Anna Liz Nichols, Michigan Advance

In Michigan, where voters in 2022 approved enshrining the right to an abortion into the state constitution, legislation that would classify elective abortions as homicide has been introduced.

Last week, Michigan state Rep. Josh Schriver (R-Oxford) introduced House Bills 4670 and 4671 to create the “justice for babies in the womb act”. The bill aims to adjust all definitions in assault, assault and battery, and homicide cases to apply to “an unborn child in the same manner as they would if the victim were an individual who had been born alive”.

The proposed legislation, which was referred to the House Judiciary Committee, seeks to extend legal personhood to fetuses and fertilized embryos and would allow for women who receive abortions to be charged with homicide.

The bills would be unlikely to pass through Michigan’s Democratic-led Senate which has approved several measures to implement the constitutional right to reproductive health care, including abortions. However, the legislation has been applauded by anti-abortion advocates, including former Planned Parenthood clinic director turned anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson whose story is the premise of the 2019 movie “Unplanned”.

“Another equal protection bill has been introduced in Michigan by @JoshuaSchriver and needs your support!,” Johnson posted on “X”. “It’s time to make our voices heard!!! Abortion is murder! I am proud to support Michigan house bills 4670/4671.”

The bills outline that the unintentional death of a fetus or fertilized embryo would not be subject to the outlined criminal penalties if it were the result of “a life‐saving procedure to save the life of the mother if accompanied by reasonable steps to save the life of the unborn child.”

The Foundation to Abolish Abortion applauded the bills’ introduction in a news release this week with the president of the foundation, Bradley Pierce, calling the bills’ “righteous legislation”.

“House Bill 4671 is the first legislation in Michigan state history that would establish equal protection of the laws for preborn children,” Pierce said. “This bill would simply make murdering anyone illegal for everyone, in recognition that preborn babies are image-bearers of God and are just as worthy of legal protection as people who have already been born.

Since 57% of Michigan voters approved the constitutional amendment to add the right to reproductive health care, including abortions to the state constitution, there have been unconstitutional efforts to subvert that decision, Chief External Affairs Officer at Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan Ashlea Phenicie said in a statement Wednesday.

“In 2022, Michiganders voted in record numbers to permanently enshrine reproductive freedom into our state constitution… Bills like HB4671 are just empty political grandstanding pushed by anti-abortion extremists who are out-of-step with Michiganders’ values,” Phenicie said. “While it’s unlikely to pass into law, it proves yet again how committed they are to defying the will of voters to control our bodies, lives, and futures.”

Several other states, including Georgia, Indiana, North Dakota and Texas have introduced bills in the same vein.

A request for comment was made by Michigan Advance to Schriver, but has yet to be returned.

The bills are just the latest attempt by Schriver at rolling back constitutional protections. Earlier this year, he proposed a resolution urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn its 2015 decision legalizing same-sex marriage, an effort that ended ignominiously when state Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield), the first openly gay member of the Michigan Senate, crashed Schriver’s press conference and ended up holding an impromptu session with reporters when Schriver stormed out.

Michigan Attorney General supports lawsuits to preserve public media

by Anna Liz Nichols, Michigan Advance
June 23, 2025

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has signed onto a legal brief alongside 22 other attorneys general to support lawsuits brought by the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio that are attempting to block federal funding cuts to their organizations.

President Donald Trump issued an executive order in May to cut federal funding for NPR and PBS, stating in the order that “neither entity presents a fair, accurate, or unbiased portrayal of current events to taxpaying citizens”.

Since then, NPR and PBS filed two separate lawsuits arguing the funding cuts threaten the First Amendment and create public safety hazards for citizens served by their local affiliates who rely on public media for weather, health and safety alerts.

Forum highlights cost defunding public media has on emergency alerts, educational programming

The brief Nessel and other attorneys general filed last week backs the arguments made by public media and warns of the harm that could come from weakening public media programming and infrastructure.

“Public media is a vital source of independent information for countless Michiganders and Americans, especially in rural communities, where it is often the only option available,” Nessel said in a news release Monday.

Law enforcement depends on public media when issuing AMBER Alerts to find abducted children, as well as Silver Alerts for missing elderly individuals or individuals with developmental disabilities, the legal brief outlines. Public broadcasters provide critical coverage of emerging public safety threats like active shooters, especially in news deserts where public media may be the only resource to quickly disseminate information, the brief adds.

The public media stations in Michigan, many serving rural communities outside of many news outlets’ coverage areas, also provide emergency information that help residents navigate extreme weather of other crises, Nessel’s news release said.

“Attempts to defund public journalism are a blatant attack on the press and the First Amendment, and a disservice to the people who rely on it every day,” Nessel said. “Public radio reaches nearly every corner of our state, and I am proud to stand with my colleagues and with public media in defense of this essential news source.”

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jon King for questions: info@michiganadvance.com.

Towards the beginning of session Thursday, Michigan state Rep. Julie Brixie (D-Meridian Township,) stood up and announced on the House floor that she had just come from the parking ramp that representatives use and a black BMW had its hood open, lights on and engine running. Security footage later released by House Republicans shows Brixie plastic-wrapping that vehicle, which belonged to Rep. Matt Maddock (R-Milford).

Brixie told multiple media outlets Thursday that Maddock’s car had been parked partially in her spot.

“My good colleague from the 51st district parked in two spots, including mine, to make sure no one hit his fancy car. I Saran wrapped it to give it an extra layer of protection,” Brixie said in a statement to media outlets.

Maddock had been given two parking spots in the garage as he normally drives a large truck, Gideon D’Assandro, spokesman for Republican House Speaker Matt Hall said in a statement. However on Thursday, Maddock drove a different car and parked it between one of his spots and Brixie’s.

Michigan Information & Research Service posted photos early in the day of Maddock’s plastic-wrapped car, featuring his MMADD vanity plate.

Maddock reacted to the incident on the social media platform X throughout the day saying security footage would be released to the police this week, adding Brixie “keeps trying to get my attention and I keep telling her I'm married.”

Maddock’s wife, former Michigan Republican Party Co-Chair Meshawn Maddock, chided Brixie on X for saying that the car her husband had taken to work, which was her car, had the engine running and hood open, when in reality she had tampered with it.

“Rep Brixie makes a false statement otherwise known as a LIE in the presence of the entire Michigan House, after wrapping my car in plastic wrap like a 13 year old girl. Democrats arent just soft on crime, like Brixie, they are crime,” Meshawn Maddock wrote.

It is the Trump administration’s strategy to pick off individual schools one-by-one, pulling research funding and threatening student visas until institutions are beaten into submission, supporters of a resolution to establish a “Mutual Defense Compact” for Big Ten universities said during a University of Michigan Faculty Senate meeting Thursday.

The hope is that creating an alliance between the 18 universities in the Big Ten Conference to defend “academic freedom, institutional integrity, and the research enterprise,” as the resolution reads, will make schools stronger together.

Just this week, the faculty senate at fellow Big Ten school Michigan State University adopted such a resolution, as have Indiana University and the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.

Schools are already seeing the negative impacts of President Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric and threatening executive orders, Sandra Levitsky, a professor of sociology and law at the University of Michigan said Thursday during the faculty senate meeting. The university’s administration quickly folded to Trump’s demands to shut down diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, policies, shuttering the doors of the school’s DEI office, Levitsky said.

“The University of Michigan abandoned DEI in-part to avoid the wrath of Trump and most schools, not just ours, have been cowed into this kind of preemptive capitulation. Most schools, not just ours, have gone silent, just when we need them to speak up,” Levisky said. “Hoping that our university is going to step out of this defensive crouch is not going to be enough, because the reality is, this is an existential moment for higher education and most schools, not just ours, are genuinely terrified about what might happen next.”

U-M-Motion-to-establish-alliance

The United States is on the cusp of an authoritarian administration, Associate Professor of History and Gender Studies Yi-Li Wu said during the faculty senate meeting, and everyone must look themselves in the mirror and determine what they will do as democratic institutions like higher education are attacked.

And silence or eager compliance are not survival strategies, Wu said, noting that Columbia University, which has had hundreds of millions of dollars of federal funding pulled and several Pro-Palestinian students arrested, is a prime example of the reality that compromising on core values will not save schools from Trump’s wrath.

In reflecting on U of M’s smothering of the DEI office, Wu said it would appear the administration is trying to play a quiet game to stay out of the spotlight, but it won’t work.

“They apparently think that the best course is to work behind the scenes with lobbyists and to avoid making any public noise that might draw attention to us. They apparently think that ‘do it to the other guy, not us’, is a viable strategy for survival,” Wu said. “But we have seen that complying and silence do not work.”

The university’s faculty senate will have until Sunday to vote on whether to adopt the resolution.

The resolution is a “mutual suicide pact”, physics professor Keith Riles said, urging his colleagues to vote against the the Mutual Defense Compact Thursday.

It’s important to choose battles and allies wisely, Riles said, and after years of the university disregarding anti-discrimination laws, faculty members have “provoked the understandable anger of voters for whom Donald Trump is a vehicle for retribution.”

“Many of you have deluded yourselves into thinking that discrimination against whites and Asian Americans, especially males, is somehow magically permissible,” Riles said. “The Trump administration is, yes, it’s attacking this university, I understand that, but the university has much to answer for…You brought this on all of us.”

Though the Thursday meeting of the faculty senate was in large part called in response to the university’s recent decisions on DEI policies, Fred Terry, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science, said the stakes are much higher and broader.

What the Trump administration has set into motion is a regime where any research area, public discourse or curriculum that the president disagrees with will be gutted, with universities risking severe consequences if they don’t give in to Trump’s wishes, Terry said. This defies academic freedom and defiles the university’s mission to serve the state and the world through research and cultivating citizens for the betterment of the future.

But that doesn’t mean that banding together will protect schools, Terry said, but the cost of not trying presents a greater danger.

“I do have to observe that with a unified effort, we may not win, particularly in the near term. This is not a low stakes game. There may be real suffering by many in our community. We cannot engage in this fight lightly, but we cannot give up without giving up our intellectual integrity. Measures like motion one are clearly our best hope,” Terry said.

Following the faculty senate meeting, Democratic elected officials gathered at the Diag on the Ann Arbor campus to rail against the Trump administration cancelling student visas in recent weeks at schools across the country, including U of M and MSU.

It’s two weeks until graduation at plenty of Michigan schools, U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) told a small crowd at the Diag Thursday, and Democrats in Congress are demanding answers about why this crackdown on visas is happening just before students are about to have their hard work rewarded on the graduation stage.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) speaks at a rally at the University of Michigan Diag on the school’s Ann Arbor campus in protest of various executive orders from the Trump administration on April 17, 2025 | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols

“I’m here to make this promise to all of you. We are demanding answers. No one will silence my voice. Do not let them silence yours,” Dingell told students on campus, affirming the crowd that diverse students and diverse perspectives are what makes campuses and the dialogues that can happen richer.

After announcing his campaign Thursday morning for the 2026 race for the open U.S. Senate seat to represent Michigan, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed joined the rally on campus to encourage students to “fight back” against Trump’s fear tactics.

Trump’s policies prey on people’s pain, El-Sayed said. By coercing his followers into cynicism about the economy and creating divisions between people groups, El-Sayed said Trump has won back the White House where he is implementing policies that will help his billionaire friends like Elon Musk, while leaving the middle class worse off than before.

“If we’re not willing to protect our democracy, if we’re not willing to go back to back working with one another to protect what it means to be an American, the question we have to ask ourselves is, ‘who will’,” El-Sayed said.

Democratic U.S. Senate Candidate for Michigan Abdul El-Sayed speaks at a rally at the University of Michigan Diag on the school’s Ann Arbor campus in protest of various executive orders from the Trump administration on April 17, 2025 | Photo: Anna Liz Nichols

While Trump has used his power to pardon January 6 protestors who vandalized the U.S. Capitol and assaulted law enforcement in support of him in 2021, he’s calling for the arrest and deportation of students who speak out against his policies, U of M Junior and member of the College Democrats group Amber Henson said.

The First Amendment rights of students are on the line, and as college campuses have long been the stage of social movements throughout American history, threats to these rights must be answered, Henson said.

Leading up to Thursday, as the U of M College Democrats were organizing the rally, Henson said there was one student in the group who was concerned that their visa status would be revoked if they attended. As the daughter of Polish immigrants and as an International Studies student, the pull to protect international students and speak against federal acts to attack them is strong.

Young people have a lot to lose right now for speaking out, Henson said, but they also have a lot to gain as they face what decades of ramifications of this current administration could mean for their lives.

by Anna Liz Nichols, Michigan Advance

February 14, 2025

A surge of patients in Michigan are considering new contraceptive options following the election, according to physicians in the state.

It’s a rare day that has gone by since the election without a patient inquiring about their birth control options, rural Michigan-based OBGYN Melissa Bayne said. Many of the patients who are calling into her office are already on some form of birth control, but are interested in new, more long term options that will last through President Donald Trump’s second administration.

“And we’ve been getting a lot of requests for sterilizations,” Bayne said. “I did more sterilization requests in the three months post-Dobbs than I had done in probably 15 years.”

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All three of the U.S. Supreme Court Justices Trump appointed in his first term helped overturn the constitutional right to an abortion in 2022 with a ruling in the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case. Trump has waffled for years on his stance on abortion, currently advocating for access to be a state-decided issue.

Concerns over further rollbacks on reproductive health care have been common in the hundreds more patients in Michigan who have made appointments for long-acting forms of birth control like IUDs each month since the election, Planned Parenthood of Michigan reports.

In fact, in the two weeks following Election Day, Planned Parenthood of Michigan reports that appointments at Planned Parenthood health centers for long term reversible birth control like IUDs went up 77% compared to the same timeframe the year prior.

And each week since there’s been about 40% more appointments than there were before the election, Chief Advocacy Officer for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Michigan Ashlea Phenicie said.

The election and the current state of affairs in the United States were cited as top concerns for those opting into getting long term birth control, Phenicie said, with some patients concerned that the Trump administration would roll back access to contraception or institute a nationwide abortion ban.

“I think that we’re seeing an increase in appointment requests because folks are concerned about what the state of reproductive health care will look like for the next four years,” Phenicie said. “Long acting, reversible birth control is a great option for a lot of people…IUDs, arm implants, are some of the most effective types of contraception because they have very little user error. [They’re] also long-acting so they can work for multiple years and could cover the second Trump administration.”

Nationally, Planned Parenthood reports that on the day after the election Planned Parenthood health centers saw a 1,200% increase in scheduling for vasectomy appointments scheduled and a 760% increase in scheduled IUD appointments.

Bayne, who serves on the Committee to Protect Health Care Reproductive Freedom Task Force said even in states like Michigan where the right to an abortion and reproductive health care is a part of the state’s constitution, there’s still a lot of fear surrounding unwanted pregnancies or not being able to access life-saving care related to pregnancy.

Even without a federal ban on abortion, Bayne said any changes in Medicare or Medicaid would have widespread impact on the patients she sees. In the rural Michigan community she serves, Bayne said 70% of her patients are covered by Medicaid and Medicare.

The state of access to reproductive health care has put some patients in a tough spot, Bayne said and she hopes knowledge, rather than fear, can be a motivator for health care decisions.

Bayne reflects on one scenario that has given her pause, a 22-year-old with no children coming to her office saying, ‘I absolutely know that I don’t want children, and I absolutely don’t want to be in a situation of having failed contraception or not being able to access contraception’. Knowing that the regret for sterilization procedures decreases with age while balancing respect for a patient’s decision is delicate art.

Though several studies reflect that 30 years old is typically the age where regret for sterilization goes down for women, Bayne notes that it’s not very high to begin with and other surgeries like knee replacements have higher regret rates.

“So balancing that conversation of autonomy and saying to a patient, ‘I absolutely respect your autonomy and you’re an adult, and your ability to make this decision for yourself, and I don’t want you to make this decision out of fear’… those two things coexist in the same conversation,” Bayne said.

What started as an attempt to fight back against stigma around sterilization turned into a national debate when Michigan state Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) shared at a rally outside the State Capitol that she had undergone surgery to permanently make herself sterile.

Navigating pregnancy in Trump’s America was not an option for her, Pohutsky told the crowd last week, a statement that was highly criticized by many conservative figures including Ben Shapiro who posted on “X” saying “So many broken people” directed at Pohutsky, which has received 1 million views to date.

“We’re…getting some death threats, which was not really what I expected to happen…I find it really, really weird that anyone has personal feelings about what choice I ultimately made about my own body and my procreative future,” Pohutsky said. “There have been very polarized reactions about it, and I think that it’s going to start becoming more common to have conversations around it. That was what I was hoping for, to kind of remove some stigma there.”

The conversations around her decision to end any possibility of getting pregnant were long and not easy conversations to have, Pohutsky said. It’s common for women to second guess themselves and she was glad to hear that in sharing her story, others have reached out to share that they’ve also gone through the process or hearing her story made them feel less alone as they consider sterilization.

Politics and elections have been driving forces in trends in contraception. Like Bayne observed after Roe v. Wade fell in 2022, nationally there was a surge in inquiries for sterilization procedures. After Trump was elected for the first time in 2016, where he ran saying he’d put pro-life justices on the U.S. Supreme Court, usage of long-term birth control increased by more than 20% in the weeks following the election.

Pohutsky was among the masses that got an IUD in response to the 2016 presidential election. Pohutsky shared that regardless of how the 2024 election played out, she was already educating herself on sterilization as a possibility, but Trump’s victory prompted her to set a date to have the procedure while it was still available.

“I think that you can be at peace with a decision that you make, but also sort of mourn the closing of a chapter. That was a definite part of my life that I decided was done with when I went for the surgery,” Pohutsky said. “I think ultimately, I would have ended up having the surgery. That was something that we had sort of settled on, but there was a sense of urgency. The need to do it now, I think, was solely because of how the election went and there is a part of me that resents that anyone has to make a decision based on somebody else’s personal preferences around their body.”

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor for questions: info@michiganadvance.com.

Vice President Kamala Harris joined Detroit-born singer Lizzo in Detroit Saturday for the first day of early in-person voting to tell Motown they hold the key to the election.

Detroit has an opportunity to make a difference in this close presidential election, Lizzo said, adding that all the best things are made in Detroit: coney dogs, Faygo and Lizzo.

Insults to Michigan’s largest city, like the one Trump made last week in Detroit saying that if Harris wins, “the whole country will end up being like Detroit,” make no sense, Lizzo said.

“They say if Kamala wins then the whole country will be like Detrot,” Lizzo said. “Proud like Detroit; resilient like Detroit. We’re talking about the same Detroit that innovated the auto industry and the music industry, so put some respect on Detroit’s name.”

Harris agreed, wearing a “Detroit vs. Everybody” shirt that was given to her at a Tuesday event in Motown.

Western International High School in Detroit is awaiting Vice President Kamala Harris’ visit today with guest @lizzo pic.twitter.com/UyMOgIfRlT
— Anna Liz Nichols (@annaliznichols) October 19, 2024

Georgia and North Carolina have both broken records this week for early voting turnout, but Harris asked the Motown crowd, “Who is the capital of producing records?”

“We are going to break some records here in Detroit today,” Harris said. “We know what is at stake. … We have the power to make the decisions about the direction of our country, and we know this election is about two very different visions for our future. Ours focused on the future, focused on our young leaders, focused on possibility, understanding the ambitions and the aspirations and the dreams of the American people, understanding like the people of Detroit, we have grit, we have excellence, we have history.”

It’s a close election so everybody needs to come out and vote, Harris said, and Detroiters have to tell their neighbors to get to the polls as they are vital voters who deserve a say in the future.

In 2020, former President Donald Trump supporters swarmed election workers tallying votes in the election in Detroit. The city has also played a large role in his false claims that the election was stolen, even though he lost Michigan to President Joe Biden by more than 154,000 votes.

And as youth voter turnout in Michigan dipped during this year’s primary, despite being best in the nation in the 2022 midterm election, Lizzo called on Detroiters not to be demoralized.

“If your vote didn’t matter, then voter suppression would not exist. If your vote didn’t matter, they wouldn’t discourage young people from going to the polls. If your vote didn’t matter, our parents and our grandparents would not have marched and fought for our right to vote,” Lizzo said.

Michigan is the swing state of all swing states, Lizzo said, echoing the same sentiment as both the Trump and Harris campaigns.“Whether you’re a Democrat or Republican or neither, you deserve a president who listens when you speak. You deserve a president who respects you when you protest. You deserve a president who understands that your job is to be a public servant and Kamala Harris has dedicated her entire career to public service, from D.A. [district attorney] to V.P.,” Lizzo said. “And I think Mrs. The Commander in Chief has a nice ring to it. … If you ask me if America is ready for its first woman president, I only got one thing to say: It’s about damn time.”

Michigan has been the epicenter of campaign activity over the last week. Harris spent three days in Michigan, making stops in Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing and Waterford Township. Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is scheduled to be in Saginaw on Sunday. Trump held a rally in Detroit on Friday night and his running mate, Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, is slated to do a NewsNation town hall in metro Detroit on Thursday.

Several Harris surrogates have also campaigned in the state, including first lady Jill Biden on Monday in Oakland County. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer led a bus tour across the state, which included Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore. U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) stumped for Harris Saturday at Central Michigan University and Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, was slated to do events in Grand Rapids and Southfield on Sunday.

A free festival on Saturday sponsored by the city of Detroit and the Detroit Pistons, Pistonsland: What Up D.O.E., was held to encourage early voting and included performances by Lil Baby, Skilla Babby and Tay B.

Even though the first day of early voting is a Saturday in Michigan, it’s a work day, Harris said and Detroit knows how to work. And work this election looks like talking to your neighbors and telling them that they are important, that there are things to be optimistic about and there are more things that unite the values of the country than divide it, she said.

Detroit and the Detroit Pistons held a free event to encourage early voting, Pistonsland: What Up D.O.E., on Oct. 19, 2024 | Ken Coleman

The message Harris and Lizzo are bringing Detroit as early voting is underway is so important, Darlene Dickson, 57, said while standing in line to vote. It means a lot for the vice president to come to Detroit and advocate for voting, but for the younger Michiganders, Lizzo is an amazing addition.

“Lizzo, she’s on her way to becoming an icon, so a lot of people follow her. She has a large platform,” Dickson said, “Just telling people you’re voting Kamala, that just touched me, because I know she’s talking to a different generation, which is important.”

Dickson said used to work in medical transportation, as many Detroiters can’t always make it to their medical appointments due to lack of transportation. But coming into the election because of some of the investments Biden and Harris made in Detroit to support public transportation, she said things are improving.

Ultimately, Detroiters care about who shows up and who’s going to support the city and abide by democracy, Dickson said, and in that respect the preferred candidate is clear.

“I am a Detroiter and one of the things I value is people who obey the Constitution and the law,” Dickson said. “I can’t vote for someone, whoever that may be, who disregards the law and the Constitution. … Tim Walz and Kamala Harris, I think they’re going to represent all different people on all different levels, which is important to us. I think everybody deserves a chance.”

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.

In November’s presidential election, where the results will likely come down to a few thousand votes in battleground states like Michigan, Bernie Sanders told the Michigan Advance on Saturday that the 2023 United Auto Workers (UAW) strike has played a key role in mobilizing voters.

Sanders, who stood in Detroit alongside union leaders on day one of the UAW’s historic six-week strike against the “Big Three” Detroit automakers — Ford, General Motors and Stellantis — said in a phone interview that the union’s success sent a clear message to politicians that the that the status quo for the working class is “not acceptable.”

“What the UAW did is, I think not only win a very good contract for its own members, but it inspired millions and millions of working class people all over this country,” Sanders said, noting polling during the strike reflected majority support from Americans for striking workers across automotive plants around the country.

And as wages have stagnated, while salaries for CEOs rise, the issue of “corporate greed” speaks to voters in the middle class, Sanders said. Vice President Kamala Harris understands that and is responding to it, he said, while former President Donald Trump touts anti-union policies and viewpoints.

“It’s not just the UAW; not just the automobile industry. It’s happening in virtually every sector of our country. The very rich are becoming much richer; working families are struggling. We’ve got to stand up and fight back. That’s what the UAW did, and I think they galvanized a number of other unions to do the same,” Sanders said. “Young people want to get into unions. Unions are now historically popular, so I think UAW played a very, very important role.”

The Advance asked Sanders about one of the biggest unions in the country with 1.3 million members, the Teamsters, abstaining from endorsing either Trump or Harris and the International Association of Fire Fighters following suit.

But those are only two unions, Sanders said, adding that dozens of other unions have strongly put their support behind Harris who walked with striking UAW workers in 2019 while Trump visited a non-union plant in Macomb County during the 2023 strike.

“I think the choice is pretty clear in terms of who is supporting unions,” Sanders said.

Sanders and Harris are former political rivals who both sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. But while Sanders said they don’t agree on everything, they agree on enough for him to travel to swing states to garner support for her campaign.

“What I learned from her is that she is very, very smart, and she is very focused, and she’s very tough. She’s a very impressive individual and I think she would make a great president,” Sanders said. “I hope that she may have learned that there are many, many millions of people in this country, the richest country on Earth, who are struggling financially, and that it’s important to respond to the needs of those people and hear their pain, and that it is immoral that we are living in an economy in which so few have so much wealth.”

On the drive between speaking engagements in Warren and Saginaw on Saturday, Sanders told the Michigan Advance he has hope for young people flexing their voting power in November. To that end, he’ll be talking with Michigan State University students on Sunday.

Students at universities across the country, including in Michigan, have been the epicenter for public protest against the war in Gaza, with pro-Palestinian encampments cropping up in campuses and criminal charges levied against protesters at the University of Michigan.

And it’s been a potent issue in Michigan, with 100,000 voters voting “Uncommitted” in the Democratic presidential primary this winter instead of for President Joe Biden, before Harris became the party’s nominee.

In 2020, Michigan’s 16 electoral votes weren’t won by much more than that, as Biden triumphed in the state by about 154,000 votes.

Many members of Michigan’s large Arab-American community have railed against Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war that’s raged for almost a year and continue to demand that Harris take a more aggressive stance, like committing to stop aid to Israel.

Although Israel had a right to defend itself from the Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas terrorist attack, Sanders said, the U.S. should not be offering military assistance to Israel when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has gone to “war against the entire Palestinian people.”

“While I have strongly supported the domestic agenda of the Biden administration, the President and I have a very strong disagreement on that,” Sanders said. “Even on that issue, Trump will be worse. I think you have Republicans who are not even prepared to support humanitarian aid [to] the children who are starving, who are injured. … And I would hope that even though there is disappointment in the Biden administration on Gaza and I understand that, I’m sympathetic to that, I think the choice still remains clear, that we’ve got to support Kamala and defeat Donald Trump.”

What’s encouraging to see is that the younger generation, in particular, is demanding progressive and just policies that benefit the average person, Sanders said. Although young people have, in recent history, risen up against racism, sexism and homophobia, he said, the current young generation is “probably the most progressive younger generation in the history of this country.”

“They have been in the forefront in fighting to transform our energy system and save the planet from climate change. So it is a great generation of young people, but … you cannot implement what you believe if you’re not involved in the political process and if you are not voting,” Sanders said.

In 2022, Michigan voters ages 18 to 29 turned out at a rate of about 37% in the November election, higher than any other state in the country. Fellow battleground state Wisconsin led the charge with even younger voters, with nearly half of eligible voters under the age of 25 voting in November 2022. In both cases, the elections were marked by large victories by Democratic candidates in statewide elections.

Even still, youth voter turnout is not a sure thing, as about 60% of people aged 18 to 29 in Michigan who registered to vote didn’t cast a ballot in 2022.

The Harris campaign is showing up in states, partnering with local and statewide leaders, to make their message clear to different corners of the country, Sanders said.

Young people need to understand that what they believe needs to be heard on Election Day, as the threat of climate change could dismantle the future and the government gets in the way of women’s health care. Sanders said he wants young people to understand Trump believes climate change is a hoax and that the government should have a say in reproductive health care while Harris is fighting for young people’s future.

But young voters have to throw the first punch in November.

“I would hope that as young people look at the important issues — women’s rights, civil rights, the climate, income and wealth inequality, higher education and the cost of health care — on all of those issues, Kamala Harris is far, far superior to Donald Trump, and I hope young people come out and vote and make the difference in this election,” Sanders said.

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.

A fight broke out between men selling memorabilia hours ahead of when former President Donald Trump was expected to take the stage at a rally in the Saginaw area in Michigan Thursday.

At approximately 10:20 a.m. outside of the line of more than 1,000 attendees for the rally at the Ryder Center for Health and Physical Education Saginaw Valley State University’s campus in University Center, a group of men who were selling Trump memorabilia got in a physical altercation where briefly two vendors stood above one vendor punching him in the head.

A fight just broke out ahead of former President Donald Trump’s rally in Saginaw, Michigan pic.twitter.com/YigzwCBprg
— Anna Liz Nichols (@annaliznichols) October 3, 2024

The Associated Press confirmed that the fight was between vendors and members of the Trump campaign told the Michigan Advance that all of the vendors were removed from the premises.

“The Trump campaign reports that all of the individuals involved in the altercation were vendors, none were attendees and all were ejected from the premises,” a Trump campaign official said in a statement via text.

Trump’s rally is set to start at 3 p.m. His running mate, Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, held two events in Auburn Hills and Marne on Wednesday. Vice President Kamala Harris is slated to hold a rally in Flint on Friday evening.

Watch the video below or at this link.

Members of the university community regale statewide change enacted because students mobilized after the school shooting on campus last year

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz on Friday joined Michigan State University students in East Lansing to drum up excitement for the election and impress upon students the importance of showing up and being active in the democratic process.

And showing up is what MSU students do best, congressional candidate Curtis Hertel said. The Democratic former state senator from East Lansing is running against former state Sen. Tom Barrett (R-Charlotte) for the open 7th Congressional District seat.

As students gathered around friendship bracelet stations, standing under a “coach” balloon arch, Hertel recalled the pain he felt as an MSU alumnus and parent of a student on campus during the Feb. 13, 2023 shooting that killed three students and injured five more.

“I don’t think I ever really understood fear in that way,” Hertel said, remembering how his son was walking into the MSU Union as people were yelling that there was a gunman. “Juxtapose that night with what happened next. Students stood up, students marched … and we changed the laws to protect people so that what happened at MSU never happens to any kid again.”

As students at MSU marched at Michigan State’s Capitol, talked to elected leaders and vocally called for change, legislation to require safe storage of firearms, implement universal background checks and allow extreme risk protection orders became state law.

The Walz event with students, held on the 10th floor of the Graduate Hotel, provided a full landscape view of the university from across the street where the shooting took place.

The room was packed from front to back with “Spartans for Harris Walz” signs and Walz stood amongst students telling them how thankful he was that they are taking a stake in the election.

“I don’t think you can underestimate when young people get involved in the process, it reinforces to everyone that the future can be brighter and that our democracy is strong,” Walz said. “This whole idea of trying to get you to check out of the system is part of what they’re trying to do.”

Walz praised his running mate, Vice President Kamala Harris, for remaining focused on the needs and concerns of Americans during the recent presidential debate and trashed former President Donald Trump’s performance.

“One of those two people is going to be president of the United States. It was clear on that stage, there is only one that’s qualified to be president of the United States. Kamala Harris took that stage with poise, with dignity, with an understanding that she works for you, that it’s about what’s best for the people. And on the other side of the aisle, you saw an angry man yelling at people to get off his yard,” Walz said.

School shootings can’t be “a fact of life” as Trump’s running mate, Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance said earlier this month in Phoenix, said MSU Democrats President Liam Richichi.

Students at MSU remember Arielle Anderson, Brian Fraser and Alexandria Verner’s names, and mourn the loss of the three students who were killed in the 2023 shooting.

“We know this is something we will never get over, and that’s why we’re fighting so hard to win this election, because in East Lansing, we know we need leaders with compassion, with determination to make real change and fight for us, leaders like Harrison and Walz,” Richichi said.

Walz read off entries from a book attendees had written in, listing reasons they’re voting in the election. Reasons included protecting reproductive rights, preserving the American dream and fighting for a world where kids can be safe going to school.

“I’m grateful for our democracy that you’re here. There’s a lot of folks that would like to tell you that our system is broken, like to tell you your vote doesn’t count, like to tell you that the system’s rigged, all of those things,” Walz said. “You coming here is an absolute manifestation that you believe in this country, you believe in this democracy, and you’re going to take a stake in it. So thank you so very much for that.”

Michigan will be an influential state in the election, and Walz said he’s already feeling the Michigan influence in his own house as Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer sends his son, Gus, MSU memorabilia.

“Gus is a Spartan,” Walz said to the laughter of the crowd. “She sends him shirts, she sends him Vernors, she sends him everything and so I go out to like Gopher games and he’s all dressed out in green. It’s bad politics.”

Walz was joined at events by his daughter, Hope.

Both Minnesota and Michigan have made school breakfast and lunch free to students, Walz said, adding that Michiganders understand the importance of taking care of people in school and in government.

“We have a saying in Minnesota, ‘When we all do better, we all do better.’ It’s pretty simple,” Walz said.

Saying that certain people don’t belong or trying to govern “other people’s bedrooms” is not healthy,” Walz said, slamming Trump’s work to end the federal right to abortion.

Walz’s visit to mid-Michigan follows his Thursday rally on the west side of the state at the Grand Rapids Public Museum, where he began by thanking “Eras Tour” singer and vocal cat lover Taylor Swift for endorsing Harris for president. Swift, who’s won 14 Grammys and is worth an estimated $1.3 billion, posted her endorsement on Instagram after the presidential debate, signing the post, “Taylor Swift, Childless Cat Lady,” a reference to Vance’s previous remarks degrading the demographic on Fox News.

“Thank you to my fellow cat owner, Taylor Swift,” Walz said, quickly clarifying that Swift was not making a surprise appearance. “Vice President Harris and I couldn’t be more excited to have her support … It’s not as if I didn’t warn these guys a few months ago. You mess with cat people and you will find out.”

Walz had the same message for MSU students as he did for Grand Rapids saying “rooms” will determine elections, especially in battleground Michigan where a close race is expected.

But as the election plays out, Walz told the Grand Rapids crowd to remember what unites voters in Michigan: midwestern kindness.

Trump has turned neighbors into enemies, Walz said, adding that it goes against what fundamentally drives Michiganders and Minnosotans alike.

“It’s on purpose. He broke our political system. He tried to break our faith in one another. He tried to break the thing that makes Midwesterners stick together. We’re positive people. … We’re nice folks. We’ll dig you out after a snowstorm. We’ll say ‘hi’ to you at the store. Some of us might even let you merge on the highway,” Walz said.

As states like Michigan and Wisconsin remain up for grabs in the election, still listening to what candidates have to say, Walz said Harris’ campaign understands something that Trump doesn’t.

“One thing I’ll tell you about Midwesterners that stretches across that beautiful blue wall of northern America here,” Walz said. “The one thing about us is, don’t ever mistake our kindness for weakness.”

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.

When facing the man that sexually abused her starting at age 10 and facing down the university leaders who she says have let sexual abuse survivors down at every turn, Kaylee Lorincz told the Michigan Advance she’s had a faithful companion that has carried her to today: her 10-year-old self.

Every time she had to speak in court or advocate for herself as a teenager against former Michigan State University and Olympic doctor Larry Nassar, Lorincz, now 25, said she took her attorney’s advice and wrapped her “arms around that 10-year-old” girl and brought her with her.

And that strength is needed on days like Wednesday, where Michigan’s Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that long-withheld documents from MSU that survivors had hoped would reveal information about who at the university knew about Nassar’s sexual abuse of patients, revealed nothing pertinent to the investigation. Nessel said she was closing the case.

Lorincz said she and other survivors are holding fast to a commitment for accountability from MSU.

“They just want to be able to slide everything under the rug and act like it didn’t happen,” Lorincz said. “This has consumed my life for so long, I really wasn’t sure who I was anymore … This is something that will affect me for the rest of my life.”

Former gymnast Kaylee Lorincz sits outside the Hannah Administration Building on Michigan State University campus in 2018 surrounded by teal pinwheels placed to represent support for survivors of ex-MSU and Olympic doctor Larry Nassar. | Photo courtesy of Kaylee Lorincz

And as someone who was balancing starting college classes with court appearances, Lorincz said back in 2018, she didn’t have much space to heal. But healing is coming now from making sure “that this conversation doesn’t end and people don’t forget about what happened with Larry Nassar and Michigan State University, because we can’t allow this to happen again.”

Nessel noted the efforts of the survivors and their families who relentlessly advocated for a cultural change at MSU are the ones responsible for progress. Their work demanding that the university release some 6,000 documents requested by the Attorney General’s Office for six years is what made their release to the media Wednesday possible. The office says it plans to disseminate the documents to the public in the future.

“This will be something that is talked about for a very long period of time and these survivors will be admired by many for years, decades to come, we’ll remember what happened here, not just because of the horrific acts of Larry Nassar and others, but because of how the survivors banded together and made substantive change all over the country,” Nessel said.

Since Nassar was sentenced sentenced to effectively three life sentences across three courts between 2017 to 2018 on child pornography charges and several charges of criminal sexual conduct with minors, survivors have mobilized in Michigan and on a national scale to fight against sexual violence.

Since 2018, dozens of pieces of legislation have been introduced in Michigan aimed to prevent another tragedy like Nassar’s abuse from happening again, with things like school-related policies and resources and in-court procedures being made into law to support survivors reporting violence.

Former Assistant Attorney General Angela Povilaitis, who led Michigan’s prosecution of Nassar, wants the public to remember that in the midst of all that has happened, the boldest voices for change have always been the survivors, she told the Michigan Advance in a statement.

“I continue to be inspired by the Nassar survivors & their families, who have tirelessly pursued justice, demanded accountability from all institutions & individuals, & continue to do all they can to prevent sexual abuse and assault,” Povilaitis said. “Their advocacy and bravery has & continues to empower so many other survivors to come forward and demand accountability.”

Nessel said Wednesday that prosecutors have never seen a group of survivors band together in sisterhood and impact such widespread systemic changes. The “sister survivors” have created nationwide awareness in schools on sexual abuse prevention. They have worked to ensure survivors are believed and are treated better in the judicial system and have changed “the culture in how sexual assault is seen by the public at large.”

Survivors have put in hard work and so has the state attorney general’s office, Nessel said. After reviewing the thousands of documents that MSU had for years held back under attorney-client privilege, she said she believes they were unjustly retained by the school and ultimately resulted in a painful six-year waiting game for survivors and their families.

“While we begin each investigation in pursuit of the truth and facts first and foremost and take criminal or civil charges as a secondary consideration, it is my belief that by withholding the remaining 6,000 documents, MSU unnecessarily prolonged that hope that the questions survivors had would be answered and denied them closure that they were entitled to many years ago,” Nessel said.

The impact of Nassar’s abuse and the events of the attorney general’s investigation is not lost on MSU, university spokeswoman Emily Guerrant said as part of a response issued Wednesday.

But while the university respects the thorough efforts by investigators, MSU claims that it has “fully complied with the attorney general’s office” supplying more than 100,000 documents in total for the investigation. And as for the other thousands of documents requested, the university maintains that its application of attorney-client privilege was appropriate.

“Since 2016, the university has taken significant steps to improve campus safety and culture through robust prevention, support, and response efforts. We are working to become a more accountable organization each day, guided by an unwavering commitment to providing a safe campus and equitable environment for all,” MSU’s statement reads. “We echo the attorney general’s comments in acknowledging the role survivors have made in advocating for change and improvements surrounding assault and abuse in our state and globally.”

Justice for survivors was blocked by the MSU Board of Trustees for years, former Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said in a statement Wednesday. It was Schuette’s office that announced it was investigating Nassar’s abuse at MSU back in 2018 and he says MSU fought back to retain thousands of documents in the investigation.

“The years-long delay in response from the University caused the survivors to continue to wonder what they, and law enforcement, did not know. The reality for many survivors has been the inability to fully move on because these documents and the knowledge held within them was still out there — a lingering sense of anxiety surrounding a part of their lives that many would like to put into the past,” Schuette said. “The continued revictimization of the survivors due to the long standing delay tactics is wholly unfair and simply wrong.”

Nessel announced during her news conference with reporters that the information in the documents would be released to the public. Schuette said he’s eager to review them and encouraged others to do so.

“Although time has passed, we all must know the whole truth about what happened at Michigan State University and the monster named Larry Nassar,” Schuette said. “My sincere hope is that through the release of these documents, the survivors and their families will be able to continue the process of healing.”

Former Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, April 20, 2016 in Flint | Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Because MSU clung so tight to the documents, survivors like Melissa Hudecz had hoped there was a reason that the school didn’t want to release them.

“It’s going to be something about who knew what when,” Hudecz told Michigan Advance back in January. “They’ve fought and held on to them for so long. If there was nothing in there, why would they not release them?”

On Tuesday night, Hudecz and dozens of other survivors were briefed by members of the Michigan Attorney General’s Office and were told that there were no chargeable offenses in the documents.

“I think as a whole, we were all very grateful to have the opportunity to ask questions and process information and have each other for support in that moment. We had a lot of good discussions. We got a lot of questions answered,” Hudecz said.

Hudecz is now an occupational therapist after surviving Nassar’s abuse starting at age 14. She and other survivors are utterly exhausted going to MSU Board of Trustee meetings, working with lawyers, calling lawmakers and knocking on every door of power that could enact real change when it comes to sexual violence in Michigan, she said.

“It’s not over until things get better and for things to get better, we have a lot of work to do in our country, in our institutions and we can’t do it alone,” Hudecz said. “We need people to be paying attention to these issues.”

Given that MSU is one of three universities in Michigan in which the governing bodies are elected positions, Hudecz said people need to understand that elections other than the presidential race matter in November. Two, eight-year positions on MSU’s board are up for grabs.

“As frustrating as it is I hope that the takeaway at the end of the day is MSU is still allowing this behavior at their university, and that the people of the state of Michigan need to hold them accountable and hold them to a higher standard, and that we’re stronger together, and all of our voices matter. … It’s exhausting, and we need help,” Hudecz said.

The pain survivors and their families have endured in this process has been excruciating, a group founded by parents of Nassar’s abuse, Parents of Sister Survivors Engage (POSSE) said in a statement Wednesday. And the message from MSU rings louder for survivors than it ever has: “MSU once again has shown it was never interested in helping the survivors of Larry Nassar to heal.”

Redactions in the hard-won documents were an immediate concern when the MSU Board of Trustees agreed to turn over the documents during a meeting at the end of 2023. Survivors and parents on-campus held each other in relief, gasping as the votes from each trustee came in in a unanimous decision.

Nessel noted that after six years, statute of limitations may have run out on any crimes that may have been perpetrated by MSU employees, and that may explain the sudden change of heart in releasing the documents, but the documents received don’t reflect legal wrongdoing.

But things have been lost as time has passed, said Danielle Hagaman-Clark, chief of the Criminal Justice Bureau for the Attorney General’s Office. Specifically emails received from MSU reflect that former University President Lou Anna K. Simon had long been deleting text messages.

“That’s what makes us believe that there [was] additional information out there that would have been relevant to our investigation and that they were deleted,” Hagaman-Clark said.

POSSE said it doubts every document MSU should have sent over to the attorney general was sent as they have a history of inaction and secrecy.

“It’s a stain on the university that should leave all of us in the state asking for greater accountability from a public institution that exists to serve Michigan’s people by educating the youth of the state. And part of education is having adults model our expectations. MSU has done a poor job of modeling accountability and transparency,” POSSE said in a statement.

When it comes to looking for role models in adults, Lorincz said she’s living her life as if the 10-year-old version of herself is watching. The road ahead is uncertain, but she’s got a lot to live up to.

“I do it for the 10-year-old me who had a very different life and I think I’ve learned a lot. … And I think I’m a much different person than I would be, but I think I live my life by trying to make that 10-year-old me proud and happy,” Lorincz said.

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.

Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance gave a performance review of Vice President Kamala Harris in front of a crowd of 1,000 in the Big Rapids area on Tuesday.

And the evaluation was more scathing than the Michigan summer sun which sent dozens of attendees seeking help from medics on site.

“Harris has run her entire campaign on the idea that she’s joyful, but ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago?” Vance asked the crowd. Like Trump, the Ohio U.S. senator spoke behind bulletproof glass after the shooting at a Pennsylvania rally last month.

A proposed Gotion plant has ‘turned neighbors and friends into enemies’

“Kamala, I hate to break it to you … you’ve been vice president for three-and-a-half years. The message from this crowd and this state, Michigan, is, ‘You had your chance. You failed and we’re not giving you a promotion. And Donald J Trump is coming back to clean up your mess, Kamala Harris, and it’s going to start right here in this city.’”

Former President Donald Trump and Harris are in a battle for battleground state votes, with both candidates visiting Michigan in recent weeks.

Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, held a rally of more than 15,000 at Detroit Metro Airport earlier this month. Trump spoke to a National Guard convention on Monday and is slated to return for an event in Potterville on Thursday. Harris is reportedly coming to campaign in Detroit Monday for Labor Day.

Vance railed against Harris’ campaign of “ embodying joy,” saying she “laughs all the way to the bank” as American families suffer under inflation and job loss due to the outsourcing of jobs and illegal immigration.

In a review of Harris’ speech at the Democratic National Convention last week, Vance took issue with Harris’ saying this year’s election is not only the most important election of people’s lives, but it will define the country’s future.

“In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man. But the consequences of putting Donald Trump back in the White House are extremely serious,” Harris said, adding that the “chaos and calamity” he inflicted in office worked to try and take away voters’ rights and voices.

Vance asked the crowd, “Is she the vice president or the vice principal worried about ‘very serious consequences?’” He added that he thinks Harris is too focused on “whining” and “telling a joke” to present a decent argument of why the country should promote her to the Oval Office.

“… The extremely serious consequences Kamala have come from your leadership as Vice President of the United States,” Vance said. “Americans can’t afford groceries because of your leadership, Kamala, young people can’t afford homes because of the policies that you’ve enacted as vice president. Now, the only serious consequence in November that I’m worried about is giving Kamala Harris a disastrous promotion. Let’s say to Kamala Harris, ‘You are fired.’”

After 13,000 days in office as Vice President, the time has passed for Harris to turn her performance around and it’s time to put forth better candidates for leadership roles Vance said. He acknowledged Republican state leaders in the crowd who spoke earlier: GOP former gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon; U.S. Senate candidate Mike Rogers, a former congressman; and Michigan Republican Party Chair Pete Hoekstra.

The controversial Gotion electric vehicle battery plant that’s set to be built outside Big Rapids was at the forefront of the Michigan speakers’ minds with Hoekstra praising the efforts of individuals and business owners to fight against the “Chinese Communist battery plant.”

The Gotion plant is expected to begin operation in 2025, with Gotion Inc., a California-based company being led by its parent company Guoxuan High-tech Co., which has headquarters in China.

“That plant is not going to be built,” Hoekstra said, adding that once Rogers wins the U.S. Senate seat in November, he will ensure that America is put first while working with Trump during a second presidency.

Rogers is running against U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) for the open Senate seat.

Vance and Trump have claimed at events and ads that the Biden administration has failed to keep America safe from foreign adversaries and criminals coming in across the border, despite crime rates going down under the Biden administration and border crossings declining markedly for the last five months.

However, Vance claimed that Harris and Biden have opened the borders to get “millions of cheap laborers” and “millions of voters for Democrat policies.”

“While Donald Trump is the people’s president, Kamala Harris is running on a fake joy,” Vance said. “Donald Trump is going to offer something very, very different. He’s going to offer a very real hope for the future of this country, hope that we can reignite our economy and bring back prosperity, hope that we can raise our kids in secure neighborhoods with safe borders, hope that we can renew the patriotism that binds us together as one nation under God.”

If Harris wants to backpedal and address the concerns families over the country have about border security, Vance said she can put on a navy suit, red tie and adopt Trump’s “make America great again” slogan — but he argued no one is going to buy that she will do anything to make the country safe.

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.

Republicans need to have better conversations in their communities if they want to see former President Donald Trump in the White House again, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and GOP former Michigan gubernatorial nominee Tudor Dixon said Friday evening at a town hall in Saint Clair Shores.

Following the Thursday conclusion of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) in Chicago, where Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the party’s presidential nomination, Noem and Dixon held an event in Macomb County. The pair, both endorsed by Trump in their bids for governor in the past, answered questions about the November election from residents and rallied support for Trump in Macomb County, where Trump secured a majority of votes in 2020, despite losing the state.

The goal of the night was to make people uncomfortable, Noem said in addressing the crowd of around 300 attendees — uncomfortable that they only have so many hours in a day to talk to people, to tell them how much they love America and bring the message of “hope” that Republicans bring.

“Our policies that we believe in, they bring that. They bring a belief in our Constitution, the opportunity that it provides to grow up in America and have every opportunity in front of you, not equal outcomes, but equal opportunities to be successful and to go on and do with your life what you feel called to do. And that’s really the conversation we need to have with people this election cycle,” Noem said. “We have decided that it’s more important to be right than to go out and win the hearts and minds of people, than to go out there and really talk to people and spend time having conversations about what it means to their family.”

Noem also is scheduled to speak at the Michigan Republican Party state convention Saturday in Flint.

During the DNC and In the next few weeks before the Nov. 5 election, a lot is going to be said about Trump and Harris. Republicans are going to have to decide to “not to be offended and to keep the relationship” if they want to change minds in their communities, Noem said.

“Your words have power,” Noem said. “Choose not to be offended by political conversations you’re having with people. Choose instead to recognize that the words that you speak will impact somebody, and try to speak different words that change their perspective, help them think about this election different than they have.”

And it can start at the grocery store, where Noem said she likes to occasionally work the checkout line like she did in college in order to learn about the needs and concerns of South Dakotans. Even the price of pickles can spark a conversation that could change someone’s perspective.

Republicans need to change their thinking when it comes to reaching out to different groups in states, Dixon said, recalling one campaign event during her race for governor in 2022 where a group of men from Dearborn, which sits in traditionally Democratic Wayne County, came to listen to Republicans.

“They said, ‘You know, we were told that if we came to this event, we would be kicked out.’ And they said, ‘Then we sat here and we heard a lot of things that mean something to our community,’” Dixon said. ”I think that it’s a shame on us, but it’s also a new world where we are realizing that it’s time for us to reach everybody. It’s time for us to go to the places that everybody told us, ‘well, you never accepted there.’”

During that election, several Michigan towns and cities had clashes over banning books. In Dearborn, some Muslims and conservative Christians joined forces to oppose books with LGBTQ+ characters and issues in public schools — which was also a major agenda item for Dixon. She lost the election to Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Among those who asked questions at the St. Clair Shores event, Jason Woolford, the Republican nominee for Michigan’s 50th House District in GOP-dominated Livingston County, asked for advice on how to engage voters in local and federal elections.

Michigan is the epicenter of many political battles. It’s a highly sought-after state in the presidential race, and with a U.S. Senate seat up for grabs, it could impact which party is in control of the upper chamber in 2025. At the state level, the parties are battling for control of the Michigan House in November. For the last two years, Democrats in Michigan have held total control of the offices of the governor’s, secretary of state, attorney general, as well as both chambers of the Legislature.

Republicans “are so viciously attacked” Dixon said, invoking conversation about the assassination attempt on Trump last month at a rally in Pennsylvania. “You’ve seen for months they’ve called Donald Trump a threat and then, of course, when people are called a threat, someone wants to eliminate the threat. … And boy, does that discourage people from running as Republicans right now.”

The shooter at the Trump rally has been identified as Thomas Matthew Crooks, who was a registered Republican, and was shot and killed by police.

So many of the problems Republicans are worried about like growing taxes, rising inflation and insecure borders can be solved when Michigan mobilizes to elect Trump and flip the state House, Noem said, adding that Whitmer is “a wreck” and “somebody should run against her.”

Dixon lost to Whitmer in 2022 by well over 400,000 votes. Whitmer is term-limited in 2026.

Running for office is not easy and it’s hard to know who to trust, Dixon said. But Republican governors across the country offered their support to her back in 2022 including Noem, who would talk to her and have lunch with her.

Facing an uphill battle in November, Barry Altman, the GOP nominee for the 7th House District in highly Democratic Detroit, asked for financial help and guidance from Noem and Dixon.

In the August primary, Altman won the Republican slot with under 200 votes, while his Democratic opponent in November, Tonya Myers Phillips, won with nearly 5,000 votes.

Noem asked who she could make a check out to to support his campaign and Dixon said she’d take his phone calls for help.

“That falls on all of us who have run before to answer your call,” Dixon said. “And I mean it to answer your call and say, ‘We know someone. I know someone. Let me help you. Let me introduce you. Let me move you along.’ Because this is a group effort, and the Democrats do it.”

Democrats, namely Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, have taken to calling Republicans “weird.” But Noem reasoned that the concerns Republicans are bringing to the forefront on border control and axing taxes get to the heart of what just about every household in America is concerned about: health, safety and a future for everyone’s kids.

“I don’t think you have to be philosophical about this election,” Noem said.

She cautioned the crowd to cut through the noise and look at the track record of candidates and share what candidates have said versus what they have done.

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.

As Michigan Democrats on Saturday nominated their picks for Supreme Court and education boards on the Nov. 5 ballot, the University of Michigan Regents — the one contested race — took centerstage.

The nominating convention, held in Lansing, was flooded with supporters decked in maize shirts for Board of Regents candidate and pro-Palestinian movement leader Huwaida Arraf. Since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, the University of Michigan has had a number of pro-Palestinian demonstrations and an encampment, which university officials disbanded, with protesters calling on regents to divest from companies tied to Israel.

Arraf faced two other Democrats: current Regent Denise Ilitch, who was first elected to the board in 2008, and Dr. Shauna Ryder Diggs, who had previously served as a regent until 2020. They were endorsed by both Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and a coalition of labor unions.

But after a lengthy voting process, Arraf did not win either of the slots, sparking calls from her backers to break with the Democratic Party.

“In November, we’ll remember,” chanted Arraf’s supporters, echoing a call from the “uncommitted” movement that opposed President Joe Biden’s renomination over his handling of the Israel-Hamas war. Biden has since stepped aside and Democrats last week nominated Vice President Kamala Harris at their convention in Chicago.

They also chanted, “Show the math,” in protest of the MDP’s proportional representation voting rules they claim cost Arraf the nomination.

“They always take us for granted,” Arraf told the Michigan Advance ahead of the vote being announced on Saturday. “While [former President Donald] Trump was bad, this is actually a genocide that’s happening on a Democratic watch. So there’s so many people that we believe are needed to win in November, we need to bring them back. And so just uncommitted wants to say to the party, ‘We need you to show us and show our community that you are going to change policy.’ Let’s see an arms embargo [of Israel].”

Arraf has posted to social media frequently about the war in Gaza, which has resulted in more than 40,000 deaths, including denials about widespread sexual assault that occurred during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants, support for the attack itself, which killed an estimated 1,200 Israelis and resulted in 240 hostages being taken.

Throughout the Democratic National Convention (DNC), members of the uncommitted movement pleaded with the event’s organizers to have a Palestinian-American speaker take the stage. The effort was not successful.

One of the overarching themes of the DNC was unity. But as an alternate uncommitted delegate for Michigan, who was at the convention in Chicago, Arraf said that the convention communicated a different message to Palestinian-Americans: “We don’t want to hear you.”

“It sends the wrong messages. ‘We don’t care about what you have to say. We’re going to come to you. We want your votes in November, but we don’t want your voice,” Arraf said.

At the DNC, several Democrats, including Harris, U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), all called for a ceasefire and the return of hostages.

Earlier on Saturday, Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit) and other candidates and elected officials came to the Arab-American Democratic caucus meeting to express their appreciation for the community.

Tate was adamant that all Democrat voices ought to be heard, saying of the national convention snub to have a Palestinian speaker, “… You look in 1964 during the Civil Rights Movement, the Black community, they were saying the same thing. … So having those voices in the room, that’s what makes us. That’s what gives us our strength. That’s what gives us our strength.”

Tate’s No. 2, House Majority Floor Leader Abraham Aiyash (D-Hamtramck), helped lead the uncommitted fight this spring and is the highest-ranking Muslim American in the state’s legislative history.

U of M Regent Jordan Acker was confronted by some Arraf supporters before and during the national anthem at the MDP convention. Acker, a Democrat, said he voted for Diggs and Ilitch.

So I want to first talk about how this started. I moved to the voting area to cast my votes for Regent Illitch and Regent Diggs. They were and are outstanding colleagues and our University is better off with them on the board. (2/x)
— Jordan Acker (@JordanAckerMI) August 25, 2024

“I think there are a lot of people in this movement who care deeply about Palestinian rights. I believe there are a lot who are sick of the bloodshed and sick of the occupation, which is brutal and indefensible, especially in the West Bank,” Acker wrote in a social media thread. “But this movement is entirely stained by actors within who see their main mission as eliminating public Jews from public life.”

Some pro-Palestinian protesters have targeted the homes of U of M regents, including Acker and Chair Sarah Hubbard, a Republican. In May, they used a bullhorn to chant, “Regent Hubbard, you can’t hide; you are funding genocide,” while placing what officials described as “fake corpses wrapped in bloodied sheets,” as well as stuffed animals covered in red paint, on the porch and front lawn.

Acker’s Southfield law office, Goodman Acker P.C., was covered in June with graffiti, including phrases such as, “Free Palestine,” “Divest now” and “F–k you Acker,” were spray-painted on the building and sidewalk in front.

“I was not targeted here today because I am a regent,” said Acker at the time. “I am a target of this because I am Jewish. This neighborhood is Jewish, and because some people, under the pretext of helping Palestinians, feel the obligation to single out Jews, especially liberal ones for an attack.”

Acker was also followed around by pro-Palestinian protesters at Harris’ Detroit campaign event last month.

“Let me be clear to those who continue to harass me: you will not remove this public Jew from public life,” Acker wrote on Saturday. “… You can vandalize my office, you can come to my house in the middle of the night, you can harass me in public, but I have news for you. YOU. WILL. LOSE. This public Jew is going nowhere. Deal with it.”

Other nominations and speeches

Republicans also held their nominating convention on Saturday, with theirs taking place in Flint. In addition to the U of M Board of Regents, both parties chose nominees for: Michigan Supreme Court, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees, the Wayne State Board of Governors and the State Board of Education. All offices will appear on the statewide ballot in November.

Electing board members for three public universities statewide ets Michigan as an outlier, with other states doing so via gubernatorial or legislative appointment or different elected processes.

All the other races for the Democratic slots were uncontested. All of the winners were endorsed by Whitmer and the union coalition.

The Democratic candidates for the two seats up for grabs on MSU’s board are former Ingham County Commissioner Rebecca Bahar-Cook and former Michigan Rep. Thomas Stallworth III.

The picks for the two available seats on the Wayne State University Board of Governors are current member and former Michigan AFL-CIO President Mark Gaffney and Rasha Demashkie, a former member of the Michigan Civil Rights Commission and other boards.

Former state Rep. Adam Zemke and Theodore Jones, a Detroit Public Schools administrator, are Democrats’ picks to be on the State Board of Education.

Jones made commitments to individuals in the room that if elected, he would seek out funding for schools and help students recover from learning loss caused by disruptions from the pandemic. He also committed to working to get a constitutional amendment on the ballot saying that “each and every student in Michigan deserves a high-quality education.”

Zemke said he’s on a mission to “save public education from extremists.

“Extremists are targeting our kids and our teachers with hateful rhetoric, with white-washing and rewriting of history and even guns,” Zemke said. “It is sad and scary. … We must save public education and then we must work and have the debates about how we improve it because saving it from extremists is simply insufficient.”

Currently, Democrats hold a 4-3 majority on the Michigan Supreme Court. Two seats will be up for election in November. If the GOP wins both, that would result in a 4-3 partisan flip or Democrats could achieve a 5-2 supermajority if both their candidates win.

Republican-nominated Justice David Viviano announced his retirement in March, leaving one seat open. Justice Kyra Harris Bolden, who was appointed to the seat by Whitmer after Justice Bridget Mary McCormack retired in 2022, is also up for reelection for a full eight-year term.

Michigan Democrats chose Bolden and U of M professor and trial lawyer Kimberly Thomas as their nominees.

Thomas reminded convention attendees that lots of people think they’ve cast their vote for Michigan Supreme Court, but ultimately aren’t counted. Although parties nominate candidates for the high court in Michigan, those seats appear on the nonpartisan portion of the ballot — so if voters choose the straight-ticket option, they’re still leaving the state Supreme Court section blank.

“I hear a lot of comments about our federal Supreme Court. You here in Michigan, we all have an opportunity to have your voice heard about what kind of justices you want on your state Supreme Court, what kind of values you want them to embody and who you want to represent you. … So please have your voice heard,” Thomas said.

Joined by her grandmother and mother at the convention, Bolden said the possibility of a 5-2 Democratic majority presents an opportunity to provide “justice for generations,” reminding the crowd that she previously received the party’s nomination for the court six days after giving birth to her daughter in 2022. While she lost that election, Whitmer appointed her to the court the next month.

Out of all the work the Supreme Court has done in the year-and-a-half she has served on it, Bolden told the Arab-American Democratic caucus earlier in the day that there have been 30 majority opinions issued by justices that will impact Michiganders for years to come.

“The decisions that we make set a precedent. So that means, unless a different court comes along and disagrees, those decisions stay in place. We’re not making decisions just for the people living here [for] my grandmother, who’s running around taking signatures, my mother, who’s taking signatures, or my daughter that is 2-years-old — but for her children and for her children’s children.”

Democracy in America is under attack, Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson told attendees at the state convention, and Michigan is in the thick of the battle. With lies and misinformation swirling around this election season, Benson said the only way Michiganders will lose their voice this election season is if those spreading deceit convince them they have no power.

“We are not going to let them make us feel that way. Are we Michigan?” Benson said. “We are not going to allow any of the noise to confuse us about the power we all have in this moment. That power, the power of Michigan citizens in this election is the power to decide the future of our nation.”

Benson, who’s expressed interest in running for governor when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer terms out in 2026, added that this election and the weeks leading up to November will determine the future of Michigan’s children and generations to come.

“The eyes of the nation and the world will be on Michigan this fall,” Benson said. “The eyes of brave souls throughout history who fought and bled so that we could live in a land where all are free and equal, their eyes are on us now. The eyes of the future of this country, the kids who are here today, the young boys and girls who will inherit what we leave behind, their eyes are on us now. It’s on us now to show who we are, what we stand for and what we will fight for.”

Michigan is the “prototype” for Democratic progress, Texas U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett said, noting the state has a Democratic governor, secretary of state and attorney general, Dana Nessel. While Michigan residents have a state constitutional right to an abortion, Texas Republicans who control the state are considering the death penalty for residents who get abortions.

Michigan holds sway this election, with Harris and former President Donald Trump vying for the state’s 15 electoral votes.

“I need y’all. … We are relying on you in Michigan. We need you because united we stand, divided we fall and we are all in this fight together to make sure Kamala Harris and [Minnesota Gov.] Tim Walz become the president and vice president of the United States.” Crockett said. “Texas used to be blue … do not take it for granted. Don’t take this election for granted. We all need Michigan to be blue in November.”

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.

Being “that woman from Michigan” as former President Donald Trump once called Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, isn’t the insult he thinks it is, she said on stage at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night.

“Being a woman from Michigan is a badge of honor,” Whitmer exclaimed, received by applause from the Chicago audience filled with other women from other states wearing white outfits like hers as an homage to the suffragettes who fought for women’s right to vote over 100 years ago.

Women have a long history of “GSD” Whitmer said, censoring her usual “get sh-t done” call to action to “get stuff done” to the laughter of the convention attendees.

Whitmer has been frequently mentioned as a future presidential candidate. She was considered to be on the presidential ticket by both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris in 2020 and 2024, respectively. Whitmer also gave a speech at the 2020 DNC, which was virtual due to the pandemic.

A member of a “sandwich generation,” Whitmer told attendees about entering the Michigan state House at 29 years old, giving birth to her first daughter while caring for her mother, who was dying of brain cancer.

“It was hard, but not extraordinary. It’s life,” Whitmer said, adding that it underscored why she entered government.

“Those nights reminded me who I was fighting for, people just trying to make it. Kamala Harris knows who she’s fighting for, too. She took care of her mom, who also battled cancer. As president, she’ll fight to lower the cost of health care and elder care for every family. She’s lived a life like ours. She knows us,” Whitmer said. “Donald Trump doesn’t know you at all. You think he understands that when your car breaks down, you can’t get to work? No, his first word was probably ‘chauffeur.’”

Trump has never had to check to make sure he could afford all of his items at the checkout line, Whitmer said, questioning if Trump has ever “been to a grocery store.”

America needs a strong leader who can handle a crisis because they’ve lived a life similar to the rest of the country where things go wrong and people still need to pay their bills, take their kids to school and go to work, Whitmer said.

The past few years have been riddled with crises, Whitmer told the convention, in the form of floods, fires, the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump’s supporters and the 2020 plot to kidnap Whitmer in 2020.

“We don’t know what the next four years will bring, but what we do know is this, through it all your life won’t stop. … And then one day, when you’re just trying to get everyone out the door, a news alert goes off, something happened, something hit the fan. You’ll ask, ‘Is my family going to be OK?’ And then you’ll ask, ‘Who the hell is in charge?’ What if it’s him? What if it’s that man from Mar-a-Lago?” Whitmer said.

In a crisis, the country needs someone who’ll tell the truth and make a plan, Whitmer said. And though no one gets to choose what catastrophes and trials America will face, voters have the opportunity in November to choose who’ll be in charge.

“Why wouldn’t we choose the leader who’s tough, tested and a total badass,” Whitmer asked the crowd. “I know who I want as our commander in chief. America, let’s choose Kamala Harris.”

Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.

Vice President Kamala Harris told attendees at a rally in Detroit Wednesday where she stands in the upcoming election: with the middle class and on the picket line.

Harris was joined at the boisterous rally of about 15,000 at a hanger at Detroit Metropolitan Airport by union leaders, like UAW President Shawn Fain; Gov. Gretchen Whitmer; most of the Democratic congressional delegation; and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. She announced Walz as her partner in the race Tuesday ahead of her tour of battleground states around the country.

Detroit garnered the largest attendance for a rally since Harris began her campaign for president, Walz said. A rally earlier in the day in Eau Claire, Wisc. drew more than 12,000.

Michigan is a critical state in the presidential election in November, Harris told the crowd. With reproductive rights and the economic future of Americans on the line, she said another Donald Trump presidency would bring ruin.

“While fighting for a brighter future may take hard work, we all here know hard work is good work,” Harris said. “I am clear, the path to the White House runs right through this state and with your help, we will win in November, we will win.”

Vice President Kamala Harris addresses a crowd in Detroit at a rally for her campaign for president on Aug. 7, 2024. | Anna Liz Nichols

Last month, the United Auto Workers Union endorsed Harris, citing her decision to walk the picket line with striking UAW workers in 2019 as more than 40,000 workers walked out on the job at dozens of General Motors plants for 40 days. The UAW’s endorsement carries weight in the Midwest where Harris is seeking votes, and there’s been a host of social media posts in support of Walz’s “Midwestern dad” energy.

Walz is the type of guy that would tell you to “always keep jumper cables in your car,” Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly) said at the rally, adding that the Midwest recognizes men like Walz: a veteran, a former high school teacher and football coach, and “the dad making bad jokes.”

After walking out to Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run,” Walz began lauding Minnesota culture, mainly the state’s golden rule of, “Mind your own damn business.”

“In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors’ personal choices. We may not agree with them or make them for ourselves. … It’s amazing what minding your own damn business does to make things work better. Don’t like a book? Don’t read it,” Walz said slamming Republican efforts to ban books, particularly those on racial and LGBTQ+ issues.

Minnesota, like Michigan, is full of individuals who support the Second Amendment, Walz said. But part of being a midwestern state is caring for your neighbors and supporting common-sense gun violence prevention laws.

What Harris represents is simple, but so needed, Walz said. After Republicans have done everything they could to “steal the joy” from the country, Harris emanates joy and hope for the presidency.

Walz railed against Trump and his running mate, Ohio U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance, for deviating from age-old Republican talking points on freedom and instead being solely interested in taking rights away from people. He referenced Project 2025, which aims to ban same-sex marriages and outlaw abortion, among other measures.

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaks to a crowd in Detroit at a rally for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for president on Aug. 7, 2024. Walz was announced as Harris’ running mate one day prior. | Anna Liz Nichols

“These ideas that they’re putting out there, they are weird as hell. No one’s asking for it. … We’re asking for health care and childcare. We’re asking for an education. We’re asking for safety in our streets. That’s what we’re asking for,” Walz said. “We’re gonna get it because that’s what this campaign is about. It’s about moving forward. …. You know that Kamala Harris believes that you should be making your own choices in your life. She believes that every person should have an opportunity to enter the middle class. She believes in something so beautiful and simple with joy. She believes in the promise of this great nation.”

Vance held a small event in Macomb County the morning before Harris’ rally, largely blasting Harris’ handling of law enforcement and illegal immigration.

“The failure to protect our communities is a law and is a policy choice,” Vance said. “It is a policy choice to defund the police, which is what Kamala Harris wants to do. It is a policy choice to open up the American Southern border and allow migrant criminals to come into this community and make it less safe. It is a policy choice to not deport people, to suspend deportations, which is what Kamala Harris did.”

Setting the tone for her remarks at the airport, Harris walked on stage to Beyoncé’s “Freedom,” cautioning Michiganders that the election is not simply her versus Trump, but a fight to build into a better future and not return the past.

“We fight for the future. We fight for a future where every worker has the freedom to join a union, where every senior can retire with dignity, a future with affordable housing, affordable childcare, affordable health care and paid leave,” Harris said. “Unlike Donald Trump, I will always put the middle class and working families first, because Coach Walz and I know the middle class built this great country of ours, and when the middle class is strong, America is strong.”

Trump is not interested in supporting the middle class and instead would seek to pad the pockets of billionaires like himself, Harris said. She said that as a prosecutor and California attorney general, she dedicated her time to pursuing justice, but Trump is a convicted felon with no regard for the law.

“The man has openly vowed, if reelected, that he will be a dictator on day one. Think about what that means when he said that he will even ‘terminate the Constitution of the United States,’” Harris said. “Let us be very clear, someone who suggests we should terminate the Constitution of the United States should never again stand behind the seal of the President of the United States. Never again."

Hoards of members of the UAW and other labor groups were in the crowd and Fain gave remarks leading up to Harris and Walz taking the stage.

In October 2023, The UAW took on the “Big Three” Detroit automakers — GM, Ford and Stellantis — by going on strike for 46 days in a successful effort to change the pay scale and increase benefits for workers. Fain said throughout the strike that it wasn’t just for autoworkers, but for every member of the working class to be treated fairly by their employer.

“As president of UAW, I have the honor of fighting for economic and social justice for our members, for the entire working class. From the bargaining table to the ballot box, what we bargained for can be taken away tomorrow in the halls of Congress,” Fain said. “To me, this election is real simple. It’s about one question. It’s a question we made famous in the labor movement: Which side are you on?”

“Donald Trump’s always going to be a scab,” Fain added, calling for support for Harris.

“This is our generation’s defining moment and this election is our opportunity to take our lives back. So, Michigan, let’s get to work,” Fain said.

Harris and Walz were scheduled to head to North Carolina on Thursday, before visiting Georgia, but those stops have been postponed due to a tropical storm. In the coming days the pair will go out West to Arizona and Nevada on their battleground states tour.

Before Harris and Walz took the stage, several elected officials also spoke in support of the campaign, including U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing), U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor) and Whitmer, who said she woke up Wednesday in “Big Gretch mode.”

Michigan can send Trump “packing,” Whitmer said, but people are going to have to engage with new voters and help them to decide a side in the election.

“We need you to knock doors, because if you knock doors, we win. We need you to make calls, because if you make calls, we win. We need you to donate a buck or two. We can win. In fact, do everything short of biting the kneecaps,” Whitmer said, a reference to the Detroit Lions Head Coach Dan Campbell’s team philosophy when he took the position three years ago.

Despite the hot weather, where staff at the rally handed out water bottles and several individuals required medical attention, energy levels were high and the crowd was vocal.

During Harris’ speech, a small group of individuals began chanting, “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide! We won’t vote for genocide,” referring to the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Harris initially said, “It’s all good. I’m here because we believe in democracy. Everyone’s voice matters, but I’m speaking now.”

And as the protest went on, Harris addressed the group saying, “If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that, otherwise, I’m speaking.”

Michigan had more than 100,000 “uncommitted” voters during the February primary, with many protesting President Joe Biden’s pro-Israel policy. Many uncommitted delegates want to see Harris adopt a more pro-Palestinian agenda. Harris has called for a ceasefire.

The protest went on for several minutes before the group was escorted out by police. Prior to the rally, Harris met with several Michigan leaders in the “uncommitted” movement about their concerns, the New York Times reported.