Michigan Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin was among those who spoke on the final day of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago — using her convention speech to bring light to what a second Trump presidency would mean for America on the global stage.

“Trump wants to take us backward,” she said in her DNC address on Thursday. “He admires dictators … a lot. He treats our friends as adversaries and our adversaries as friends.”

Slotkin, a prolific fundraiser who is running to fill Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat left open by longtime Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s retirement, will face off against former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers in November.

In an interview with WDET at the DNC ahead of her convention speech on Thursday, Slotkin spoke of her affection for Stabenow, as well as her U.S. Senate bid and what sets her apart from her opponent.

Listen: Slotkin in DNC speech says Trump will take the US ‘backward’

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Russ McNamara: Throughout the events leading up to this, and winning the primary on primary election night, you kind of showed your close ties to outgoing Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Can you just talk about your relationship? There seems to be real affection there.

Elissa Slotkin: There is real affection. First of all, any woman in Michigan who’s elected to office has Debbie Stabenow in some form or fashion to thank for it. She was the first woman elected at the federal level statewide to represent this place, before Jennifer Granholm, before Gretchen Whitmer, Debbie Stabenow was really kind of wading through the muck to be one of the first women representing the state of Michigan. But then she also used to be representative of my district, right? So I am her Congresswoman — she lives in the Lansing area — and there’s no one who’s been a better mentor to me in these many, many years; and then, of course, over the last 18 months of running for Senate. So I do have real affection for her, and in many ways, were very different, right? I’m a national security person. She has more of that agriculture background, the elected background, but I am keenly aware of just how much I have to learn from someone who’s navigated all these years as one of the first women; the special difficulties of sometimes being a woman in office, and I just think she’s like Miss Michigan. She’s a fantastic lady.

RM: Your opponent in the race for Senate has a national security law enforcement background, but it seems like that’s maybe where the similarities stop. What sets you directly apart from Mike Rogers?

ES: We do have national security backgrounds. I’ve been really saddened — you know, he’s a former FBI officer, and used to be very proud of that, and now he slams the FBI every time he can. And for me, gosh, the number of times I’ve called our local FBI in Detroit, our office in Detroit after mass shootings when we’ve had hate crimes, I mean, they’re critical. So I’m proud of my national security background, I don’t bash it — I think that’s No. 1.

No. 2, I just think we take very opposite views of the world. I think for me, my sun and my moon is that Michigan has to be a place where anyone from anywhere can get into the middle class. That is the most important thing. You got to be able to have a good life and work one job, have good benefits, and that’s it. So that, to me, I focus on policies that are about pro good jobs and then lowering the cost of things like prescription drugs, health care, you know, post secondary education, child care. You know, you’re talking about someone who takes the opposite approach. He calls himself the biggest champion of the pharmaceutical industry. He’s proud of how he represents the pharmaceutical industry when he’s in elected office. He’s voted so many times to cut or privatize Medicare and Social Security. So the things that I think of of cornerstones of a middle class life, he has no problem going after those things. So it’s a pretty fundamental difference on seeing the world. And then, you know, he’s worked very hard to seek the favor of President Trump, and I think that’s a choice. That’s a choice, and maybe not a choice that everyone would have made, but he made it, and has defended those policies on culture war issues, but also on like democracy and whether to respect the results of an election. So it’s a pretty stark choice.

RM: Do you share his concerns over Chinese industrial influence here in the United States, he just had a rally up near Big Rapids because of the Goshen plant. Are those concerns that you share?

ES: Well, not only do I share them, I’ve legislated on them. I mean, the bill in Congress — a bipartisan bill to ban China from buying our farmland — is my bill. The bill in Congress that allows us to ban Chinese companies and also other companies of countries of concern from buying our manufacturing sites — that’s my bill. I am a CIA officer and Pentagon official by training. To me, China is a significant risk factor for our national security, and we don’t want them encroaching and using those facilities our farmland, or — for instance — their electric vehicles in the United States, to me, they pose national security risks, and we need to be really clear about that. So more than a rally, I’ve actually legislated for years and years on this topic.

RM: Did you personally give $1 billion to incarcerated people following the COVID-19 pandemic?

ES: No, you’re referring to an ad on television, so let me just say very, very clearly: No, I did not personally give a billion dollars to incarcerated people. And I think it’s been very, very clear that whatever checks went out — you know, when we were doing the big COVID checks that so many Americans got, they were clawed back and never received by people like Larry Nassar. Larry Nassar is the serial pedophile and sexual assault coach who is affiliated with Michigan State University. I am the representative of Michigan State University. We have been working for all these years to try to make the climate better so that could never happen again. So besides just being a ridiculous false attack, kind of political attack, it’s just insulting as a woman and as the representative of the the area that was most impacted by Larry Nassar,

RM: One of the underlying threads of the Democratic National Convention so far are the pro-Palestinian protests trying to get the United States to stop military aid to Israel. The Uncommitted National Movement has deep ties with Michigan. Abbas Alawieh is outside the United Center in a sit-in right now. They want a Palestinian American to speak during the last night of the convention. Do you support that notion?

ES: Yeah, I actually don’t have a problem with that at all. I think the most important thing that I’ve taken away from this convention is the Democratic Party is a big tent. We got a lot of different people in our camp, and that’s a good thing. Diversity is our strength, and that means diversity of people and background, but also of approach. And instead of focusing on attacking each other, I’d like to keep my eyes on the prize here, which is making sure that Donald Trump is not our president again come November. I have no problem with there being many voices, including people who are really hurting based on what’s going on abroad in Gaza and in Israel.

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read more:

• Haley Stevens on political sugar high at the DNC, top priorities for the state
• ‘Uncommitted’ delegates hold DNC sit-in after refusal to allow Palestinian speaker at convention
• Whitmer shares goals for Democratic Party, Michigan ahead of DNC address

Pro-Palestinian “uncommitted” delegates held a sit-in at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Wednesday, after party leadership refused their request to allow a Palestinian American speak.

Abbas Alawieh, a delegate from Michigan and co-founder of the Uncommitted National Movement, called the decision “shameful.”

“I’m deeply offended that this level of suppression would happen in today’s Democratic Party,” said Alawieh, who told WDET he participated in the sit-in protest all night.

Alawieh says a majority of Democrats want the U.S. to stop providing military aid to Israel, and that ignoring the plight of Palestinians will not stop protesters.

“We’re not going anywhere before November,” he said. “We’re people who mobilize people. We’re movement people. We’re not going anywhere in four years. We’re not going anywhere in eight years.”

“Today I watched my party say our tent can fit anti-choice Republicans, but it can’t fit an elected official like me.”

-Palestinian American Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman

Palestinian American and Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman said during the sit-in on Wednesday that the protest was not just about her being denied a chance to speak.

“It’s about the fact that today I watched my party say our tent can fit anti-choice Republicans, but it can’t fit an elected official like me,” Romman said. “I do not understand.”

The latest polling from Gallup says just 23% of Democrats approve of Israel’s military action in Gaza. The poll, conducted on June 3, 2023, showed 76% of Republicans and 34% of independents approve of the military action Israel has taken in Gaza. Americans’ public backing of Israel has increased slightly since Gallup’s prior reading in March. 

Party officials allowed the parents of a 23-year-old American taken hostage by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attack in Israel to speak at the convention on Wednesday, calling for a ceasefire and for the release of all hostages that remain captive.

“This is a political convention. But needing our only son — and all of the cherished hostages — home is not a political issue. It is a humanitarian issue,” said Jon Polin, whose son Hersh Goldberg-Polin lost part of his left arm and was kidnapped while attending the Supernova music festival in Israel.

Polin and his wife, Rachel Goldberg-Polin, were greeted with chants from the crowd to “bring him home.”

“Hersh, if you can hear us, we love you, stay strong, survive,” Rachel Polin-Goldberg said.

She and her husband wore stickers with the number 320, drawing attention to the number of days their son has been held.

The ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict has leveled much of the Gaza Strip and killed tens of thousands of people, according to Gaza’s health ministry, which does not distinguish in its death count between militants and civilians.

While leaders of the uncommitted movement were granted a panel discussion on Palestinian human rights at the convention on Monday, the decision to exclude Romman from the convention stage was a “crushing” blow to the 36 uncommitted delegates representing the movement — as well as the thousands of pro-Palestinian and anti-war protesters in Chicago this week.

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was among those who called on convention organizers to make space for a Palestinian speaker.

“Just as we must honor the humanity of hostages, so too must we center the humanity of the 40,000 Palestinians killed under Israeli bombardment,” the New York lawmaker wrote on the X platform. “To deny that story is to participate in the dehumanization of Palestinians.”

Multiple pro-Palestinian demonstrators were arrested on Tuesday after clashing with police during a protest that began outside the Israeli consulate and spilled out onto the surrounding streets.

Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday as the United States presses Israel and Hamas to agree to a “bridging proposal” that could lead to a ceasefire in the war in Gaza.

Associated Press writer Jonathan J. Cooper contributed to this report.

Read more:

• DNC hosts first ever panel on Palestinian human rights
• ‘Uncommitted’ delegates at DNC aim to put pressure on Harris’ Gaza policy
• Assessing the impact of the ‘uncommitted’ vote in Michigan

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is set to give a speech in primetime Thursday night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

The governor said she plans to lay out the case for Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris from the perspective of a swing-state governor — focusing her attention on independents and Republicans who are disenchanted with the direction of the GOP.

Whitmer’s national profile has been rising within the Democratic Party since 2020, and she’s been greeted warmly — often loudly — by crowds at events across Chicago this week.

Many other Michiganders have taken the convention stage earlier in the week, including U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain. U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the Democratic U.S. Senate nominee who will face Republican candidate Mike Rogers in November, will also be addressing the convention on Thursday.

I spoke with Gov. Whitmer ahead of her upcoming DNC speech on Thursday evening about the changes happening in the Democratic Party and what she plans to do when her term ends in two years.

Listen: Whitmer shares goals for Democratic Party, Michigan ahead of DNC address 

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Russ McNamara: Mallory McMorrow, Dana Nessel, Elissa Slotkin, yourself all speaking at the DNC — it seems like “those women from Michigan” are well represented at the DNC.

Gretchen Whitmer: I think so. You know, I think this is an exciting time, and we’re so fortunate to have so many prominent leaders that have got an opportunity to talk about our Michigan story. It’s exciting.

RM: How does that all tie in with Vice President Kamala Harris now being at the top of the ticket?

GW: Well, you know what? We are embarking on potentially a big new chapter in this country where women have the opportunity to lead. We’ve seen what can happen when women lead in Michigan — we work together, we solve problems, we work with low ego and just try to get things done. I’m proud to be here with my daughter so that they can see the diversity, the inclusion, the strength and the vision that this leadership is bringing to the country.

RM: How do you reach out to the mythical independent voter, or the people who are on the center right, trying to bring them into the fold — people who are maybe not necessarily happy with Donald Trump, but have voted for him possibly twice at this point?

GW: I think we stay focused on the fundamentals. That’s what unites us. That’s what we’ve done in Michigan. You don’t win an election by almost 11 points without a lot of people crossing over. And I think in large part, it’s because we listen to voters. We ask them, “What do you need?” When people say, “the roads,” we don’t ask are you a Republican or a Democrat? We just know that that’s a Michigan need, and that’s what we focus on. And so we find common ground by focusing on these fundamentals. When Vice President Harris talks about the opportunity economy, she’s not talking about opportunity for some. She’s talking about creating paths to prosperity for all, and that should be something that unites us.

RM: Will we have a united legislature by the time January rolls around? You like your sports analogies…how has it been playing with the lead and having a Democratic-controlled legislature the past two years, and how might that change if Republicans get control of the House?

GW: On my first term, I worked with all Republicans in the legislature leadership, and you know, I am grateful that I’ve got so many great partners in the legislature now we’ve been able to deliver on some really important things — whether it’s free breakfast and lunch for all 1.4 million Michigan kids, or common sense gun safety measures, or simply our climate agenda, or making sure that LGBTQ has full civil rights. This is, I think, a moment where we could see a swing, or maybe not, I’m not sure, but my oath is to the people of Michigan, my oath is to get my job done, and I’m always going to work with whomever is there.

RM: What are the plans for the legislature and your priorities heading into the fall?

GW: Well, you know, obviously a lot of them are going to be on the campaign trail quite a bit, but I want to continue the work that we’ve started with regard to economic development. We are seeing such tremendous growth in bringing supply chains home and advanced manufacturing, but there’s more work we need to do to make sure Michigan remains competitive, and that is at the top of my list.

RM: The SOAR fund — talking about diverting some of that towards public transit — do you see that as a positive, a step in the right direction? Or do you want to continue with the business incentives?

GW: I think it’s important. We’re working with the business community and labor organizations. It’s important that we’re building an economy that will grow — that makes us competitive — and that is about good paying jobs. And so the SOAR fund has been a tool, and R&D tax credit, we know that there are additional investments that we could make if we had some of the sharp skills and tools that other states bring to the table, and that’s why we want to keep honing what tools we have.

RM: You are getting a prominent speaking spot Thursday in front of the convention. You’ve been on a consistent rise over the past four years, ever since the COVID lockdown. You drew the attention of former President Trump. There’s been some sparring through the media, back and forth. Where do you go for here? I know you have two years left in your term…but where is the next step for you? What do you want?

GW: What I want is leaders who get things done, and don’t have a high ego and don’t feed into the divisive politics that I think are really corrosive in American politics today. I want to do this job for the next two years, and I don’t know what happens next, but I am grateful to be the governor of Michigan. I’m proud of the state of Michigan. I love our state and the people who call it home, and that will remain my focus for the next two years, and then maybe I’ll take a breather for a bit.

RM: Do you really want a breather? I know it’s been an intense eight years at that point, and you’ve had to endure more than many governors have. But is now the time to seize some momentum? Or are you just going to need like a gap year?

GW: I don’t know. We’ll see what happens. You know I’ve got three generations of my family in the state of Michigan. I never planned to leave. What public service or what service looks like in the future I cannot conceive of at the moment, but I do think it would be good to take a little bit of time. I’ve always wanted to go out west and see the national parks, just on a trip — not moving — but that’s something that is on my list of things to do in 2027.

RM: You’re a popular person around here at the DNC…do you have that opportunity to go out and be a normal person occasionally? How many concerts have you missed over the last six years because you really couldn’t?

GW: You know what I would love to return to normal life and enjoy my family…but I am grateful. I’m never going to complain about the hardships that come with this job or the opportunities that come with it. This is what I signed up for, even if it’s been a little more than any of us could have conceived six years ago. But I really feel very fortunate to be the governor of Michigan. I’m proud and grateful.

RM: I don’t like gotcha questions, but do you have a lion’s final record prediction?

GW: We’re going to win the Super Bowl. Boom.

Listen to Detroit Public Radio tonight at 9 p.m. for continuing coverage of the DNC.

Rick Pluta from the Michigan Public Radio Network contributed to this report. Use the media player above to listen to the interview with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. 

At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this week, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is taking the opportunity to talk up the city’s plan to use previously blighted spaces as solar farms.

The city of Detroit’s climate strategy calls for a transition to clean renewable energy by 2034. City officials say the Solar Neighborhoods initiative is the first step toward achieving that goal.

The program aims to create 200 acres of solar arrays to generate enough clean energy to power all 127 of the city’s municipal buildings. While the project will not directly affect residents electric bills, Duggan says, the solar farms could potentially cut the city’s power bill by more than 50%.

Three solar farms are expected to be online in the city within the next year.

I was able to speak with Duggan at the convention about the city’s solar project, as well as the future of transit in Michigan and the growing excitement around the new Democratic presidential ticket.

Listen: Duggan talks public transit, city’s solar program at DNC

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Mike Duggan: The U.S. Conference of Mayors has asked me to speak at a number of events for other mayors that relate to climate change, and I think the reason is that the eyes of the country are now on Detroit, with the adoption last month of City Council, the plan to take 200 blighted acres of the city and turn them into solar fields to power all city-owned buildings.

Russ McNamara: Has there been some pushback from residents who would rather have more houses near them than solar fields?

MD: No, the residents were overwhelmingly supportive. That’s how we got this passed. So we allowed the residents of the community to pick the areas they wanted in their areas, basically they have maybe one occupied block per house that weren’t going to be coming back for decades; and the adjoining homeowners who stayed are getting $15,000 a house for energy efficiency upgrades for their houses — new furnaces, new hot water heaters, new windows. And so the community, neighbors came out overwhelmingly for this, and now we’re moving forward.

RM: Has this works in other cities, or is Detroit on the cutting edge?

MD: You’ve had two or three cities that have built solar fields out in farmland, 30-40 [miles] — in Chicago’s case, 200 miles outside of city, which is a step in the right direction. We’re the first city to step up and say, “We don’t need to go build in a farmland in somebody else’s community. Let’s take responsibility for moving off fossil fuels to renewables for city buildings right within our own city. And the people of Detroit have embraced that.

RM: You’ve mentioned the environmentally friendly upgrades. What are the benefits when it comes to the electrical bill of a Detroit resident?

MD: It won’t have a long-term effect on the electric bill. So all that’s going to happen is right now, the city is spending something like eight or $9 million a year to our energy provider to provide the energy. Instead, those costs will be offset somewhat by the renewable energy that we produce, so it will probably come out about the same. This is not necessarily to reduce the energy bill, but this is to have Detroit show that we don’t just have to talk about goals in 2035 or 2050, we’re a city that’s actually taking action on climate change,

RM: Is the city going to be in charge of maintenance?

MD: So we have two providers — one is our local energy provider, DTE, and the second is a Boston-based solar panel company called Lightstar. So each of them will be building about 100 acres of solar fields. They’ll have long-term leases for us, and we will then purchase that energy from them.

RM: What else can the city do to reduce the environmental impact? Because you know, cities — especially one as old as Detroit — are not necessarily built for changing green technology.

MD: No and so we have already converted all of our municipal parking fleet — the people who write your parking tickets — have all been converted over to electric vehicles. Our buses are now being converted to both electric and hydrogen. And the thing that I’m most focused on at the moment is building up a vehicle charging grid, because now we have General Motors with several thousand workers building the electric vehicles at Factory ZERO in Detroit, and they’re saying to me, “we want to make sure that people who buy the new electric vehicles aren’t anxious about whether they’ll be able to charge them.” And so over the next year or so, you’re going to see the city of Detroit build out a network on our main streets of chargers.

RM: I just got done talking with state Sen. Mallory McMorrow. She talked about one of the legislative priorities being changes to the SOAR fund, putting more money towards public transit. Do you see the city of Detroit like being flexible with that and wanting to work with the state to build out new public transit? We’re in Chicago right now where, and all I’ve done is ride the L this week.

MD: Yeah, we are completely supportive of the proposal. I hope they can get it through the legislature. So it’s been frustrating that our legislators haven’t been able to get it passed, but we support it 100%.

RM: Any changes to Detroit public transit?

MD: Again, depends on what version of the bill passes, but in the city what would be very helpful is to add bus rapid transit to have routes with more frequent service with bumped out boarding sites that would go quickly; potentially passing lanes would get you around backups at red lights and the like. So we have a significant plan to expand it, but the legislature has been talking about funding transit for most of my lifetime, so it’d be good if they actually stopped talking about it and passed it.

RM: A Democrat is in control of Oakland County — long gone are the days of L Brooks Patterson. Is this a regional plan, or do you think Detroit might have to go on its own?

MD: Oh, no. Dave Coulter has been a terrific leader on transit. In fact, he and I and Warren Evans — county executive of Wayne County — have been on this plan for quite a while, so we would like nothing better than to see that happen.

RM: You’re a delegate for the Michigan Democratic Party. So are you even kind of getting a little bit of whiplash after everything that’s happened over the past two months?

MD: I think I would say there’s more enthusiasm than anything else. Joe Biden was great for the city of Detroit — I think he was great for the country. But when he made the decision that I think was right for him and right for the country to step aside, there is a different level of excitement and energy and all the stuff that you were hearing from Trump about how Joe Biden is too old, you know now Donald Trump’s the president who can’t hold a press conference without meandering from subject to subject and getting names wrong and facts wrong. So it’ll be a different kind of a campaign, and think we feel very good about Kamala Harris and a lot of Michigan folks feel very good about Tim Walz — somebody that many Midwesterners can identify with.

Use the media player above to listen to the interview with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

Read more:

• Fain at DNC warns of possible strike against Stellantis over delayed plant reopening
• Sen. Mallory McMorrow on her DNC speech, future priorities for the state
• Detroiter at DNC who attended more than a dozen conventions encourages younger generations to tune in

Michigan State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) received some rare time on a national platform Monday night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. 

She talked about one aspect of the Heritage Foundation’s “Project 2025” – the conservative group’s plan for restructuring the U.S. Government, should Donald Trump win another term. 

McMorrow warned that a Trump administration would replace civil servants across a wide swath of the federal government with people that would serve Trump’s interest and not the country’s. 

I caught up with McMorrow after her speech at the Democratic National Convention to talk about her message about Project 2025 and her future priorities for the state.

Listen: McMorrow on her DNC speech, future priorities for the state

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Russ McNamara: How did it come about that you were asked to speak at the Democratic National Convention?

Mallory McMorrow: It was wild. I got a phone call out of the blue a few weeks ago from Julie Rodriguez, the Harris campaign manager, who asked if I would be willing to speak at the convention. The answer was, of course, yes.

RM: The topic, Project 2025 — each night, someone’s going to be breaking down a different part of it. How much control did you have over the messaging? Because you took what could be a dry subject and put a little life into it.

MM: We did it could potentially be a really dry subject. So they pitched me on the topic, but I worked really closely with a speechwriter on how we were going to present it, because my whole thing is, we have to explain things to people in regular, common language, like you talk to your friend at a bar.

RM: You’ve had a couple of your floor speeches go viral. You’ve got over 250,000 Twitter (X) followers, it seems like, for the past, at least six weeks, the Democratic Party is really trying to reach out to younger voters. Do you see that the National Democratic Party is kind of realizing that you have a different touch, and can really bring in that demographic from early 20s to mid 30s.

MM: Absolutely, I think looking at the lineup that we saw on night one, you had everybody from Maxine Waters to the President of the United States to Kamala making a surprise appearance, to me, to AOC, who, a couple of years ago, you know, was an outsider and not considered the norm in the Democratic Party. And I think that they’ve done a really fantastic job of recognizing to be a big tent party you have to present your big tent. And I think that they did that last night, and it’s really cool to be a part of
it.

RM: What are your overall aspirations? I know it’s early, you still have one more Senate term to go, potentially barring reelection. But what do you want?

MM: I really love communication — shocker — and helping other people figure out how to do this work themselves. Something that I really, really enjoy is joining advocacy calls, running trainings, helping other people learn how to tell a story and advocate at school board meetings. So I don’t entirely know what that looks like, but I love this work, and I want to keep going as long as I can.

RM: Is that political office, or is this leadership of some sort within a Democratic Party or a nonprofit?

MM: I think there’s a lot of doors open. We’ll see what’s next.

RM: Nuts and Bolts question, what are the priorities for this fall?

MM: We’ve got a lot to do this fall. We’ve got potentially a school supplemental to get done. I know that working with a lot of our school groups on some of the funds that we had last year with the influx of COVID-19 dollars for things like school counselors and public safety are a key priority for us to try to get done. And then for me, the big thing is SOAR reform, we got really, really close before the budget on investing $200 million in transit annually, on housing, on downtown development. I think there’s a path, and I want to try to get it done this fall.

RM: Is it feasible and is there any room in the calendar for another look at car insurance?

MM: I think we have to, you know, the fact that we’ve now lost people from the no fault reform, who lost their care, who have since died. I mean, it’s just devastating to realize that this is fixable, and it just takes the political will to do it. So the fixed bills have been stalled out in the House. I know the House is going to be worried about this being an election year, but this is just common sense to get it done and to save people’s lives.

RM: How much does all of this get put on hold if there is a change in the House after the election?

MM: You know, something that’s been interesting about no fault reform is we have had bipartisan support. We had it last term. We’ve had it this term, I think, particularly in the metro Detroit area — inclusive of Macomb County, outer Oakland County — we have legislators who see their constituents directly impacted by this. So I think that regardless of what happens this fall, there’s going to be a path.

Use the media player above to listen to the full interview.

This spring, Donald Trump had an advantage he couldn’t achieve in 2020 when he was running for reelection – a lead in the polls.

Buoyed by the lingering effects of two years of high inflation under the Biden Administration, polling in April, May and June consistently trended toward Trump. 

That could be why Biden’s campaign agreed to the earliest debate in presidential election history. But that attempt to flip the script did not go well — as calls for the 81-year-old incumbent to step aside only grew louder following his poor debate performance in June, during which he trailed off several times and gave multiple nonsensical answers. The questions surrounding the president’s age and viability were answered for many by the end of the night.

Behind the scenes, some Democrats immediately started to panic and worked to get the president to step down from the ticket. However, he kept campaigning, and Biden’s many supporters and defenders in the media sprang to his defense. 

On July 12, Biden came to Detroit for a rousing rally where he was met with supporters chanting “don’t you quit!” He was animated at the event, seeming to feed off of the crowd’s energy, and insisted he was staying in the race. 

“I’m running and we’re going to win,” he told the crowd.

Covering the rally that day, there seemed little chance that Biden would drop out.

The media momentum from that event was short-lived, though, as media attention rightfully focused the very next day on an the attempted assassination of Trump at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. The assassin’s bullet narrowly missed killing Trump, grazing his ear and drawing blood. One spectator died and two others were wounded in the shooting. 

The Republican National Convention took place in Milwaukee the following week. Trump announced his running mate – Ohio Senator JD Vance – and then he formally accepted the party’s nomination in a long speech on July 18. 

On the convention floor, Michigan GOP Delegate Bethany Wheeler said it was an emotional moment as Trump recalled the attempt on his life. 

“Just the emotion in the beginning, when he was talking about how serious everything was, it was very powerful,” Wheeler said. “You really remembering that was five days ago.” 

Three days later, Biden was out, and after some hurried discussions the party proceeded to make Vice President Kamala Harris the only candidate for the Democratic nomination — turning the presidential election on its head.

Michigan Congresswoman Debbie Dingell says she could sense the immediate sea change.

“There’s no question that there’s a new energy out there. You saw it in the rally when Vice President Harris made her first appearance in Michigan after having announced Governor Walz,” said Dingell. “You see it in the, when we organize and have kickoffs for door knocking and telephone banks, and you just see it when you’re out in the community at events, people come up and want to talk about it. They’re excited, and that’s good.” 

Dingell was the canary in the coal mine in 2016 – warning the Hillary Clinton campaign – and any other Democrat who would listen that Michigan was in play. 

“In 2016 I was in union halls, and I heard how people felt about trade and their jobs having been shipped overseas,” she said. “I hear an energy that I haven’t, quite frankly, seen in a while.” 

Listen: Support for Harris surging in key swing states ahead of DNC, polls show

United Auto Workers Region 1-A Director Laura Dickerson agrees.

“I had an opportunity in this region to walk the picket line with President Joe Biden, just down the street from here, and so we appreciate all that he’s done. But the biggest thing that he did, he stepped aside for this country, and he’s ignited a movement with Kamala Harris,” said Dickerson.

At the recent Harris-Walz rally at Detroit Metro Airport, Dingell made her thoughts clear.

“We got a lot of work to do. I feel a lot better than I did in 2016 at this time,” she said. “Donald Trump, you’re not going to win Michigan.”

For now, the polling supports that trend. 

“We are really seeing a completely different race up and down these critical swing states,” said Jessica Taylor, senate and governors editor for The Cook Political Report. “In our last polling in May, Trump was leading in every single swing state, and now Harris is either leading or tied in every swing state, except for Nevada.” 

Harris currently has a three-point lead on Trump in Michigan. That’s a five-point swing since May. The switch to the vice president has also opened up more paths to victory in the electoral college, according to Taylor. 

“But I mean, Michigan was a must-win for President Biden, I think you know, he was really down to the only plausible path he had was winning those blue wall states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania,” said Taylor. “But now Harris, she’s competitive once again in Georgia and North Carolina and Arizona. So I think it opens up the map. So Michigan is not a must win, but you would absolutely like to have it.” 

Democratic voters are still in the honeymoon phase, and it’s possible this week’s Democratic National Convention could extend that bump. Dickerson says Harris – with her close ties to organized labor – can sustain that momentum. 

“I’m telling you, our membership is excited. They’re energized. They’re ready to go and support Kamala Harris,” she said.

In 2020, Biden defeated Trump in Michigan by 150,000 votes. Harris was on the ticket, but she wasn’t in the spotlight. With an improving economy and without the baggage of age, will voters connect with her like they did with Biden four years ago? Given the roller coaster of the past two months, Nov. 5 is both a short time for Harris to make her case, and a long way off. 

Read more:

• Dingell sees wave of excitement, protests coming at Democratic National Convention
• Favorable views of Kamala Harris have risen this summer heading into the DNC, AP-NORC poll shows
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Former President Donald Trump enjoyed a two-point lead in Michigan back in May, but things have changed dramatically in the race for the White House.

Trump — who survived an assassination attempt last month — saw his momentum slowed by a change on the Democratic ticket. President Joe Biden dropping out of the race and Democrats coalescing around Vice President Kamala Harris changed everything.

In polling conducted by The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter the last week of July through the first days of August, Harris now leads in every swing state except Nevada.

In Michigan, Harris has a three-point lead — which marks a five-point swing away from Trump.

Cook Political Editor of U.S. Senate & Governors, Jessica Taylor, says the vibe shift over the past month has been remarkable.

“I remember being at the Republican National Convention not even a month ago,” Taylor says. “It really felt like a coronation for Donald Trump, and that this race felt over, really, and now it is a true toss up once again. Harris is in the fight in swing states where I think the Biden campaign had already ceded things.”

As far as any potential bump from next week’s Democratic National Convention, Taylor says it’s possible Harris has already hit her high water mark.

“I think she’s had a honeymoon period,” Taylor says. “I do think the DNC could extend that and she could get a bump out of it. But given the topsy turvy election cycle we’ve had over the past month and a half, who knows what’s going to happen?”

In the race for Michigan’s open U.S. Senate seat, Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin has an eight-point advantage over Republican Mike Rogers. However, Rogers has likely suffered from his time away from politics — and having a significant disadvantage in fundraising.

“I think it’s Rogers that has the possibility to gain if he continues to spend and reintroduce himself,” Taylor says. “Trump is at 46% he’s at 42% so he’s running behind where Trump is. So really, Trump could help him in that regard.”

Members of the United Auto Workers union got up close with the Democratic presidential ticket at a union hall in Wayne on Thursday.

Joined by Democratic vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris told a group of about 150 UAW members that the government should be staying out of their lives.

“We want to recognize the right all people have to freedom and liberty to make choices, especially those that are about heart and home and not have their government telling them what to do,” said Harris.

The event was held at UAW Local 900 — across the street from the Ford Stamping Plant in Wayne. Shauna Lewis, a worker at the Ford plant, says former President Donald Trump’s past actions shows he doesn’t care about the working class.

“It says a lot when we are on strike, and our former president came to Michigan, visited an Assembly Plant that doesn’t even have a union — that spoke volumes,” she said.

Harris did not take questions from reporters at the event, but did respond to a shouted question that she will debate Trump in September.

Trump spoke for more than an hour on Thursday in his first news conference since Harris became the Democratic nominee, confirming that he will debate Harris on Sept. 10 and saying he’d be pushing for two more debates. He also made several false claims throughout the news conference and called Harris “stupid” several times.

UAW President Shawn Fain says the vice president shouldn’t sweat it.

“Well, he calls me stupid too, so I say that’s just normal Donald Trump,” said Fain.

Harris told rallygoers in Wayne that the Republican nominee is only running for president to serve his own interests.

During his speech on Thursday, Walz — who was one of the union’s top choices for Harris’ running mate — said another Trump administration would be a threat to workers.

“One of the goals of that, plain and simple. And they know this, this has been going on forever. Get rid of labor unions and get rid of the voices that we bring. They can do whatever the hell they want then.”

Donald Trump has said — and his campaign continues to claim — that no president has done more for auto workers that him.

Read more:

• Harris and Walz meet with ‘uncommitted’ leaders, union members during Detroit campaign stop
• Vance pushes immigration and crime heavy message in Macomb County

Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz continued their Presidential campaign with a rally at Detroit Metro Airport on Wednesday.

The campaign, still in its infancy, drew a crowd of about 15,000 to the airplane hangar – mostly members of the United Auto Workers and other supporters. While addressing the crowd, Harris was interrupted by protesters opposed to Israel’s war in Gaza with Hamas. At first, Harris said to those trying to disrupt her, “I am here because I believe in democracy, and everybody’s voice matters.”

But Harris lost patience as the shouting continued, with protesters accusing her of supporting genocide in Gaza. That led her to deliver a sharper rejoinder.

“You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that,” she said, talking over the protesters. “Otherwise, I’m speaking.”

Uncommitted National Movement founders Layla Elabed and Abbas Alawieh both had an opportunity to speak briefly with Harris and Walz at the rally.

The two Uncommitted leaders each shared their concerns about the U.S. supplying weapons to Israel, and requested a formal meeting with Harris to further discuss their demands of an arms embargo and a permanent ceasefire.

The vice president shared her sympathies and expressed an openness to a meeting with Uncommitted leaders to discuss an arms embargo.

“Michigan voters want to support you, but we need a policy that will save lives in Gaza right now.”

— Uncommitted National Movement Co-founder Layla Elabed

During her exchange with Harris, Elabed broke down in tears and said: “I’m Palestinian, I’m a founder of Uncommitted. Michigan voters want to support you, but we need a policy that will save lives in Gaza right now. I meet with community members every day in Michigan who are losing tens and hundreds of family members in Gaza. Right now, we need an arms embargo. Will you meet with us to talk about an arms embargo?”

Alawieh, who is also a DNC delegate, told the vice president he appreciated her leadership and wanted to support her, but “voters need to see you turn a new page on Gaza policy that includes embracing an arms embargo to save lives.”

Shortly after her remarks Wednesday, Harris won the backing of Assad I. Turfe, the deputy Wayne County executive, who is the highest ranking Arab American official in Michigan’s largest county. Turfe told The Associated Press that he spoke with Harris backstage at the event before his endorsement.

“Kamala Harris embodies the America we deserve – an America that stands for strength, inclusivity and unwavering commitment to justice,” Turfe said in a statement. “I wholeheartedly endorse Kamala Harris, as she represents the true spirit of our nation and the values we hold dear.”

Turfe also pressed the need for a ceasefire, but said that Harris “gives us the best chance of achieving peace in that region moving forward.”

Over 40,000 civilians have been killed in Israel’s ongoing military action in Gaza. The Uncommitted movement started in Michigan and spread nationwide during the Presidential Primary process as a way for voters to show displeasure with President Joe Biden’s continued support of Israel.

Speaking at a news conference in Dearborn on Wednesday, Elabed said continuing to support Israel is anti-democratic when polling has shown most Americans want a ceasefire.

“So we will continue pressuring the Biden administration to do the moral thing and to also carry out the core tenets of the Democratic Party that currently do not align with this U.S. policy, Gaza policy as it stands,” she said.

There will be 30 Uncommitted delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago later this month.

During her speech, Harris touched on the successes of the Biden Administration – including the CHIPS Act that aimed to bolster electric vehicle production. That drew applause from the scores of union members in the crowd.

Harris also tried to highlight the differences between her campaign and that of former President Donald Trump.

“What kind of country do we want to live in, a country of freedom, compassion and rule of law, or a country of chaos, fear and hate?”

However, when the crowd started chanting “Lock Him Up”… Harris shut that down.

“Here’s the thing, the courts are gonna handle that,” she told the crowd. “We’re gonna beat him in November.”

‘Lock Her Up’ has been a familiar refrain at Trump rallies dating back to his first campaign against Hillary Clinton. Trump is still facing sentencing in New York after being convicted of 34 counts of fraud.

Walz, a former teacher and National Guardsman, criticized Trump’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We had the worst crisis of a generation, and he froze during COVID,” he said. “People lost their lives because of that.”

Walz’ strong support from organized labor was reportedly a factor in Harris’ decision to pick him as a running mate.

During his speech at the rally, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain talked about class warfare between workers and the rich, as well as the union’s successes — referencing the union’s strike at General Motors plants five years ago.

”Donald Trump said nothing, and Donald Trump did nothing to help auto workers,” said Fain. “You want to know where Kamala Harris was in 2019? she was on the picket line for striking workers.”

The union had backed President Joe Biden, but held off on endorsing Harris until doing so last week. Fain had pushed the Harris campaign to select Governor Walz, saying the 2024 presidential election was a way for people to strike back against “the billionaire class.”

“This is our generation’s defining moment, and this election is our opportunity to take our lives back,” said Fain. “So Michigan, let’s get to work.”

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer also spoke at the rally on Wednesday, telling the crowd that Walz is “the real deal. He’s the only governor I know who curses more than I do, and I have a feeling that’s about to change.”

Whitmer — who did not make the short list of possible vice president nominees on the Democratic ticket and denied any interest in leaving Michigan — also told rally goers not to put their faith in Trump.

“We cannot trust Donald Trump, and we must make sure he does not get back into the White House,” she said. “I mean, think about it, you wouldn’t buy a used car from this guy. How can you expect him to support the auto industry?”

Sen. J.D. Vance made his own stops in Michigan and Wisconsin on Wednesday, intent on showing that Republicans will compete in the “blue wall” of Midwestern states. He called Walz a “crazy radical” and said that Harris’ decision to pick him as a running mate shows that she “bends the knee to the far left of the Democratic Party.”

Harris and Walz are meeting with more local UAW members in metro Detroit on Thursday.

Associated Press writers Darlene Superville and Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.