Trump, Harris campaigned heavily in swing state Michigan
In a fierce race for the White House, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris and her GOP rival former President Donald Trump lavished Michigan with attention, making the battleground state a frequent stop on the campaign trail as they rallied supporters ahead of Election Day Tuesday.
Their running mates followed in their footsteps as frequent visitors to the Mitten state too.
Michigan is one of several swing states that could decide who wins the presidency.
Number of Michigan visits
Harris spent 16 days in Michigan this election year. She made four of those stops before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and she launched her last-minute presidential campaign. Her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz spent 10 days campaigning in Michigan.
On the Republican side, Trump spent 17 days campaigning in Michigan this year, and his running mate Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance spent 12 days stumping in the state.
A look at the popular stops
Wayne County — Michigan's most populous county and its most diverse — saw the greatest number of candidate stops. The county is home to Detroit and a Democratic stronghold although it has red pockets, particularly Downriver.
Kent County saw the second-highest number of candidate visits. Kent County is its own battleground in a battleground state. Since 2008, every presidential candidate who won Kent County ultimately won Michigan, except Mitt Romney in 2012. Trump carried Kent County on the way to his upset Michigan win in 2016, defeating Hillary Clinton by around three percentage points. With Harris on his ticket, Biden flipped the county four years later, beating Trump by six percentage points in 2020.
Oakland County is Michigan's wealthiest county, and it was another frequent stop for the presidential candidates and their running mates. Trump held his first campaign rally in Michigan this year in February at an airport hangar in Waterford where his supporters stood in sub-freezing temperatures to see him. Oakland County is also where Harris held an event with Republican former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney in a quest to court conservative voters.
Macomb and Saginaw counties were also popular stops this year on the campaign trail in Michigan. Trump won Macomb County — home to the so-called "Reagan Democrats" — in both 2016 and 2020. Trump won Saginaw County in 2016 but Biden won it in 2020. Since 1992, the presidential candidate who won the county has also won statewide.
While the candidates crisscrossed Michigan, no presidential or vice presidential candidates stopped in the Upper Peninsula.
Election eve rallies
Carrying out a Trump tradition, the GOP presidential nominee returned to Grand Rapids again this year for an election eve rally. That's where Trump also finished his 2016 and 2020 campaigns. Walz held a competing late-night rally Monday at Detroit's Hart Plaza that featured musical performances by the Detroit Youth Choir, Jon Bon Jovi, The War and Treaty and Michael Stipe of R.E.M.
Staff writers Paul Egan and Arpan Lobo contributed to this report
Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, previously called Twitter, @clarajanehen.
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Harris, Trump visited Michigan often during White House bids
