Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris campaigns in Michigan, a key battleground state, on Friday, Oct. 18, 2024, in Waterford, Michigan. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images/TNS)

WATERFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris called herself “the underdog” in the presidential race Friday while telling Michigan auto workers she would protect a General Motors Co. plant in Lansing from being shuttered.

Harris honed in on the future of GM’s Lansing Grand River Assembly during her first event of the day at a United Auto Workers union hall on Lansing’s west side, less than two miles from the plant where unionized auto workers assemble Cadillac sedans. She called Republican Donald Trump “no friend of labor.”

It was one of three stops she made Friday in Michigan as she touched in Oakland County’s Waterford Township on the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza and declared herself “the underdog” in the presidential race 18 days before the election.

Harris was leading Trump 47%-44% in an Oct. 1-4 Detroit News-WDIV-TV (Channel 4) poll of 600 likely Michigan voters. But she acted like she was trailing Friday after a series of recent national polls showed her losing steam in the seven battleground states that are likely to determine the next president.

“It’s gonna be a tight race until the very end,” Harris said, “and we are the underdog and running as the underdog, but make no mistake, we will win.”

At another point, supporters began a faint chant of “lock him up.”

“Here’s the thing about that — the courts are going to take care of that,” Harris said to cheers, referring to the 34 counts of falsified business records that Trump was found guilty of by a New York jury earlier this year and on which he is awaiting sentencing.

Trump also made three stops in Michigan on Friday, visiting a GOP office in Hamtramck, doing a roundtable at Auburn Hills business in Oakland County and making a speech at Huntington Place in Detroit.

Focus on manufacturing jobs

In Lansing, Harris 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.

In Grand Rapids, Harris referenced a comment 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.

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.”

Oakland County stop

In Oakland County, Harris touched on the Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

While expressing support for Israel, the vice president vowed to continue seeking a cease-fire.

“I know this year has been very difficult given the scale of death and destruction in Gaza and given the civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon. It is devastating and now (Hamas leader Yahya) Sinwar’s death can and must be a turning point,” Harris said, referring to Israel’s killing of the Hamas mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

“Everyone must seize this opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza, bring the hostages home and end the suffering once and for all, and I continue to believe diplomacy is the answer,” she added. “As your president I will do everything in my power to achieve these goals.”

Although many Metro Detroit Arab American leaders have withheld their endorsement as they await a cease-fire in the Middle East, Harris said she welcomed the “support of Arab American leaders like Wayne County Deputy Executive Assad Turfe.”

Harris’ three campaign events Friday preceded a planned campaign focus in Michigan, with a Harris Saturday stop in the Democratic stronghold of Detroit, where city officials will open select voting centers for the first day of early, in-person voting. Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz is expected to arrive in mid-Michigan late Saturday night to attend a church service Saturday morning in Saginaw.

In Waterford Township, U.S. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., warmed up the crowd for Harris’ final campaign rally of the day by pointing to Trump’s recent comments that Democrats are an “enemy from within” the country.

“The only person that is the real enemy from within in our country is Donald Trump,” Stabenow said.

Harris: Won’t tell you what car to drive

In Grand Rapids, lines of supporters snaked through Riverside Park 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.

Harris 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.

By the end of Trump’s term, there were 166,300 jobs in vehicle and parts manufacturing in Michigan, a drop of 5% from when he took office, according to federal data. During the President Joe Biden’s administration with Harris, Michigan in August had 165,800 jobs in vehicle and parts manufacturing — 500 fewer jobs than at the end of Trump’s term.

An appeal to Republicans

Harris made an appeal 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 because of 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.

Andy Almquist, 53, attended the Waterford Township rally with his daughter. The Novi residents wore matching Red Wings jerseys with the names “Obama” and “Biden” on the back.

“What matters most to me is just looking for a leader who’s going to come to Michigan and come to Detroit and help build us up,” Almquist said. “Donald Trump came here last week and literally insulted the people who live in Detroit, and I’m looking forward to moving beyond that, hopefully to President Harris, who will come here and work with our governor, instead of calling names and belittling people that disagree with him.”

Bloomfield Hills resident Heather Sullivan, 55, said she recognizes the economy is top of mind for everybody. She also worries that Trump’s plan to raise tariffs will drive inflation up for U.S. consumers.

“I think Kamala’s plan will also increase the deficit, but not nearly as much as Trump’s plan,” Sullivan said. “I think her idea of increasing taxes on the rich makes more sense.”

Oakland County residents are among the wealthiest and most educated in Michigan. More than half have a college degree and residents have the highest per capita income in the state at $84,850.

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 what 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.

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.

“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.”

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