The Abandon Harris Campaign launched on Thursday in Dearborn as a continuation of the Abandon Biden Campaign.

Subscribe to the Detroit Evening Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

The campaign aims to change the policies of Vice President Kamala Harris regarding Israel’s ongoing military action in Gaza — seeking a permanent ceasefire and an arms embargo.

Michigan Co-chair Farah Khan says the Abandon Harris campaign is looking for actual policies, not just words and inaction.

“We will hold the Harris Biden administration accountable for their role in this atrocity,” Khan said at a press event outside the Henry Ford Centennial Library in Dearborn on Thursday. “Accountability means more than words. It means actions. We must be clear — they have had their chance, and they have failed us.”

Listen: Interview with Farah Khan, co-chair of Abandon Harris for Michigan

The Gaza Health Ministry reports that over 41,000 Palestinian civilians have been killed and more than 95,000 injured during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza since Oct. 7 — the day Hamas-led militants killed 1,200 people in Israel, taking 250 hostages.

Campaign leaders say the Abandon Harris movement is active in at least nine states — including swing states like Michigan. Dr. Hassan Abdel Salam, national co-chair of the campaign, says they are asking voters not to vote for either party’s candidate.

“Our vote is magnanimous,” Salam said. “It’s a moment for democracy to triumph, for us to change the political landscape.”

The campaign plans to endorse a third party candidate soon.

Reporting by Nargis Rahman, WDET

Other headlines for Friday, Sept. 13, 2024:

• Henry Ford Hospital held a groundbreaking on Thursday for its $2.2 billion Detroit campus expansion, anchored by a new 1.2 million-square-foot hospital facility on the south side of West Grand Boulevard
• The city of Detroit’s Youth Affairs Team and Detroit ACE are hosting an artist showcase on Friday, Sept. 20, called “Young, Gifted and Woke.”
• Usher’s Past Present and Future Tour is continuing its run through the Motor City Friday at Little Caesars Arena. On his way there he stopped by the Boys and Girls Club of Detroit to help highlight the lack of access some youth have across the country to quality after-school programs.

Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.

In their first and perhaps only debate, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris described the state of the country in distinctly different ways. As the two traded jabs, some old false and misleading claims emerged along with some new ones.

Here’s a look.

Trump overstates his economic record

TRUMP: “I created one of the greatest economies in the history of our country. … They’ve destroyed the economy.”

THE FACTS: This is an exaggeration. The economy grew much faster under Presidents Bill Clinton and Ronald Reagan than it did under Trump. The broadest measure of economic growth, gross domestic product, rose 4% a year for four straight years under Clinton. The fastest growth under Trump was 3% in 2018. The economy shrank 2.2% in 2020, at the end of Trump’s presidency. And a higher proportion of American adults had jobs under Clinton than under Trump. During the Biden-Harris administration, the economy expanded 5.8% in 2021, though much of that reflected a bounce-back from COVID.

Trump’s record on manufacturing jobs examined

HARRIS: “We have created over 800,000 manufacturing jobs. … Donald Trump said he was going to create manufacturing jobs. He lost manufacturing jobs.”

THE FACTS: Those statements are missing context.

There were 12,188,000 manufacturing employees in the U.S. when Biden took office in January 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Preliminary numbers for August 2024 put that number at 12,927,000. That’s a difference of 739,000 — close to the 800,000 number Harris has cited.

Also of note is the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The number of manufacturing employees dropped steeply in April 2020, by more than 1.3 million. Discounting that decline, there were only 206,000 more manufacturing employees in August than there were in March 2020, prior to the pandemic.

Inflation has gone down

TRUMP: “They had the highest inflation perhaps in the history of our country, because I’ve never seen a worse period of time.”

THE FACTS: While praising the strength of the economy under his presidency, Donald Trump misstated the inflation rate under Biden. Inflation peaked at 9.1% in June 2022 after rising steadily in the first 17 months of Biden’s presidency from a low of 0.1% in May 2020. It’s now seeing a downward trend. The most recent data shows that as of July it had fallen to 2.9%. Other historical periods have seen higher inflation, which hit more than 14% in 1980, according to the Federal Reserve.

Trump has distanced himself from Project 2025

HARRIS: “What you’re going to hear tonight is a detailed and dangerous plan called Project 2025 that the former president intends on implementing if he were elected again.”

THE FACTS: Trump has said he doesn’t know about Project 2025, a controversial blueprint for another Republican presidential administration.

The plan was written up by many of his former aides and allies, but Trump has never said he’ll implement the roughly 900-page guide if he’s elected again. He has said it’s not related to his campaign.

Trump on abortions ‘after birth’

TRUMP: “Her vice presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. He also says execution after birth, it’s execution, no longer abortion, because the baby is born, is okay.”

THE FACTS: Walz has said no such thing. Infanticide is criminalized in every state, and no state has passed a law that allows killing a baby after birth.

Abortion rights advocates say terms like “late-term abortions” attempt to stigmatize abortions later in pregnancy. Abortions later in pregnancy are exceedingly rare. In 2020, less than 1% of abortions in the United States were performed at or after 21 weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Trump’s taxing and spending plan examined

HARRIS: “What the Wharton School has said is Donald Trump’s plan would actually explode the deficit.”

THE TRUTH: The Penn-Wharton Budget Model did find that Trump’s tax and spending plans would significantly expand the deficit by $5.8 trillion over ten years. But it also found that Harris’ plans would increase the deficit by $1.2 trillion over the same period.

Harris’ record on fracking examined

TRUMP: “If she won the election, fracking in Pennsylvania will end on Day 1.”

THE FACTS: Trump’s statement ignores the fact that without a law approved by Congress, a president can only ban fracking on federal lands.

The federal government owns about 2% of Pennsylvania’s total land, and it is not clear how much of that is suitable for oil or gas drilling.

Republicans have criticized Harris for “flip-flopping” on the issue, noting that Harris said in the 2020 campaign that she opposed fracking, a drilling technique that is widely used in Pennsylvania and other states.

Harris has since said repeatedly that she won’t ban fracking if elected, and she reiterated that in Tuesday’s debate.

Trump shares inflated numbers around migrants and crime

TRUMP: “When you look at these millions and millions of people that are pouring into our country monthly — whereas, I believe, 21 million people, not the 15 people say, and I think it’s a lot higher than the 21 — that’s bigger than New York State … and just look at what they’re doing to our country. They’re criminals, many of these people are criminals, and that’s bad for our economy too.”

FACTS: Trump’s figures are wildly inflated. The Border Patrol made 56,408 arrests of people crossing the border illegally from Mexico in July, the latest monthly figure available. Since Biden took office, the Border Patrol made about 7.1 million border arrests, though the number of people is considerably lower because many of those arrests were repeat crossers.

The Biden administration also permitted legal entry for about 765,000 people on an online app called CBP One at land crossings in Mexico through July. It allowed another 520,000 from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela to come by air with financial sponsors. Additionally, an unknown number of people crossed the border illegally and eluded capture.

That doesn’t come close to “millions and millions of people” monthly. …. It is also unproven that “many of these people are criminals.”

There have been high-profile, heinous crimes committed by immigrants. But FBI statistics do not separate out crimes by the immigration status of the assailant, nor is there any evidence of a spike in crime perpetrated by migrants. In 1931, the Wickersham Commission did not find any evidence supporting a connection between immigration and increased crime, and many studies since then have reached similar conclusions.

Trump repeats false claims that noncitizens are being sought to vote

TRUMP: “A lot of these illegal immigrants coming in, they’re trying to get them to vote. They can’t even speak English. They don’t even know what country they’re in practically and these people are trying to get them to vote, and that’s why they’re allowing them to come into our country.”

THE FACTS: In recent months, Trump and other Republicans have been repeating the baseless claim that Democrats want migrants to come into the country illegally so they will vote.

There’s no evidence for this, nor is there any evidence that noncitizens illegally vote in significant numbers in this country.

Voting by people who are not U.S. citizens already is illegal in federal elections. It can be punishable by fines, prison time and even deportation. While noncitizens have cast ballots, studies show it’s incredibly rare, and states regularly audit their voter lists to remove ineligible voters from the rolls.

Trump’s comments suggest that not speaking English is somehow prohibitive for voting in the U.S. — and that’s also not the case. In fact, the Voting Rights Act requires certain states to provide election materials in other languages depending on the voting-age population’s needs.

Trump misrepresents crime statistics

TRUMP, criticizing the Biden administration: “Crime is through the roof.”

THE FACTS: In fact, FBI data has shown a downward trend in violent crime since a coronavirus pandemic spike. Violent crime surged during the pandemic, with homicides increasing nearly 30% in 2020 over the previous year — the largest one-year jump since the FBI began keeping records

Violent crime was down 6% in the last three months of 2023 compared with the same period the year before, according to FBI data released in March. Murders were down 13%. New FBI statistics released in June show the overall violent crime rate declined 15% in the first three months of 2024 compared to the same period last year. One expert has cautioned, however, that those 2024 figures are preliminary and may overstate the actual reduction in crime.

Trump endorses false rumor about immigrants eating pets

TRUMP: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs, the people that came in, they’re eating the cats… They’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”

THE FACTS: There’s no evidence to support the claim, which Trump and his campaign have used to argue immigrants are committing crimes at a higher rate than others.

Authorities in Ohio have said there are no credible or detailed reports to support Trump’s claim.

Jobs created under the Biden administration

TRUMP: “Just like their number of 818,000 jobs that they said they created turned out to be a fraud.”

THE FACTS: This is a mischaracterization of the government’s process of counting jobs. Every year the Labor Department issues a revision of the number of jobs added in a 12-month period from April through March in the previous year. The adjustment is made because the government’s initial job counts are based on surveys of businesses. The revision is then based on actual job counts from unemployment insurance files that are compiled later. The revision is compiled by career government employees with little involvement by politically appointed officials.

National Guard soldiers on Jan. 6

TRUMP, speaking about the Jan. 6 insurrection: “I said I’d like to give you 10,000 National Guard or soldiers. They rejected me. Nancy Pelosi rejected me.”

THE FACTS: That’s false. Pelosi does not direct the National Guard.

Further, as the Capitol came under attack, she and then-Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell called for military assistance, including from the National Guard.

The Capitol Police Board makes the decision on whether to call National Guard troops to the Capitol. It is made up of the House Sergeant at Arms, the Senate Sergeant at Arms and the Architect of the Capitol.

The board decided not to call the guard ahead of the insurrection but did eventually request assistance after the rioting had already begun, and the troops arrived several hours later.

There is no evidence that either Pelosi or McConnell directed the security officials not to call the guard beforehand.

Trump falsely claims China is building ‘massive’ auto plants in Mexico

TRUMP: “They’re building big auto plants in Mexico, in many cases owned by China.”

THE FACTS: It’s not the first time Trump has claimed the Biden administration is allowing Chinese automakers to build factories just across the border in Mexico.

At present, though, industry experts say they know of no such plants under construction, and there’s only one small Chinese auto assembly factory operating in Mexico. It’s run by a company called JAC that builds inexpensive vehicles from kits for sale in that country.

Trump falsely claims evidence shows he won in 2020

TRUMP: “There’s so much proof. All you have to do is look at it.”

THE FACTS: The election was not stolen. The authorities who have reviewed the election — including Trump’s own attorney general — have concluded the election was fair.

Biden’s victory over Trump in 2020 was not particularly close. He won the Electoral College with 306 votes to Trump’s 232, and the popular vote by more than seven million ballots. Recounts in key states affirmed Biden’s victory, and lawsuits challenging the results were unsuccessful.

Trump claims Putin endorsed Harris

TRUMP: “Putin endorsed her last week, said ‘I hope she wins.’”

THE FACTS: Russian President Vladimir Putin did wryly claim last week that Harris was his preferred candidate, but intelligence officials have dismissed the comment as not serious.

U.S. intelligence agencies have said Russia favors Trump, who has openly praised Putin, suggested cutting funds to Ukraine and repeatedly criticized the NATO military alliance.

Harris takes Trump’s ‘bloodbath’ comment out of context

HARRIS: “Donald Trump, the candidate, has said in this election there will be a bloodbath if this and the outcome of this election is not to his liking. Let’s turn the page on that.”

THE FACTS: Trump delivered the line at a speech in March in Ohio in which he was talking about the impact of offshoring on the American auto industry and his plans to increase tariffs on foreign-made cars. It was in reference to the auto industry that he warned of a “bloodbath” if his proposals aren’t enacted.

“If I don’t get elected, it’s going to be a bloodbath for the whole — that’s going to be the least of it. It’s going to be a bloodbath for the country,” Trump said.

Trump inflates numbers around new military equipment left in Afghanistan

TRUMP, on the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan: “We wouldn’t have left $85 billion worth of brand new, beautiful military equipment behind.”

THE FACTS: That number is significantly inflated, according to reports from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, or SIGAR, which oversees American taxpayer money spent on the conflict.

The $85 billion figure resembles a number from a July 30 quarterly report from SIGAR, which outlined that the U.S. has invested about $83 billion to build, train and equip Afghan security forces since 2001. That funding included troop pay, training, operations and infrastructure along with equipment and transportation over two decades, according to SIGAR reports and Dan Grazier, a defense policy analyst at the Project on Government Oversight.

Only about $18 billion of that sum went toward equipping Afghan forces between 2002 and 2018, a June 2019 SIGAR report showed.

No one knows the exact value of the U.S.-supplied Afghan equipment the Taliban have secured, defense officials have confirmed it is significant.

Trump misrepresents key facts of the Central Park Five case

TRUMP: “They admitted, they said they pled guilty and I said, ’well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately … And they pled guilty, then they pled not guilty.”

THE FACTS: Trump misstated key details of the case while defending a newspaper ad he placed about two weeks after the April 1989 attack in which he called for bringing back the death penalty. Trump wrongly stated that the victim was killed and that the wrongly accused suspects had pleaded guilty.

Trump appeared to be confusing guilty pleas with confessions that the men — teenagers at the time — said they made to police under duress. They later recanted, pleaded not guilty in court and were convicted after jury trials. Their convictions were vacated in 2002 after another person confessed to the crime.

The victim, Trisha Meili, was in a coma for 12 days after the attack but ultimately survived. She testified in court against the wrongly accused suspects, who are now known as the Exonerated Five. In 2002, Matias Reyes confessed to the crime and said he was the lone assailant. DNA testing matched Reyes to the attack, but because of the statute of limitations he could not be charged in connection with it.

Associated Press writers Melissa Goldin, David Klepper, Ali Swenson, Matthew Daly, Chris Rugaber and Tom Krisher contributed to this story.

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled Monday that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s name will be on the state’s presidential ballot.

This appears to settle the legal battle and allows local clerks to start printing absentee ballots to mail to overseas and military voters. Kennedy is the nominee of the Natural Law Party of Michigan. But he tried to remove his name from the ballot after suspending his campaign and endorsing former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.

The case pitted Kennedy against election officials in the Secretary of State’s office who determined Kennedy flouted Michigan’s deadlines and election standards.

The order in the case was unsigned but in written statements, there was clearly a division between justices nominated by the Democratic and Republican parties.

Justice Elizabeth Welch, who was nominated by Democrats, wrote in a concurring statement that Kennedy had plenty of time to withdraw and his late exit left the Natural Law Party of Michigan without a nominee after Kennedy sought and accepted the convention nomination.

“Plaintiff waited more than four months before asking defendant to remove his name from the ballot. When plaintiff made his request, defendant faced a deadline for ballot printing that was two weeks away,” she wrote. “Additionally, the Natural Law Party, which opposed plaintiff’s efforts to remove himself from the ballot, had no opportunity to field a candidate and faced considerable prejudice.”

In a dissenting opinion, two Republican-nominated justices said the decision will only add to election turmoil.

“The ballots printed as a result of the Court’s decision will have the potential to confuse the voters, distort their choices, and pervert the true popular will and affect the outcome of the election,” said Justices Brian Zahra and David Viviano. “In short, the Court’s ruling will do nothing to rebuild the public’s trust in the fairness and accuracy of our elections.”

There was some urgency to the case since the deadline to finalize ballots was last week so absentee ballots can be sent to military and overseas voters.

A court majority also ruled in a separate, unsigned opinion, that a paperwork error on petitions will not bar academic and activist Cornel West from the Michigan presidential ballot as an independent.

Those planning to vote in-person during the general election this fall may be presented with a unique variety of “I Voted” sticker designs created by Michiganders.

The Michigan Department of State announced Wednesday it has selected nine winning designs from the state’s first ever “I Voted” sticker design contest, which will be made available for clerks to hand out to voters at the polls on Nov. 5.

Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson congratulated contest winners in a news release issued Wednesday, adding that she was “overwhelmed by the enthusiasm and creativity from the people of our great state.”

“Now,” she says, “let’s use the same energy in casting a vote this November. I encourage every eligible voter to make a plan now to have your voice heard – vote with an absentee ballot, at an early voting site, or on Election Day – and feel proud to wear a sticker designed by a fellow Michigander.” 

More than 480 designs were submitted during the contest, which launched in May, and over 57,700 public votes were cast for the winners, according to the state.

Three winning designs were selected from three separate categories: elementary/middle school (grades K-8), high school (grades 9-12), and general entry — open to Michigan residents of all ages.

Submissions received were narrowed down to 25 semifinalists from each category by the Michigan Collegiate Student Advisory Task Force before the contest opened up for a public vote.  

Check out the winning designs from each category in the photo gallery below.

For more information about voting and elections in Michigan, visit michigan.gov/vote. 

As polls and political pundits work to predict the still evolving presidential race, an expert in Michigan says if the vote is close, one group “could potentially decide the state.”

Erick Gonzalez Jeunke is a political analyst specializing in Latinx politics at Michigan State University. In an interview with the Michigan Public Radio Network, he said the state’s 400,000 eligible Latinos voters could hold the key to winning in Michigan, if the campaigns reach out to them.

Listen: Political analyst says Michigan Latino voters ‘could potentially decide the state’

This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Michelle Jokisch Polo, WKAR News: In 2020 Joe Biden won the presidential election in Michigan by fewer than 200,000 votes. With more than 300,000 eligible Latino voters in Michigan, this group could prove vital in the state. How are parties engaging this voting bloc?

Erick Gonzalez Jeunke: I haven’t seen a lot of engagement for specifically this voting block. What that means is what they should have been doing and what I haven’t seen a lot of, but a lot of this happens behind the scenes, obviously, are registration drives. One of the gaps for Latino voters nationally, and then of course here in Michigan, is not just turning out to vote, but being registered to vote. A large part of that gap — about 70% of eligible voters — are even registered to vote. And so that’s part of the big gap. I mean, this is one of the lingering things, if you account for that, once you just look at registered voters, Latinos turn out at about the same rates as other groups, but the gap is really in getting individuals registered to vote. So that requires a lot of work, that requires the parties caring about these voters. Now when we get into this part of the season, a lot of the parties both nationally and here in Michigan, either leave that up to other groups, or they say, ‘look, we have limited resources. We can’t go out and mobilize people who aren’t registered.’ So a lot of that work takes place in the years and months that lead up to these elections.

MJP: This time around, it seems that there may have been fewer young democrats showing up to vote like they did in 2020, in the state primary election. Why do you think this is and tell us about the young Latino vote in November?

EGJ: I think it’s probably due to a not very competitive set of federal races, and then earlier in the year, a not very competitive presidential primary. But it’s also just an enthusiasm gap. We’re right in the middle of seeing this change with the change at the top of the ticket from Biden to Harris. I was just looking at some national polling data today, and what’s happening here in the Midwest and in Michigan is that Harris has seemed to have activated — particularly younger voters’ — enthusiasm about this race. So paying attention, getting excited, and that excitement turns into actual voting. It can turn into knocking on doors. It can turn into working for the campaign. So it’s still a little bit early to see what the overall effect of this is, but the early signs indicate that a change at the top of the ticket may reverse some of this lack of enthusiasm that we saw in the primaries, and particularly for younger Latinos.

MJP: How important do you think the Latino voting bloc is for the state’s general election?

EGJ: It depends how close the race is. It could potentially decide the state, and yet that depends on if the parties do the work to mobilize and get Latinos who aren’t registered, registered to get folks to turn out. So unfortunately, we won’t know until after the election. And it comes down to how close is Michigan actually going to be? It’s looking a lot less close than it did a month ago. But things could change, and we could go back to a really close race, if I had to put money on it right now, that it’s probably not going to be as close as we thought it was a month ago. But if it’s close, the Latino vote could be really, really important, and the Democratic and  Republican parties could say, ‘boy, we really should have done more work to mobilize Latino voters in Michigan, because we could have taken it.’ And I think both parties would say the same thing about Pennsylvania andWisconsin.

Use the media player above to hear the full interview with Erick Gonzalez Jeunke, political analyst specializing in Latinx politics at Michigan State University.

The presidential election is a few months away, and American Muslim voters are weighing out their options for the next president.

Youssef Chouhoud, an associate professor of political science at Christopher Newport University in Virginia, studies trends involving American Muslim voters. He says this year many American Muslims are concerned about Gaza.

“Certainly one of if not the top, if not for some American Muslims, the only issue that they care about is the crisis in Gaza, and so that holds particularly heavy weight this election cycle,” Chouhoud said.

He says American Muslims are nestled within the American fabric, concerned about the economy, climate change, health care and immigration policies.

After 9/11, Chouhoud says, American Muslims were against the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. He says after 2010, many focused on domestic issues.

But he says that changed after the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel — during which Hamas killed 1,200 people — and the invasion of Gaza that followed, where the latest death toll stands at more than 40,000 Palestinians killed.

Chouhoud says many American Muslims view themselves as part of the extended Muslim nation, or the ummah.

“One of the beliefs in Islam is that anything that affects one part of the Muslim ummah affects you as well,” he said.

Chouhoud says many American Muslims also have close connections to Gaza.

“Everybody in the American Muslim context, is probably only one degree removed from somebody in Gaza,” he said.

Chouhoud says American Muslims are stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to voting for the next president.

“They don’t, by and large, support a Trump presidency, for the reason that during the Trump administration, and you know, the explicit policies that Trump wanted to and has enacted have negatively affected American Muslims.”

He says many American Muslims say they do not feel like they belong to either Republican or Democratic parties.

“The sense of homelessness, I think, that American Muslims feel politically, is something that weighs heavy on them, and something that you know is going to probably continue from now until they go into the voting booth,” he said.

Chouhoud says things are likely to remain up in the air until the November elections.

Read more:

• DNC hosts first ever panel on Palestinian human rights
• Uncommitted delegates at DNC aim to put pressure on Harris’ Gaza policy
• ‘Uncommitted’ delegates hold DNC sit-in after refusal to allow Palestinian speaker at convention

A Michigan Court of Claims judge acted quickly Tuesday to deny Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s request to be removed from the state’s presidential ballot. That’s after Kennedy suspended his campaign last week to back Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Kennedy wants a court to reverse the determination of election officials in the Secretary of State’s office that he missed the deadline for removing his name as the nominee of the Natural Law Party of Michigan. Kennedy is trying to end his candidacy in Michigan and other swing states where he could siphon support from former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee.

“Plaintiff, a public figure, does not want to represent to the citizens of Michigan that he is vying for their votes for the position of President of the United States,” said Kennedy’s legal filing. “Keeping his name on the ballot against his wishes compels this speech and subjects him to derision, anger, reputational harm, and loss of good will by those who would vote for him based on this speech and later find out their vote was wasted and in vain.”

Kennedy argued the deadline cited by the state elections bureau applies only to down-ballot races and not to candidates for president.

Court of Claims Judge Christopher Yates dispatched the case very quickly, noting the urgency of resolving election-related questions this late in the cycle. Yates wrote the law is “clear and conclusive” that election officials in the Secretary of State’s office are not empowered to go along with Kennedy’s “self-serving act”

“Elections are not just games,” he wrote, “and the Secretary of State is not obligated to honor the whims of candidates for public office.”

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel praised the ruling.

“Michigan election law in this instance is unambiguous and the Department of State made the correct decision,” she said in a written statement. “…The law does not apply less because a candidate changes their plans. I appreciate the Court making a quick and wise ruling on this matter.”

Kennedy’s Michigan attorneys did not reply to a request for comment or plans to appeal.

If history is any guide, it is highly unlikely that Kennedy would win Michigan’s 15 electoral votes. The last third-party candidate to win Michigan was former President Teddy Roosevelt, who left the Republican Party to run as the candidate of the Progressive “Bull Moose” Party in 1912. That helped Democratic nominee Woodrow Wilson unseat Republican incumbent President William Howard Taft.

Like everyone else who is eligible to vote, young people matter in politics. But the difference between young people and everyone else is that they turn out to vote in much lower numbers.  

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

That’s true for almost every generation of young Americans. But that doesn’t mean politicians don’t try to get them to the polls anyway.  

Kamala Harris’ campaign is working hard to get young people to vote in higher numbers during this presidential election. That’s why Florida Congressman Maxwell Frost and Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield are meeting with voters at a Detroit Cafe on Friday.

To talk more about local efforts to turn out young people for Harris, and how young Detroiters feel about the Democratic presidential ticket, BridgeDetroit reporter Malachi Barrett joined The Metro. 

Use the media player above to listen to the interview with Barrett.

More headlines from The Metro on Aug. 30, 2024:

• Detroit Documenter Meghan Rutigliano and Coordinator Noah Kincade joined the show to give us a better sense of Detroit’s Board of Zoning Appeals and its member training session that took place on Aug. 26. 
• The Carbon Athletic Club is one of those places in Detroit that makes you wish the walls could talk. The members-only club has nearly 80 years of history. WDET’s Jack Filbrandt bellied up to the bar with Club President MaryBeth Beaudry to discuss the history they’re preserving and the service they provide the community today.  
• A collective of social justice organizations have teamed up to create a space for art and justice to thrive in Detroit. Kwaku Osei, executive director of the LOVE Building, joined the show to discuss its mission.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 11 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on-demand.

Now that the major parties have officially selected their nominees for president and the conventions have passed, how do the two stack up?

Subscribe to Created Equal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Recent polls show Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris leading former President Donald Trump following the Democratic National Convention. Now, the attention turns to the first and only scheduled debate between the two — set to take place on Sept. 10.

But what other opportunities lie ahead for the two candidates to make an impact on the presidential race?

To discuss this, Washington Post columnist E.J Dionne, political analyst Jessica Taylor, and WDET reporter and All Things Considered host Russ McNamara joined Created Equal on Thursday.

Guests:

• Jessica Taylor is the Senate and Governors Editor at Cook Political Report.
• Russ McNamara is a reporter and host of All Things Considered at WDET
• E.J. Dionne is the Professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University and a columnist for the Washington Post.  He says mocking former President Trump is a new strategy for the democrats.

Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.

There likely was no busier man at last week’s Democratic National Convention than transplanted Michigander Pete Buttigieg.

The U.S. transportation secretary stresses he’s using his personal time to campaign for the Harris-Walz ticket — and he seemed to be the go-to spokesperson for the media.

Buttigieg, who was on the list of potential Harris running mates, is viewed by some pundits as a possible gubernatorial candidate when Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is term-limited out after 2026.

But Buttigieg says he’s focusing now on helping Democrats maintain the enthusiasm shown at the convention all the way through to Election Day.

Listen: Buttigieg says Dems will ‘bottle’ energy from DNC to propel presidential ticket

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Pete Buttigieg: We’ve got many, long weeks ahead. But what we’re going to do is we’re going to take the joy and the positive energy [from the convention], we’re going to bottle it up and we’re going to use it to propel us through the weeks ahead. Of course, on every campaign there are curveballs, there are setbacks. Although I do think it is notable that in the many weeks since Kamala Harris became our candidate, she hasn’t put a foot wrong. People kept saying, “Is this the honeymoon? You know, this is a few days, then it gets real.” The energy has been sustained. The momentum has been sustained. But as she keeps reminding us, we still need to remember that this is an underdog effort.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: Any concerns about the protests regarding Israel and Gaza at the convention and whether or not that could actually have a significant impact on the campaign going forward?

PB: That’s one more point of difference between us and the Trump-Vance ticket. Not just the approach she has, to bringing peace to the Middle East, but also the approach she’s bringing to engaging protesters and demonstrators. She’s reaching out to those parts of our party that are so concerned. Versus this idea you hear from Trump about basically turning the military on protesters. We understand the legitimate concerns of those who have spoken out and will continue to engage.

QK: When you talk to voters about what their number one issue is, there still seems to be a lot of worries about the economy. You obviously have a big background in the Midwest, as well as with issues like infrastructure and so on. What do you see that a Harris administration could do that a Trump administration would not, in terms of trying to help lower prices, etc?

PB: The biggest concern in the economy is around prices. And economists who have analyzed the Trump plan believe it will add $3,900 a year to a family’s expenses, because he wants to add all these additional charges (tariffs) on imported goods. You contrast that with the Harris plan that’s very focused on lowering costs. Also, if we want to talk about economic performance, let’s talk about jobs. There was a manufacturing recession under Trump, and that’s even before COVID. Right now, there’s a manufacturing boom the likes of which we haven’t seen in decades. A construction boom as well, because the infrastructure policies that Trump failed to deliver, this administration has. These are the kinds of things that are explaining why you’ve had in these last few years the most job creation in any presidency in history. Now we’ve got to pair that with continued work to drive prices and inflation back to baseline. And that’s exactly what you’re seeing right now.

QK: How do you make voters feel that? I hear people recite the data and then people say, “Well, I’m not really feeling that in my own house.”

PB: We got to meet folks where they are. This is a real concern, you can’t wave it away. That’s exactly why Harris is being criticized now for being too aggressive in trying to bring prices down. But I think that’s the right kind of focus that demonstrates concern for what voters are feeling. We also, though, need to make sure that there’s no attempt to rewrite history and have people forget about the manufacturing recession and other problems that happened during the Trump years.

QK: Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer campaigned on “fixing the damn roads.” You’ve been a Michigan resident for a while now. She is term limited out after 2026. Would you think about running for governor yourself?

PB: I sincerely am not sure what the future holds for me. I’ve got the best job right now and, of course, I’m not speaking in that capacity. But I also am having the best time when I’m not at my day job, campaigning for a ticket and a party that I really believe in. Between the two, those things are taking about 120% of my capacity.

QK: Are you really having the best time? It’s so politically divided now it seems like it would just be hell at times to deal with from the inside.

PB: Well, look, it’s hard work, but it’s hard work that’s worth doing. I believe in politics as a force that, if you understand it in the right way, can make our lives better. As I shared with the convention audience, I recognize the fact that the simple existence of my family — just what goes on at our dinner table — is only possible because of political involvement, political courage and political action that brought about things like marriage equality. Whatever the biggest issue is that’s affecting somebody’s life, chances are it either gets better or worse depending on the political choices we make. Of course it’s hard. But that doesn’t mean it has to be a death match. And part of why I think Americans are ready to change the channel away from the Trump show, part of why folks are just more and more tired of that, is that most Americans don’t view the political process as something that has to be all about negativity and grievance and revenge. It can be a process of engaging our neighbors, and of course it’ll be tough sometimes, but it can also be really uplifting.

It’s really great speaking to the Michigan audience, in particular, because that’s where the infrastructure and the manufacturing results of the Biden-Harris vision are not just playing out, but very much at stake. The job creation and the clean energy economy that’s bringing back so many blue collar jobs in the industrial Midwest, that will either be developed or it will be destroyed, depending on who the next administration is led by. I want to make sure it’s developed so we create even more jobs.

Use the media player above to listen to the interview with U.S. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will remain on the Michigan presidential ballot, despite his announcement Friday that he is suspending his campaign and backing former President Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s nominee.

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s campaign reached out to the Michigan Bureau of Elections late this afternoon in an attempt to withdraw his name,” said bureau spokesperson Cheri Hardmon, adding that the campaign was informed the deadline to remove his name from the ballot had passed.

Kennedy is on the state ballot as the nominee of the Natural Law Party of Michigan. That party’s state nominating convention was held back in April.

Hardmon said the party could have held a new nominating convention any time until the state’s August presidential primary.

“The Natural Law Party held their convention to select electors for Robert Kennedy Jr.,” she said. “They cannot meet at this point to select new electors since it’s past the primary.”

Kennedy’s quixotic campaign sought the Natural Law Party of Michigan nomination because it was easier and less expensive than gathering thousands of signatures required to get on the state ballot as an unaffiliated independent candidate.

Now, Kennedy said, he wants to be removed from the ballot in states where his candidacy could hurt Trump’s chances. Michigan is considered a swing state, and recent polls show Trump in a close race with Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris.

The Natural Law Party seeks to apply the principles of transcendental meditation to government. Kennedy has no prior affiliation with the party or the transcendental meditation movement. The advantage of a big name for a minor party is the likelihood of winning enough votes to automatically qualify for ballot access in future elections.

The Natural Law Party of Michigan and the Kennedy campaign did not respond to messages seeking comment.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Independent presidential candidate Cornel West must appear on the ballot in the battleground state of Michigan, a judge ruled about a week after West was disqualified.

Court of Claims Judge James Robert Redford wrote in a decision released Saturday that West’s campaign submitted the proper number of signatures to qualify for the ballot and that presidential candidates are not required to file affidavits of identity. The ruling came after the Michigan Bureau of Elections informed West on Aug. 16 that he would not be certified because the affidavit of identity he submitted was not properly notarized.

Redford also rejected the state’s findings that West’s affidavit was incorrectly notarized.

West, a leftist academic, progressive activist and long-shot presidential candidate, is at the center of multiple legal and political battles as Democrats and Republicans seek to use the impacts of third-party candidates who could take support from their opponents. Republican allies in states such as Arizona have sought to keep West on the ballot amid Democratic fears he could siphon votes from Vice President Kamala Harris.

In Michigan, the state Democratic Party, Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson and a voter backed by a Democratic-aligned political action committee had challenged West’s candidacy.

Benson’s office plans to appeal Redford’s decision, a spokesperson said.

West’s campaign called the opinion a “decisive victory for democratic principles and voter choice.”

“We are grateful for this affirmation and promise to continue championing the rights of all voters,” West said in a statement.

The Michigan court opinion came a day after West lost a legal challenge to appear on the Pennsylvania ballot. It also came one day after third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his independent campaign for the White House and endorsed Republican Donald Trump.

Story by Isabella Volmert, Associated Press

Democrats continue basking in the afterglow of an energetic national convention, where Kamala Harris became the first Black woman to lead a major party presidential ticket.

But as the fanfare fades, Democrats now must grapple with perhaps THE overriding issue among voters — the state of the economy, and the price of goods and services.

The party faithful say the Midwest — and Michigan in particular — remain the epicenter of efforts to define how best to address economic concerns.

At one of the Michigan delegate breakfasts held throughout the convention, those munching their eggs and bagels were greeted by a familiar figure. 

Former Michigan Governor and current U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm pushed-back against surveys showing many voters feel their personal finances were better, when Republicans and Donald Trump controlled the White House. 

“They are not better on the economy!” Granholm said. “This administration, the Biden-Harris administration has created more jobs than any president in the history of America in one term. We are the ones who are bringing this economy back, and Michigan is at the tip of the spear.”

Yet Democrats in the room know many Michigan voters feel pushed daily by the cost of food and other items that government data says should actually be more affordable. 

The contradiction is not lost on the volunteer chair of the state Democrats 12th Congressional District, Kevin Tolbert. He says he’ll be retiring within days from his full-time job with the United Auto Worker union and claims Republicans who blame Democrats for inflation are selling his fellow members a bad bill of goods.

“Those prices aren’t high because of something that someone in government did,” said Tolbert. “Those prices are high because we have conglomerates controlling the majority of the grocery stores and the things of that nature. So I know people are feeling that pain, but if we understand the focus is directed correctly. Let’s look at the real problems and figure out solutions instead of being targeted to be mad at the wrong people.”

Yet a significant number of traditionally left-leaning union members say they will back Trump because he is for the “working class.”

It’s a theme GOP Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance touted during a recent campaign stop in a Grand Rapids suburb. 

“When American businesses threatened to shut down factories and move them to Mexico and China, remember what Trump did? He picked up the phone and said, ‘if you do that, I’m going to introduce you to a little word called the tariff.’ And a lot of Americans benefit because he was willing to fight for their interests and their American jobs,” Vance said.

Democrats counter that Trump wants to target so many foreign products with tariffs it would amount to a national sales tax on goods and services.

Vice President Kamala Harris presented her economic agenda about a week before accepting the Democratic nomination for president.

Though somewhat vague on specifics, Harris pledged to limit the cost of prescription drugs and work to pass what she calls the first federal ban on price-gouging by grocery store chains. 

“My plan will include new penalties for opportunistic companies that exploit crises and break the rules, and we will support smaller food businesses that are trying to play by the rules and get ahead,” she said. “Because I believe more competition means lower prices for you and your families.” 

It’s a vow greeted with gratitude by some outside the chain link fences that surrounded the Chicago convention site, even among those who chanted a message that might startle Michiganders almost as much as high food prices.

A small group of Ohioans lined a street, chanting “Ohio! Fire Jim Jordan-dot-com. Elect Tamie Wilson to Congress. Ohio!” They were campaigning for the Democrat’s long-shot bid to unseat Trump ally Jordan in the U.S. House. 

Wilson says Jordan and the GOP tried to stop the Biden administration from setting up a domestic supply chain for semiconductor chips and electric batteries. She says such efforts further inflame an electorate already edgy about their finances. 

“Oh yeah, everyone’s worried about the economy,” said Wilson. “I’m worried about the economy, and that’s why I’m running for Congress. You know, Jim Jordan, he voted against the CHIPS Act, which is bringing 10,000 jobs to Ohio. People in my district shouldn’t have to drive an hour, two hours, to get a good-paying job.” 

Standing with Wilson, Ohio attorney Rocky Ratliff notes that the COVID-19 pandemic caused economic upheaval across the country. 

He says those who fondly remember the flow of commerce during most of former President Trump’s term forget the situation the Biden-Harris administration found itself in. 

“What they got was a world to clean up post-COVID, with kids in school, with the economy and so forth, having to kick-start it,” he said. “They didn’t have a well-running economy handed down by the Obama presidency. So they didn’t have that opportunity. Ever.” 

Nearby, at the entrance to the “Dem-Palooza” Expo, volunteer Julia Hofmann said she traveled to the convention from Orlando, Florida, where the pandemic — and the resulting economic chaos — turned her life upside down. 

“I am a small business owner and a mother of three. And it is hard, it is hard,” she said. “When I planned my family several years ago and knew I wanted three children…I knew I could afford it. And now I can’t. And the spending power of clients has gone down dramatically. So as a small business owner I’m greatly impacted.” 

Hofmann says she is not so concerned about who to blame for high prices. She says she just wants Kamala Harris to bring cost of living down. 

“I don’t think that is Biden’s fault. I think the wheels were in motion and a lot of what transpired was from policy that Trump put into place,” said Hofmann. “Not thrilled with how Biden has addressed it, or lack of addressing. So I think a fresher face might be good.” 

It’s a hope shared by other Democrats at the national convention, even as Republicans contend Harris is part of a Biden administration they claim has not effectively addressed the nation’s financial woes. 

President Biden has reportedly been frustrated that much of his economic agenda has been slow to show an impact voters can feel. 

Whether presidential candidate Harris can make the case that she will have more of an immediate impact on prices may decide who wins battleground states like Michigan — and ultimately — the White House. 

PHOENIX (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suspended his independent campaign for the White House and endorsed Donald Trump on Friday, a late-stage shakeup of the race that could give the former president a modest boost from Kennedy’s supporters.

Hours later, Kennedy joined Trump onstage at an Arizona rally, where the crowd burst into “Bobby!” cheers.

Kennedy said his internal polls had shown that his presence in the race would hurt Trump and help Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, though recent public polls don’t provide a clear indication that he is having an outsize impact on support for either major-party candidate.

Kennedy cited free speech, the war in Ukraine and “a war on our children” as among the reasons he would try to remove his name from the ballot in battleground states.

“These are the principal causes that persuaded me to leave the Democratic Party and run as an independent, and now to throw my support to President Trump,” Kennedy said at his event in Phoenix.

However, he made clear that he wasn’t formally ending his bid and said his supporters could continue to back him in the majority of states where they are unlikely to sway the outcome. Kennedy took steps to withdraw his candidacy in at least two states late this week, Arizona and Pennsylvania, but election officials in the battlegrounds of Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin said it would be too late for him to take his name off the ballot even if he wants to do so.

Kennedy said his actions followed conversations with Trump over the past few weeks. He cast their alliance as “a unity party,” an arrangement that would “allow us to disagree publicly and privately and seriously.” Kennedy suggested Trump offered him a job if he returns to the White House, but neither he nor Trump offered details.

Kennedy’s running mate, Nicole Shanahan, this week entertained the idea that Kennedy could join Trump’s administration as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

The announcement ended days of speculation and landed with heaps of confusion and contradictions from Kennedy’s aides and allies, an emblematic cap for a quixotic campaign.

Shortly before his speech in Phoenix, his campaign had said in a Pennsylvania court filing that he would be endorsing Trump for president. However, a spokesperson for Kennedy said the court filing had been made in error and the lawyer who wrote it said he’d correct it. Kennedy took the stage moments later, aired his grievances with the Democratic Party, the news media and political institutions, and extolled Trump. He spoke for nearly 20 minutes before he said explicitly that he was endorsing Trump.

Kennedy later joined Trump onstage at a rally co-hosted by Turning Point Action in Glendale, where Trump’s campaign had teased he would be joined by “a special guest.”

Kennedy was greeted by thundering applause as he took the stage to the Foo Fighters and a pyrotechnics display after being introduced by Trump as “a man who has been an incredible champion for so many of these values that we all share.”

“We are both in this to do what’s right for the country,” Trump said, later commending Kennedy for having “raised critical issues that have been too long ignored in this country.”

With Kennedy standing nearby, Trump invoked his slain uncle and father, John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy, saying he knows “that they are looking down right now and they are very, very proud.”

He said that, if he wins this fall, he will establish a new independent presidential commission on assassination attempts that will release all remaining documents related to John F. Kennedy’s assassination.

And he repeated his pledge to establish a panel — “working with Bobby” — to investigate the increase in chronic health conditions and childhood diseases, including autoimmune disorders, autism, obesity and infertility.

A year ago, some would have thought it inconceivable that a member of arguably the most storied family in Democratic politics would work with Trump to keep a Democrat out of the White House. Even in recent months, Kennedy has accused Trump of betraying his followers, while Trump has criticized Kennedy as “the most radical left candidate in the race.”

Five of Kennedy’s family members issued a statement Friday calling his support for Trump “a sad ending to a sad story” and reiterating their support for Harris.

“Our brother Bobby’s decision to endorse Trump today is a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear,” read the statement, which his sister Kerry Kennedy posted on X.

Kennedy Jr. acknowledged his decision to endorse Trump had caused tension with his family. He is married to actor Cheryl Hines, who wrote on X that she deeply respects her husband’s decision to drop out but did not address the Trump endorsement.

“This decision is agonizing for me because of the difficulties it causes my wife and my children and my friends,” Kennedy said. “But I have the certainty that this is what I’m meant to do. And that certainty gives me internal peace, even in storms.”

In a statement, Harris campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon reached out to Kennedy’s supporters who are “tired of Donald Trump and looking for a new way forward” and said that Harris wanted to earn their backing.

At Kennedy’s Phoenix event, 38-year-old Casey Westerman said she trusted Kennedy’s judgment and had planned to vote for him, but would support Trump if Kennedy endorsed him.

“My decision would really be based on who he thinks is best suited to run this country,” said Westerman, who wore a “Kennedy 2024” trucker hat and voted for Trump in the last two presidential elections.

Kennedy first entered the 2024 presidential race as a Democrat but left the party last fall to run as an independent. He built an unusually strong base for a third-party bid, fueled in part by anti-establishment voters and vaccine skeptics who have followed his anti-vaccine work since the COVID-19 pandemic. But he has since faced strained campaign finances and mounting legal challenges.

At Trump’s event in Las Vegas, Alida Roberts, 49, said Kennedy’s endorsement of Trump spoke volumes about the current state of the Democratic Party.

“It says that he doesn’t trust what’s going on, that it’s not the party he grew up in,” Roberts said.

Roberts, who voted twice for Trump, said she was relieved and excited by the endorsement because she’d been “teeter-tottering” between the two candidates.

Recent polls put Kennedy’s support in the mid-single digits, and it’s unclear if he’d get even that in a general election.

There’s some evidence that Kennedy’s staying in the race would hurt Trump more than Harris. According to a July AP-NORC poll, Republicans were significantly more likely than Democrats to have a favorable view of Kennedy. And those with a positive impression of Kennedy were significantly more likely to also have a favorable view of Trump (52%) than Harris (37%).

Story by Associated Press writers Jonathan J. Cooper, Michelle L. Price and Gabriel Sandoval. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Ali Swenson, Rio Yamat, Marc Levy, Meg Kinnard and Linley Sanders contributed to this report.

After the 2020 elections, false voter fraud accusations have caused there to be a greater focus on county clerks who oversee the voting process. On this week’s episode of MichMash, Gongwer News Services’ Zach Gorchow and Alethia Kasben sat down with Republican Clerk of Macomb County, Anthony Forlini, and Democratic Clerk of Kalamazoo County, Meredith Place, about their confidence in the voting process.

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

In this episode:

• Debunked voter fraud accusations about the 2020 presidential election
• Proposal 2 and the growing prevalence of early voting
• Confidence in the 2024 voting process

Forlini and Place both expressed their confidence in the voting process, rejecting false claims made about widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

Forlini specifically addressed the claims made by his party about voting machines that were allegedly tampered with in the 2020 election. In response to the allegations, ballot machine maker Dominion Voting Systems filed several defamation lawsuits against those who spread conspiracy theories blaming its election equipment for Trump’s loss — including Fox News, which settled with the company for $787 million last year.

“President Trump never brought up the machines were corrupt. He never brought that up. If he did, he would have been sued,” Forlini said. “I think people are taking the concern they had and applying it to the tabulators. That’s not where they belong. I haven’t seen any instance in the state of Michigan where tabulators were compromised. It may be more human issues than the tabulators themselves.”  

Early voting has grown in popularity since the 2020 elections, Place says, adding that it’s something voters are going to have to get used to.

“The first time I ever voted was in my dorm using early voting. When Prop 2 passed, like most clerks, I was a little nervous because of the amount of changes,” said Place. “However, I was excited to get to work and to get to work with the 19 local clerks throughout Kalamazoo County on implementing all of the requirements that were passed by our voters in 2022.” 

The 2024 election is on Nov. 5.

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation with Forlini and Place.

More from WDET:

• Whitmer shares goals for Democratic Party, Michigan ahead of DNC address
• Requests for November absentee ballots now open
• Distrust in political system could keep many Detroiters from voting, U-M survey shows

Absentee ballot requests are now available in Michigan for this November’s general election.

Michigan voters can ask for an absentee ballot by turning in an application online, by mail, or at their local clerk’s office.

The ballots themselves are scheduled to become available Sept. 26 after the list of candidates becomes finalized.

Voting by mail has become a more popular option in the state’s elections since 2018, when Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment that allowed for absentee voting without an excuse.

For example, numbers from the Michigan Department of State show over 150,000 more people voted absentee in this year’s presidential primary election than in 2020.

State officials recommend requesting an absentee ballot at least 15 days before an election. The 2024 general election is Nov. 5.

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

Michigan is a battleground state in the upcoming presidential election.

And the state’s Democratic members of Congress say they also feel good about their party’s chances to take back the U.S. House by riding the wave of enthusiasm currently surrounding the Harris-Walz ticket.

That includes Michigan Democratic Congresswoman Haley Stevens, who represents much of Oakland County in the state’s 11th Congressional District

I spoke with Stevens at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Wednesday about the political momentum within the Democratic Party and whether they’ll be able to sustain it going into the general election in November.

Listen: Haley Stevens on political sugar high at the DNC, top priorities for the state

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

Haley Stevens: It was certainly so exciting for Democrats all over this country to be in the room with the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama, and of course, our former First Lady Michelle Obama. The wisdom, the power of their coupledom, the message that they delivered — which was grounding — and it reminded us that we really have work to do, and we can’t take things for granted. We got to go with the good vibes. We know what’s at stake. And as Michelle Obama said, “we have to do something.”

Quinn Klinefelter: Some of the pundits and so on have said, “can you keep this kind of political sugar high going all the way to the election day?”

HS: Well, we know the seasons are going to change. We’re still in summer. The election’s not until to the fall. Moods change with seasons absolutely. We also know that gravity is real, and it feels as though we’re flying very high. One of the elements of the Harris-Walz ticket that I find very optimistic and important for Democrats, as we’re heading into November though, is the more you get to know the two of them and their vision for our country, the more you like them, the more you like what you’re hearing. It’s practical, it’s real, it’s relatable. Kamala Harris — having worked her way through college, worked in McDonald’s — Tim Walz sleeves rolled up, governor of Minnesota, someone who coached high school sports as well as served in the United States military… I think that that really speaks to people. Whereas JD Vance, President Trump’s runningmate, he’s a wardrobe in search of a bedroom. He doesn’t know who he is. He’s saying one thing one week and another thing the other. And I don’t understand why he’s taking shots at women, and I hear that from voters. I think that’s very real.

When we know that the economy is going to be the most important issue, we should just be focusing on the economy. Kamala Harris is rolling out an economic agenda. She’s not afraid to say the words middle class. I can’t remember the last time I heard Donald Trump say that.

QK: The economy does seem to be the overriding issue for a lot of voters. You talk to some of the people in the metro region, they’ll say, “things were so great when Trump was president, the prices were lower, things were happening.” What would you say to those people?

HS: Look, we’ve got to make sure that people feel a certain way about the Harris-Walz ticket, carrying forward from the administration of President Biden, we see that we have the highest levels of employment in Detroit in over 50 years. We have record new factory growth. We, frankly, as the United States of America are buoying the world’s economy, we also though have to understand it’s very real what people are experiencing at the grocery stores. And so Kamala Harris has put forward a plan to tackle costs, to tackle shrinkflation. And what is the first thing that the Trump-Vance ticket says in response to that? “That’s communism.” Give me a break.

QK: There’s been questions about how either side, if they get in, would be able to pay for these kind of things. I mean, you’re on the front lines in Congress. Where do they get the money from? If there’s tax cuts, if there’s other programs that are going to be going forward, where can the money come to try to pay for some of these things?

HS: Well, it’s certainly very concerning to me that if you look at the previous term, Trump’s approach to global competition was largely to tariff goods. Then the pandemic hit, and as a result, those two events very much increased the cost of goods across the board. So our sugar farmers, their equipment is twice as much as it used to be. Sugar is in how much of our food? — as much as we like it or not — and that’s contributing to rising costs. We do need to be responsible about the pay-fors.

We in the Democratic caucus put forward a rules package when we were in the majority, making sure that we were paying as we go for things, offsetting costs, without slashing programs in the government that are working for people, and also making sure that we weren’t increasing our debt as a result. We have a tax bill that we’re going to be reauthorizing. I want to do that under Kamala Harris, because more tax cuts for large corporations and nothing for middle class workers is not going to work. It’s going to fail people, and people need to know that.

QK: Apart from the economy, what other issues do you see that you think are going to be prime importance in Michigan and Oakland County?

HS: Well, certainly when we talk about the economy, we’re also talking about transportation and housing. Those two issues are inextricable, and they’re deeply important in Oakland County. I also think there’s an undergird certainly around national security and foreign policy and some of the toughness — particularly from independent voters — that they want to see from their next commander in chief on the world stage.

We all have to remember that Donald Trump shoots from the hip. He’s tweeting at world leaders in the middle of the night. He’s very unpredictable. It felt like he was going to lead us into war many times. I see in Kamala Harris, someone who’s going to be tough on national security and is going to take her next chapter of her campaign to communicating how she plans to lead on the world stage.

QK: There has been protests here, obviously, regarding the situation in Gaza, how do you see that playing out, and how do you see that impacting the election as you head in November?

HS: Well, we’re a big tent party, and certainly when people disagree with each other, they’re not chased out. And I think it’s actually a productive and good thing that we have people who are not necessarily on the same page with one another, but are engaging with one another respectfully. What we don’t want to see is see protests taking down the event at hand, which is obviously our Democratic National Convention, leading to hate, leading to violence. None of that’s happening here. The city of Chicago is shining. Michigan is shining here. And as a lawmaker who represents a very diverse population and has had to take tough votes and take tough positions, I’m not here trying to thread a needle in the middle to pretend like I’m going to make everyone happy. Votes are binary. Leadership is oftentimes binary in terms of executive decisions, and that’s what Kamala Harris is showing she’s extended some olive branches, but her positions in the Middle East are clear. 

Use the media player above to listen to the interview with Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens.

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