(WS News) – Michelle Obama, in her first public campaign event of this US election, will join Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in Michigan on Saturday, while Republican candidate Donald Trump holds his own rally in the battleground state.
With some 8.4 million registered voters and 15 electoral college votes of the 270 needed to win, Michigan is one of seven competitive US states that will decide the election. It is part of the “Blue Wall” that is considered Democrats’ best chance of electing Harris, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
In Michigan, Harris and Trump are battling for voters that include a large Arab American and Muslim population concerned about Israel’s war in Gaza, and union workers worried about how electric vehicles could reshape the US auto industry, which is headquartered in Detroit, the state’s largest city.
Former President Trump has courted auto workers by pledging car-loan tax breaks and crackdowns on Chinese car sales. Earlier this month he made detrimental remarks about Detroit, a majority Black city that Republicans have criticized for its crime rates, even as they dropped significantly in recent years. He said of Harris: “Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president.”
Harris and Obama are expected to focus on the contrast between Harris and Trump on abortion rights, taxes, unions and tariffs. Harris’ rally will take place in the southern city of Kalamazoo, while Trump’s will be in the Detroit suburb of Novi, about 130 miles (210 km) away.
Harris is leading Trump nationally by a marginal 46% to 43%, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. In Michigan, Harris leads by even less – 47.6% to 47.1%, according to opinion poll aggregator FiveThirtyEight.
