Vice President Kamala Harris spent Friday on a three-stop campaign tour of Michigan, traversing the southern Lower Peninsula from Grand Rapids to Lansing to Oakland County.
Harris addressed the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar at the hands of an Israeli military force and said she hopes it will lead to a diplomatic resolution to the fighting in Gaza.
“Everyone must seize this opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza, bring the hostages home and end the suffering once and for all,” she told the crowd gathered at a hall in Waterford Township.
The war in Gaza is a huge issue for metro-Detroit’s Arab-American voters and has been a wedge dividing Democrats and progressives. The presidential election in Michigan could hinge on the success of the Biden administration in bringing about a cease-fire.
Harris told a crowd in Waterford Township estimated by her campaign at around 3,200 people that she would sign a federal reproductive rights law and legislation to strengthen union organizing and bargaining power.
“Strong unions mean higher wages, better health care and greater dignity for union members and everyone else,” she said.
But Harris said she will have to win in November to pursue those policies and the race will be close.
“We are the underdog and running as the underdog, but make no mistake, we will win,” she said. “Yes, we will.”
Oakland County is trending Democratic. But Democrats will have to turn out their voters here if they’re going to win the battleground state’s crucial 15 electoral votes. Polls suggest the race is very close in Michigan.
Harris’s visit coincides with the start of early in-person voting in some parts of the state, including the City of Detroit.
