By Stephanie Kelly, Andrea Shalal and Alexandra Ulmer
(Reuters) – Michelle Obama, in her first public campaign event of this U.S. 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 U.S. 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 U.S. 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.
Democratic President Joe Biden, Harris’ boss, won Michigan by 150,000 votes in the 2020 election against Trump, a margin of less than 3%, while Trump won by 11,000 votes in 2016.
Since the 2020 election, Michigan has instituted early in-person voting for the first time and begun permitting jurisdictions with more than 5,000 people to begin processing and tabulating mail ballots eight days before the Nov. 5 Election Day.
So far, 19.5% of registered voters in Michigan, or nearly 1.42 million people, have voted, Michigan’s State Department said on Friday. Only 10,900 were in-person early votes, while the rest were returned absentee ballots.
CELEBRITY APPEAL
Michelle Obama, the popular wife of former President Barack Obama, is the latest example of the Democrats leaning on star power in the final days of the election cycle.
Musicians Bruce Springsteen and Beyonce have both campaigned with the vice president in recent days.
Trump, who will also travel to must-win Pennsylvania on Saturday, has brought in figures such as retired professional wrestler Hulk Hogan and musician Kid Rock.
In August, Michelle Obama spoke at the Democratic National Convention, where she tore into Trump, criticizing his character and racist attacks that have targeted her and her husband in the past.
She taunted Trump for his reference on the campaign trail to unspecified “Black jobs” that he said were being taken away from Black Americans by migrants.
“Who’s going to tell him that the job he’s currently seeking might just be one of those ‘Black jobs?'” Obama asked.
Before Biden dropped out of the race in July, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that Michelle Obama led Trump 50% to 39% in a hypothetical matchup. She has said repeatedly she does not intend to run for president.
(Reporting by Stephanie Kelly, Andrea Shalal and Alexandra Ulmer. Editing by Heather Timmons and Rosalba O’Brien)
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