vote early. His wife, former First lady Michelle Obama, is coming to Michigan on Oct. 26 to campaign with Harris, a senior Harris campaign official told The Detroit News.
Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, is expected in Metro Detroit Thursday for a live studio audience town hall hosted by NewsNation.
Harris’ speech were preceded by remarks from Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who was joined on stage by Govs. Tony Evers of Wisconsin, Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, Kathy Hochul of New York, Wes Moore of Maryland and Maura Healey of Massachusetts.
Whitmer, Shapiro and Evers are on a “Blue Wall Bus Tour” that was in Wisconsin earlier this week and will travel to Pennsylvania next to rally voters in that presidential battleground.
“All of these governors on stage with me understand how close this race is going to be and we are all committed to doing everything we need to do to win this thing,” Whitmer said. “And they know for Harris-Walz to win, this is ground zero.”
A key battleground
Kent County has been targeted by both candidates as a key county in their plans for winning Michigan.
In 2016, Trump won the county over Clinton by about three percentage points; but, in 2020, President Joe Biden, won the county by six percentage points.
In 2022, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer bested Republican Tudor Dixon in Kent County by 10 percentage points.
Alisa Maddox, of Kent County’s Cascade Township, said she didn’t support Harris in 2020, but was enthusiastic about her candidacy this time around because she feels Harris has come into her own over the past four years. She said that enthusiasm has been echoed at doors she’s canvassed in the Grand Rapids suburbs.
She said she is hopeful for a return to “normalcy” in the country and an end to the “Trump years.”
“This election is a very high stakes election and that we need something different, we need something different,” Maddox said. “We need change. I’m kind of tired of all the rhetoric and division.”
Kelly Weller, of Harbor Springs, arrived to the park where Harris is slated to speak at 7 a.m. after traveling to Grand Rapids the night before. Weller said there seemed to be increased signage for Harris in the northern Michigan community, even at the farmer’s market every Saturday. For Weller, the signs and campaign presence up north showed more involvement than in years past.
“We’re in a better spot than we were four years ago,” Weller said. “And maybe we’re not all the way there, but COVID was rough and wasn’t handled well and it’s going to take some time to recover.”
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