KALAMAZOO, Mich. — The Democrats’ pinch-hitter took the swing they wanted.
Michelle Obama returned to the campaign trail Saturday for the first time since the Democratic National Convention to make an explicit appeal to one of Vice President Kamala Harris’ weakest voting blocs — men — and other constituencies that Democrats care about.
Obama introduced Harris at a rally here, saying the race between the vice president and former President Donald Trump is “too close for my liking” and that she is “deeply concerned … that too many of us are still confused and believe in the lies and distortions. from people who do not have our best interests at heart.”
Obama, one of the Democratic Party’s most popular surrogates, challenged the perception that voters — including some Democrats — feel they still don’t know enough about Harris, arguing that the vice president is held to a “higher standard.” held than Trump. She delivered a blistering critique of the former president, from his failures in dealing with Covid-19 to his role in the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot after “the American people fired him from a job too big for him to to start with. .” And she made one of Democrats’ most explicit arguments for abortion rights yet, in an appeal clearly aimed at men.
But “let’s not just sit around and complain,” Obama said. “Let’s do something.”
While Obama implored Democrats to come out, the party is starting to see reason for optimism in Michigan. Public polls are starting to tilt toward Harris, though the race remains within the margins. And there are positive signs for Democrats in early voting results, from the sheer number of ballots already cast — nearly 1.5 million as of Saturday, according to state data — to where and from whom those votes are coming.
“I’m nervous” but “hopeful,” said Sheri Millard, a Democrat from nearby Portage. “I really believe she has a better chance than Joe Biden.”
Harris and Trump gathered in opposite corners of southern Michigan to mark the first day of early statewide elections. While Trump was in Novi, a Detroit suburb, Harris brought Obama to Kalamazoo, where she is working to widen margins in a county that voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden by an even larger margin in 2020.
“She’s an inspiration,” Harris said of Obama after the two hugged on stage to loud cheers from the audience. “And she motivates us to get started, especially when the stakes are high.”
Democrats are encouraged by voting statistics so far in Michigan, where the large number of votes already cast has defied expectations that early voting would decline in the post-pandemic era. According to state data, turnout in Wayne County, home to Detroit, where Democrats need to increase the vote to win the state, is approaching 20 percent. And those who track statewide returns through modeling and publicly available data say women and Black voters have cast a higher share of early ballots right now than in 2020.
The data “suggests that Democrats could have at least a small enthusiasm advantage” — even more so than in other battleground states where early returns looked less promising for the party, said Tom Bonier, a Democratic strategist and CEO of the data firm TargetSmart.
“In all these other battleground states, Democrats will almost certainly go into Election Day needing greater turnout from voters of color and younger voters,” Bonier said. If Michigan’s numbers hold up, “this could ultimately be the state where Republicans will need a bigger boost on Election Day.”
Opinion polls also show some positive signs for Harris. A Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday showed Harris leading Trump 49 percent to 46 percent among likely voters in the state — a reversal from the university’s Oct. 9 poll, which showed Trump with rose 50 percent to 47 percent. A Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll, also released Wednesday, showed Harris ahead of Trump here by 3 percentage points.
But Harris still has vulnerabilities in Michigan, and Republicans believe they are making inroads with key voting groups in the state, including black, Arab-American and Muslim voters, as well as union workers. Trump twice demanded at a rally in Traverse City on Friday that Michiganders should “vote for him” because of his promises to help the auto industry. The crowd at his rally in the Detroit suburb of Novi on Saturday was littered with T-shirts showing support for Trump among United Auto Workers members.
“If we win Michigan,” Trump told the crowd, “we win the whole deal.”
But here in Kalamazoo, Democrats were convinced that Obama would do what Harris hoped: motivate voters, especially black voters, to run for vice president. While former President Barack Obama has campaigned extensively for Harris in recent days — including in Detroit this past week, where his performance with Eminem (and his rapping in a few bars of the local rapper’s “Lose Yourself”) went viral — the former first Lady hasn’t been on the road since the DNC in Chicago in August.
“It’s a historic moment to have the support of the Obamas. They are so loved. It’s meaningful to a lot of people,” said Tonya Harris, a Democrat from Saginaw. “The energy feels like we’re going to win.”
And some attendees, as they danced in their seats, sang along to songs like “Uptown Funk” and started impromptu waves as they waited for Harris and Obama to appear, were simply awed.
“I’m more in love with Michelle Obama than Kamala Harris,” said Mary Nielsen, a Democrat from Kalamazoo.
