There are several nonpartisan organizations and groups that will be offering free transportation to the polls on Election Day in metro Detroit and around the state.
Among them are APIA Vote MI, which has teamed up with Lyft to provide free rides with the goal of helping to increase voter turnout in the region.
Executive Director Rebeka Islam says lack of transportation can prevent people from voting.
“We hope that by providing one reliable and free transportation, we can increase voter turnout, especially, again, amongst our committees who might otherwise face logistic challenges or feel like you know, it’s not important to vote,” Islam said. “We want to make sure that we empower our community, that every vote counts.”
Other organizations offering free rides to the polls on Tuesday include:
Detroit Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. – Rides are available to and from polling locations on Election Day (November 5). Request a ride by calling (888) 328-4283 or email contact@oakland-service.com. Rides are wheelchair accessible.
Detroit Bus Company – Rides are available on Sunday, November 3 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. and on Election Day (November 5) after 9 a.m. Request a ride by calling (313) 444-2871 or filling out this form.
Detroit Downriver APRI – Rides are available from Saturday, October 26 through Election Day (November 5). Request a ride by filling out this form. We encourage you to fill out the form one day in advance.
Voter Transportation Project – Rides are available now through Election Day (November 5). Call or text “Detroit” to (866) 759-8683 to book a free Lyft ride.
Warriors on Wheels – Rides are available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Thursday, October 31 through Sunday, November 3 and from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day (November 5). Request a ride by calling (313) 552-2916 or filling out this form. Rides are wheelchair accessible.
For a complete list of discounted or free rides around the state, visit MichiganVoting.org/rides.
Other headlines for Monday, Nov. 4, 2024:
The Justice Department says it will dispatch election monitors tocheck for compliance with federal voting rights laws in Warren, Ann Arbor, Hamtramck,Detroit and Flint for the general election Tuesday.
Real Estate firm Bedrock is bringing Cosm, a new experiential entertainment venue, to Downtown Detroit.
Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
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Editor’s note: This story includes a reference to sexual assault.
In a follow-up to our story about rural Democrats, we ask four Republicans in Kalamazoo what it’s like to be a red drop in a blue pond.
At the edge of a wooded lot on a busy street in Kalamazoo, there’s a collection of Republican signs. What’s unusual is that some are not on the ground.
“I put all my signs up on Howard Street, up in the trees, because I had 25 Trump signs stolen in the last election,” Ron Wiser, the owner of the signs, said.
Signs advertising Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump sit stapled to trees on Howard Street in Kalamazoo.
I met Ron at his office at the financial group he founded in 1960. Wiser actually votes in South Haven, but he works and has a home in Kalamazoo. Trump supporters were relatively rare in the city in 2020; in the city’s best precinct for the then-president, just three in 10 voters cast their ballot for him. In half of city of Kalamazoo precincts, Trump got 20% or less of the vote, and in one he got just 5%.
Wiser said he supports Trump because like him, Trump’s a financial conservative and a businessman.
“I want somebody who’s actually worked and ran a business, and their livelihood depended on what they produce.”
Wiser thinks Trump would spend more prudently than his rival, Democrat Kamala Harris. His focus on government spending made him the most traditional of the Republicans I talked to. But Wiser suggested that he doesn’t think the former president is perfect.
“I would like to see Trump tone down some of his rhetoric. I hope some of the Democrats would tone down some of the rhetoric, and we could get back and — to a point where we can talk.”
And though Wiser’s a financial conservative, he doesn’t want the U.S. to pull its support for Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion.
Trump has been less than resolute in his support of Ukraine. And while Wiser said he’s fine with nudging the country toward a negotiated peace, he would not support abandoning it to Russia.
“We did this with Hitler. We let him have one country after another and waved our finger at him. And he kept going, kept going and going and going.”
Wiser’s wife Ruth also supports Trump, and like her husband, she supports him for economic reasons, but her other core issues vary from Ron’s.
Ron and Ruth Wiser both said they vote for economic reasons, but Ruth said immigration is also one of her top issues.
I met Ruth at the Wisers’ home south of downtown. She said people don’t always see the nuances in her views.
“I think people look at me because I’m voting for Trump, and they think that she’s against abortion or something. No, not at all.”
But Ruth said it’s okay with her that the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to set their own abortion policies.
“That is our democracy, that we have the opportunity as citizens to vote and our representatives to represent us, to make those laws for your state.”
Trump critics say he could restrict abortion nationally by changing Food and Drug Administration rules, enforcing the Comstock Act or signing a ban. But Ruth doesn’t think he’ll go against the states.
Before she retired, Ruth was an engineer, then a business executive. Now she tutors at a dual-language school in Kalamazoo. Some of her students are from immigrant families.
Trump said if he’s reelected, he’ll mass-deport undocumented people, and end some forms of legal immigration.
Ruth said she would be heartbroken if her students or their families were deported, but she added the law must be followed.
“The idea that our border is open and people are coming across, criminals, rapists, murderers, but rapists primarily is terrifying.”
Ruth said she survived rape as a child, informing this belief.
“I heard on the news today, 420,000 criminals have come across our borders and are living around the US. Of those 13,000 have committed murders.”
There are more than 400,000 convicted criminal immigrants in the US, including 13,000 convicted of homicide, according to an NBC report. But most did not just arrive in the US. Some came as long as four decades ago. And many of them are serving jail or prison sentences, the Department of Homeland Security told NBC.
Additionally, the Department of Justice released a report last month looking at how often undocumented people are arrested in Texas.
It found that the rate was less than half that of American-born citizens for violent and drug crimes, and even lower for property crimes.
Ruth Wiser said she mostly keeps her beliefs to herself, but will still discuss politics with friends.
In Ruth’s view, the media gives Democrats a pass while unfairly scrutinizing Trump. She’s not the only one who thinks so.
‘They get away with it’
“The whole thing is to take him out. And it’s not working so far. And I pray to God it doesn’t work,” Patricia Melluish said.
Patricia and her husband Jim live in the Winchell neighborhood, about a five-minute drive from the Wisers.
Patricia was a stay-at-home mom; Jim is a retired ophthalmologist.
In their yard they have signs for Trump, state and local Republican candidates, and one more, which Jim reads: “Do you like law and order, secure borders, prosperity for all? Then vote Republican.”
Jim said he feels accepted by his Harris-supporting neighbors. But he recalls confronting a group of teenagers back in 2020 after they knocked down his Trump sign.
“They were very ashamed, and they were, said they wouldn’t do it again and all that. And I think they learned a little bit of a lesson, but it’s, I don’t see any Democrat signs get getting damaged.”
Patricia Melluish says that Trump says things that are true but uncomfortable.
“I think he says, a lot of times, the things that people agree with but won’t say.”
And the Melluishes said the media, government and Democrats are the ones pushing lies, not Trump.
Myriad investigations found no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election, but Patricia said that’s just another one of the lies.
“There was a lot of research done, and there was total evidence of it. But the mass media, the mainstream media, as my understanding just refused to cover it.”
In Jim’s view, Democrats are rarely checked on what they say.
“Because they’re saying it nicely and they’re happy, and they don’t throw in personal digs, they get away with it.”
And Jim thinks the media is unfair to Trump over the things he does say.
The recent baseless claims by Trump and his running mate JD Vance that Haitian immigrants are eating pets in Springfield, Ohio? Jim said he doesn’t see it as racist, or even necessarily false.
“If you go back to their island that they came from, they live in dire poverty, and they do have to sometimes resort to that sort of eating. Those people are starving, and so it’s not, it’s not putting the Haitian down,” Jim said.
“Whether it’s true or not, I don’t know. I don’t really care,” he added. “It’s a small point when I think about how many wars have started with Trump versus with Biden, the Biden-Harris administration.”
And a New York jury finding Trump guilty in May of 34 felony counts of falsifying business records? Jim said it shows the courts are corrupt.
“It tells me it’s all the more reason to elect him so he can clean at least the federal judiciary up and the prosecutors and all that.”
With people so divided on what is true and what isn’t, Jim doesn’t see the political divide healing any time soon.
“I don’t think it’ll ever happen. I don’t think we’ll get back together for a couple hundred years or whatever it is.”
Steve Frisbie is the vice chair of Calhoun County’s Board of Commissioners, but now he hopes to win Michigan’s 44th House District.
Campaigning in Battle Creek
Steve Frisbie has not given up on talking across the divide. He can’t afford to.
Frisbee’s a Republican running for Michigan’s 44th house district against Democratic incumbent Jim Haadsma. It’s a seat Republicans think they can win.
I followed Frisbie as he knocked on doors in Battle Creek’s Washington Heights neighborhood.
On his front steps, Wendell LaGrand told Frisbie he’s a teacher, and a fan of his opponent. But he and Frisbie ended up talking for nearly 20 minutes.
“I can say I’ll remember you. I’ll look down that list of people, I’ll see Mr. Steve Frisbie, and Mr. Steve Frisbie might get a vote,” LaGrand said.
Frisbie said he appreciated that LaGrand was open to the idea of voting for him.
LaGrand said he liked the interaction, and Frisbie’s “boots on the ground” campaigning.
“He’s got to care about something, because go door to door in this neighborhood is, well, that’s impressive.”
Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program.
WMUK also spoke with rural Democrats. That story can be found here.
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Michigan is anticipated to play a critical role in the upcoming presidential election, and the state’s 12th Congressional District could significantly impact voter margins.
The district — encompassing portions of Detroit, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights, Southfield and more — is known to be heavily Democratic, with a large Middle Eastern population. It’s current representative is incumbent U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who’s been very vocal about the government’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. She’s even called for a ceasefire and arms embargo.
Political analyst Dale Thomson, from the University of Michigan-Dearborn, says while Tlaib has not endorsed a candidate, her position could influence voter turnout.
“We’re looking at small margins of victory in the state of Michigan. Most likely for the… for whoever wins the president. And so every vote you can get matters,” Thomson said.
Thomson adds that if a significant amount of Tlaib’s constituents stick to staying uncommitted, or decide to vote for another candidate other than Harris, that could pose a problem in terms of margins of victory.
“In a heavily Democratic district, the Democrats want to turn out as many of those voters as possible so that they can overcome margins in the opposite direction in heavily Republican districts,” Thomson said.
Tlaib is running for reelection of her seat in the 12th District against Republican challenger James Hooper. He’s a political newcomer, whose rhetoric is very similar to presidential candidate Donald Trump’s, Thomson says.
“He is the sort of, what we might classify as an election denier,” Thomson said. “He’s very much focused on Second Amendment rights of pro-life. He advocates for abolishing the Department of Education.”
With Michigan expected to come down to a narrow margin, turnout in the 12th District could have a broader impact beyond the congressional seat, making it one to watch in the run-up to Election Day.
The general election is taking place on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. For the latest election information, visit WDET’s Voter Guide at wdet.org/voterguide.
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You may think of rural West Michigan as Trump country. But Democratic voters live there too, even if they’re outnumbered.
My journey started with Austin Marsman, Democratic candidate for Michigan’s 42nd House District. He’s running against Republican incumbent Matt Hall.
I joined him in August as he knocked on doors in a small lakeside neighborhood southeast of Kalamazoo.
Austin Marsman said he’s been working hard to get himself known in Michigan’s 42nd House District, knocking on around 50 doors a day.
The 42nd district is a targeted seat for the state Democratic Party, meaning it’s a seat they think they can flip, but that means getting Marsman’s name known in the community.
“They see me come to the door, someone new, a breath of fresh air, and they appreciate that for sure,” Marsman told me.
Signs advertising Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump were plentiful in the area. But all who opened their doors were polite, even if they just took a pamphlet and headed back inside.
It was with Marsman that I met the first rural Democrat for this story, Larry Morand.
Morand said for the longest time, people were more reserved with their political beliefs. But now, he said it seems everyone has to be outspoken.
Morand’s lived in this small neighborhood for over 30 years. He’s a retired mail carrier, and now spends his time as a driver for Meals on Wheels. The weather was fair, so we went outside to talk.
Across the road from Morand is his neighbor, who flies two Trump-style American flags and a sign that reads, “Raised Right.”
But Morand is friends with that neighbor and has been for a while. The secret? Just don’t talk about politics.
“Some people, right away, say something to annoy the other person, and then it starts. So, if you’re just not so confrontational, then sure you can get along.”
But that doesn’t mean Morand keeps his beliefs to himself. He’s got a sign for Marsman and a sign for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in his front yard. And he said he’s been seeing more Harris signs crop up in the area as of late.
“I think because the Trump voters, so many of them want to advertise their beliefs, that it’s forced the hand of other people to say, ‘hey, look, we’re here too.’”
Robin and Charles Beacham are surrounded by farms at their rural Lawton area home.
My next stop was a farm just outside of Lawton. On the way, I passed by apple orchards and vineyards and the laborers harvesting the fruit.
Robin Beacham lives in front of one of these vineyards. In fact, her family used to own it.
She said that growing up, she “just kind of had fun with it, but I never worked that hard.”
But that brought us to the topic of migrant labor, which many rural areas rely on.
“If it wasn’t for the migrant — or help, we really wouldn’t be able to get the crop in,” Robin’s husband Charles Beacham said.
While they don’t currently run a farm, Charles said he tries to help his neighbors who do.
He added that Trump’s proposal to carry out mass deportations, which Trump claims will be the largest in the country’s history, have a real chance to hurt local farms.
But as Robin noted, many in the area still support Trump.
“People that make a lot of money off the backs of immigrants and don’t really respect that they deserve the same quality of life.”
Back in 2020, Robin’s father put up a billboard-sized tarp sign on his property a couple miles away, reading “Send A Message, Vote for Democrats.”
“He’d actually got some threatening phone calls when he put that up. So, this year, he asked them to put it in a different place.”
Robin said conflict over politics has also impacted a personal relationship.
“I did have a friend that I didn’t speak to for almost three years, and we’ve since made up, but we cannot talk about it.”
She said this divide never existed before Trump ran in 2016.
“I blame it on him, for spreading so much hateful rhetoric and dividing the country.”
Robin added that things have calmed down, they’ve had no threatening phone calls or lost friends this year. So much so, that the Beachams tentatively plan to put out a sign in support of Harris.
Bloom tries to keep himself busy, not only playing banjos but making them too, in addition to guitars, violas and other string instruments. The final rural Democrat I spoke with lives just outside of Paw Paw.
Jan Bloom is retired, but he keeps himself busy with dog sledding and crafting string instruments like banjos.
His huskies weren’t the quiet type, so we left them upstairs and headed down to Bloom’s basement workshop.
The place was littered with tools, extension cords, wood pieces, and handmade inlays for banjo fretboards, which Bloom makes himself.
Bloom said he’s been here since the ’70s. He’s a Democrat, but his congressman, state senator, state representative, county commissioner, and township supervisor are all Republicans.
“The best you could do is hope to get an old-fashioned centrist Republican,” he said.
And while some in the area think this is how things will stay, Bloom is hopeful for change.
“I can only hope, going forward, that it does. On the other hand, I’m not sure that I’m going to be around to see it.”
For now, the area remains under Republican control, and Bloom said that leaves him feeling unrepresented.
This is especially relevant when it comes to issues that matter to him, like climate change, which Trump tells people not to worry about.
As stated previously, Bloom is musher. He’s been racing his dogsled since 2018, and he’s won his fair share of races.
“I couldn’t do anything athletic in high school. Here I’ve got, I’ve got a silver medal, a national silver medal. Oh my gosh.”
But dog sledding is hard to do without snow.
“That first year I was racing, there were five or six sled races in Michigan.”
But that’s steadily decreased according to Bloom, with snow last winter being sparse.
Despite the dwindling races, Bloom’s staying right where he is. And that’s a sentiment shared by everyone I spoke with. That, even though many of their neighbors’ views are different, they’re proud to live beside them.
“If I needed help, they’d be there to help me. If they need help, I’m there to help them,” Bloom said.
Michael Symonds reports for WMUK through the Report for America national service program. WMUK also spoke with urban Republicans. That story is coming soon.
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The race for president is largely viewed as Vice President Kamala Harris versus former President Donald Trump — the Democrat against the Republican. But the race in Michigan and other states is not as simple as the two big parties facing each other on the November ballot. There are also the smaller third parties on the ballot pushing their own issues and candidates who have little to no chance of winning, but could still play a decisive role.
Spoiler candidates have a long history of scrambling presidential politics in Michigan. Famously, in 1912, former president and former Republican Theodore Roosevelt led the Progressive “Bull Moose” Party ticket. Roosevelt, perhaps disingenuously, declared himself a reluctant candidate to upset the established order.
“I am not leading this fight as a matter of aesthetic pleasure,” Roosevelt said in a speech kept in the Library of Congress audio archive. “I am leading because somebody must lead, or else the fight would not be made at all.”
Roosevelt won Michigan and five other states that year, which was enough to deny his Republican successor, President William Taft, reelection by splitting the GOP vote. That helped deliver an overwhelming Electoral College majority to Democratic nominee Woodrow Wison.
It was a dramatic and unusual political twist, but not the first or the last time third parties and independent candidates have played the role of foil to the two major parties in Michigan.
Michigan is a swing state this year and there are eight candidates on its presidential ballot. Vice President Kamala Harris is the Democratic nominee; former President Donald Trump is the Republican nominee. One of them will almost certainly be the person elected in what’s expected to be a nail-biter race with small parties playing a potentially game-changing role.
Oakland University political science professor David Dulio said Michigan’s swing state status is amplified by its crowded ballot.
“Half a percent here, half a percent there of the total vote can absolutely make a difference,” he told Michigan Public Radio.
Dulio said Green Party nominee Jill Stein and Natural Law Party of Michigan nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appear to have the biggest spoiler potential. Independent Cornel West is a well known academic and activist who is also on the ballot.
Kennedy added drama when he tried to pull his name from the ballot after suspending his Michigan campaign and endorsing Trump. But he was denied by Michigan and federal courts so he remains an option for Michigan voters.
Dulio said Stein, in particular, is making a strong case to metro Detroit’s Middle Eastern voters and progressives opposed to the war in Gaza.
“And I think that’s probably attractive to a lot of voters who were part of the ‘abandon Biden,’ which has now become the ‘abandon Harris’ movement,” he said, “and RFK, I think, is fascinating because, I mean, he endorsed Trump and tried to get off the ballot but that failed and him remaining on the ballot could change the results.”
Look back to 1992, Democratic nominee Bill Clinton took Michigan even though he was short of a majority thanks to independent Ross Perot taking 19.3% of the vote. In 2016, Republican nominee Donald Trump won the state by a fraction of a percentage point over Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton with four other nominees on the ballot as well as one write-in candidate.
This year, said Michigan State University professor Nura Sediqe, many Middle Eastern voters don’t see themselves as spoilers so much as messengers. She told Michigan Public Radio that these are voters who may think the Democratic Party takes them for granted.
“They feel like they’re captured in the party and they don’t have a ton of room to hold candidates accountable and so this is their way of trying to build some type of accountability,” she said.
So, said Sediqe, these voters don’t see themselves as spoilers or the election as a binary choice. She said voters may want to use the ballot to send a message when they feel their interests are ignored by the major parties.
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If Saturday afternoon’s rally in Novi were a barbecue, former President Donald Trump may have been serving red meat to supporters.
The Republican presidential nominee marked the first day of statewide early voting in Michigan by describing the disaster that he said would ensue should his opponent, Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, win the White House.
Ahead of the rally, screens displayed pictures of garbage piled up with captions like “Kamala’s Border Plan: Make America Haiti.” And speakers in the program stressed what they saw as pending threats to national security.
Trump’s speech turned up the political rhetoric and also claimed without evidence Harris would “kill thousands of people” through her border policy.
“If Kamala gets four more years, she will obliterate our economy, kill millions of jobs, and destroy your families’ finances,” Trump said.
The Harris campaign has ramped up its own attacks of Trump in recent weeks, highlighting Trump’s former chief of staff saying Trump fits the definition of a fascist.
Trump advisor Stephen Miller, who reportedly helped draft the executive order implementing the travel ban during Trump’s time in office, gave his own assessment of those communities’ support.
“Arab voters in Michigan, they want a strong leader. They want a leader they can respect. They want a man who is going to protect and defend their families in this country. And, as you all know, that man is and has always been Donald J. Trump,” Miller said.
The Trump campaign has been working extra to court Muslim and Arab voters after seeing Harris face continued backlash over President Joe Biden’s support of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. The effort is not entirely new, though: Republican recruitment efforts in places like Dearborn took a visible role in the 2022 election as well.
During Trump’s speech, he brought Detroit-area Imam Belal Alzuhiry and other Muslims supporting Trump on stage.
Alzuhiry said he believes Trump will bring peace to the conflict between Israel and Hamas while embracing Trump’s stances on immigration, and social issues.
“We support Donald Trump for his commitment to promoting family values and protecting our children’s wellbeing, especially when it comes to curriculums and schools,” Trump said.
Some higher profile members of Michigan’s Arab American community, however, are remaining deeply critical of Trump.
In a press release from a group including Wayne County Deputy Executive Assad Turfe, signers encouraged Arab Americans to see the possible negatives of a Trump presidency.
“Donald Trump has called for a Muslim ban, the arrest and deportation of 11 million hard-working immigrants who contribute to our economy and internment camps. His xenophobia, bigotry, divisive rhetoric, and incitement to violence, present a real threat to all Americans. He has not demonstrated any compassion for Palestinians, has not called for a cease-fire and has, instead, urged Netanyahu to ‘finish the job,’” the press release read.
Trump also worked Saturday to expand his support among Michigan’s autoworkers by promoting his new plan for making interest on auto loans for American-made cars tax-deductible — though it would only benefit those who itemize deductions on their income tax forms, a segment of the population that skews wealthier.
Trump says his plan would “cause the car industry to boom.”
“You can have the American dream because you don’t have the American dream without a car for your kids, et cetera, et cetera,” he said.
Trump had previously mentioned wanting to jack up tariffs on foreign imports and increase reliance on fossil fuels.
Harris has won the endorsement of the United Auto Workers union. But Trump is banking on getting the support of at least some rank and file members.
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Republican vice presidential pick JD Vance discussed economic policy during a speech Thursday in Waterford Township.
The Republican campaign has consistently promoted high tariffs on China and a greater reliance on fossil fuels as policies it says would help the U.S. auto industry.
Vance said tariffs are the main way to keep companies from using cheap labor abroad, despite economists saying companies are likely to push those costs onto consumers.
“If you impose a fat tariff on the people who are trying to import that stuff, then American factories and American corporations invest in American workers,” Vance said.
The campaign for the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, said she also supports tough-on-China policies when it comes to auto imports.
The Harris campaign accuses Republican nominee Donald Trump of losing thousands of auto industry jobs during his time in office, a period that includes the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Both campaigns have gone out of their way this cycle to reach out to rank and file union workers.
Harris has spoken to multiple union crowds in Michigan, most recently last week in Lansing.
Meanwhile, during Vance’s speech on Thursday, the audience heard from the founder of the group Autoworkers for Trump.
Brian Pannebecker said autoworkers have been receptive to former President Trump’s message, despite criticism from United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain.
“Do not believe what you see in the newspapers, do not believe what you see coming out of Shawn Fain’s mouth. He may have endorsed Kamala Harris but the membership of the UAW is voting Donald J. Trump and JD Vance,” Pannebecker said.
Thursday’s event fell in the context of both the Trump and Harris campaigns making their final election push.
The Trump campaign has stayed the course in recent Michigan appearances, hitting Harris on the economy and border security. It’s tried to paint her as a continuation of President Joe Biden’s policies.
Harris campaign events lately have gone further to frame Trump as a unique threat to American democracy.
During his talk Thursday, Vance responded to recent criticism of Trump from officials in the former president’s administration.
Trump’s former chief of staff, retired Marine Corps General John Kelly, told the New York Times, he believed Trump fit the definition of a fascist.
Several other former members of Trump’s administration have also questioned his fitness for office.
But Vance dismissed the concerns from Kelly, saying he’s “a disgruntled ex-employee.”
“John Kelly was fired by Donald Trump and he’s pissed off about it and he won’t stop talking about it,” Vance said.
Harris is highlighting several former Trump administration officials and Republican lawmakers that have endorsed her. That includes former GOP Congressman Fred Upton, who endorsed Harris Thursday morning.
Despite the endorsements and attacks, the race remains tight in Michigan. In-person early voting starts statewide on Saturday.
Around 18.5% of eligible voters had already cast a ballot either early or absentee by the end of Thursday, according to state data.
Republican Congressman John James said Republicans need to step up and vote early, in stark contrast with Trump campaign messaging during the 2020 and 2016 cycles.
“We wait until the last moment, let the Democrats run up the score, and then we wake up the next morning and we’re surprised when we’ve fallen behind,” James said. “We will secure the election but we also need to turn out our friends and family.”
This year, the Trump campaign is telling its supporters to embrace every voting method available.
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Michigan voters are casting ballots for the next President of the United States.
Perhaps no issue is more divisive among Michigan voters as abortion.
Michiganders are talking about what kind of presidential leadership they would like to see when it comes to abortion and reproductive health care.
Abortion is, of course, a very personal issue.
Stephanie Jones didn’t want to undergo an abortion. But a medical emergency made it necessary. She believes if Michigan had the same anti-abortion laws on the books that some other states have, she would not have survived.
Jones wants to see presidential leadership tempered with “empathy” when it comes to abortion.
“First, they have to be empathic and understand what it is like to go through that because how can you lead and govern if you aren’t understanding of the people’s struggle. That’s the proof of a good leader,” said Jones. “You don’t have to have the struggle yourself, but you have to at least be willing to listen and understand the nuances.”
But for those against abortion rights, now that the U.S. Supreme Court has left the issue up to the states, they want presidential leadership to focus elsewhere.
Trevor Polo is with Protect Life Michigan. He wants to see presidential leadership to address issues, like economic and family life, that often lead to women seeking abortions.
“I’d like to see whoever the president might be talking about solving those real issues,” said Polo. “ But not sacrificing rights of unborn children in the process.”
For Michigan doctors, the debate over abortion and reproductive health care shows different needs that could be influenced by the next president.
Dr. Katherine Stark has been a practicing OB-GYN for more than three decades in southeast Michigan. These days she’s the medical director at several reproductive health centers that try to provide an option to pregnant women who might otherwise consider abortion.
Stark said she would like the next president to prioritize life, including increasing funding for reproductive health care.
“Whether you’re poor or you’re wealthy or anywhere in between, you should be able to access excellent care for yourself and your family without worrying about doctors and clinics can’t take my insurance because Medicaid pays so poorly,” said Stark.
Many Michiganders are also concerned that the debate over abortion is spilling over into other aspects of reproductive health care; in particular they are concerned about the future of in vitro-fertilization or IVF.
Dr. Molly Moravek is a fertility specialist. For the past decade, she has helped many Michigan couples and individuals struggling to have children.
She’s not sure she wants to see presidential actions when it comes to abortion and reproductive health care.
“What I’d really like to see is someone who moves toward giving that autonomy back to physicians and their patients, and what happens in the clinic between us,” said Moravek. “Because every patient situation is different, and so it’s really hard to say this policy is right or wrong, ’cause it’s not right or wrong for everybody.”
Former President Donald Trump says he wants to leave abortion decisions to the states, while Vice President Kamala Harris favors congressional action to protect access to abortion and other reproductive health care options.
You can learn more here about how all the presidential candidates on the Michigan ballot stand on this and other issues.
Despite often being a loyal voting bloc for Democrats, Black Americans are politically diverse. Garrison Hayes, a journalist for Mother Jones and the Reveal podcast, has been spending some of this year talking to Black Republicans to determine what draws them to the GOP — and, in many cases, to Donald Trump. He joined Created Equal on Thursday to discuss the motivation behind their votes, and what they hope to gain from this election.
Hayes explained that many of the conservative Black voters he met at the Republican National Convention aligned with the party’s flagship issues of the importance of the Second Amendment, opposition to abortion, and protection of individual freedoms. He also explained that all of them outwardly supported Trump’s candidacy and that many espoused a feeling of being taken for granted by the Democratic Party.
He also discussed a growing tide of Black conservatives and Republicans who are unwilling to vote for Trump because of his lack of racial sensitivity and his stances on issues facing Black communities.
“For many Black Republicans there is this lifecycle, where you may hold your policy ideas or your interests politically. But when those political interests come into conflict or tension with your personal racial identity interests, you often are left as a Black Republican with a decision to make,” Hayes said.
Guest:
Garrison Hayesis a journalist and video correspondent for Mother Jones and the Reveal podcast.
Listen to Created Equal with host Stephen Henderson weekdays from 9-10 a.m. ET on 101.9 WDET and streaming on-demand.
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WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
Republican former Congressman Fred Upton is endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
Upton served Southwest Michigan in Congress for 36 years.
“I’ve never before voted for a Democrat for president,” Upton said. “I honestly never thought I would, but she’s a strong, committed public servant.”
Upton says he did vote for longtime Democratic U.S. Senator Carl Levin.
According to Upton, politics changed in 2016 once Trump came onto the scene.
“There have always been impassioned fights about policy, but with Trump in charge, politics was more personal, more angry and more divided than ever before,” Upton said.
Upton is unequivocal in his distaste for the former president.
“Instead of focusing on making people’s lives better, Trump is leveling personal attacks, spreading more election lies, and engaging in some of the most unstable and unhinged behavior that we’ve ever seen from a presidential candidate,” Upton said.
As for Michigan’s tight U.S. Senate race, Upton has not made an endorsement, but did say that he donated to Republican candidate and Trump-ally Mike Rogers.
However, Upton says he considers both Rogers and Democratic Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin friends.
The general election is taking place on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. For the latest election information, visit WDET’s Voter Guide at wdet.org/voterguide.
WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today. Donate today »
Michigan voters are deciding who they want to be the next president of the United States.
Polls indicate immigration is a top issue among Michigan voters.
Michigan Public has been talking to voters about what kind of presidential leadership they would like to see when it comes to immigration.
Van Buren County Sheriff Daniel Abbott’s southwest Michigan county is a long way from Mexico. But he says immigrants who cross the southern border are sometimes ending up in his county jail.
Abbott said at any time there are four to nine people in his jail, accused of serious crimes, with federal immigration holds.
“The fact of the matter is on a regular basis, especially over the last couple years, we’ve seen over and over and over, not only on the roadside but in the jail, that inmates coming in and out of the jail are getting flagged on a regular basis by ICE once they’re put into the system,” said Abbott.
Abbott said he wants to see the next president do something to slow the immigrant flow across the nation’s border with Mexico, which he blames for increased crime in his rural county.
But advocates object to labeling immigrants as a criminal element.
Susan Reed is with the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center in Kalamazoo.
She said the main problem with immigration is the confusing, often long process for immigrants to obtain legal status.
“I have a client who lost his work permit and has been waiting 15 months for the replacement. He can’t work without it,” said Reed. “He’s very skilled, has a great background working in a variety of settings and just can’t work ’cause he lost a document.”
Reed wants the next president to streamline the immigration and work permit system rather than imposing new obstacles.
Detroit has long been a destination for immigrants. And over time, where those immigrants have come from has changed.
“When my family moved in here, it was predominately Mexican and Puerto Rican. In the early 2000s, we started having more Central American immigrants come in,” said Adonis Flores. He helps undocumented immigrants seeking to stay in the U.S.
Flores said he’d like to see the next president change the part of immigration law which allows individuals to apply for permanent residency, but only if they’ve been in the U.S. since 1972.
Flores would like to see the date of registry updated to 2015.
“If somebody, for example, arrived in this country in the early 2000s or in the late 90s, and haven’t been able to fix their status because of that date of registry,” said Flores. “If that date gets updated, all of a sudden they have American kids and an American spouse that might be able to help their immigration status.”
Mara Cecelia Ostfeld is a U of M researcher. She said a recent University of Michigan study found the perception of whether immigrants are good or bad depends on an individual’s personal experience.
“Overall, a plurality of the residents in the communities we looked at: Flint, Grand Rapids, Ypsilanti and Detroit, did favor making it easier for foreigners to immigrate to the U.S. legally,” said Ostfeld.
However, some Michiganders are not as welcoming to their new neighbors.
“Young Black men are saying right now that they feel that people who are illegally coming into this country are getting treated better than they are,” Pastor Lorenzo Sewell told a group of Republicans gathered in Roseville back in August.
Sewell said his parishioners in Detroit, Pontiac and other Michigan cities want the immigration system changed.
“We need a president who’s willing to make a hard decision, send people back and then if they want to come in this country,” Sewell said. “They need to come the way, whatever way we feel as a country, they need to go through the process.”
Former President Donald Trump says the federal government should stop the flow of migrants across the southern border, and conduct a mass deportation effort of undocumented immigrants. Vice President Kamala Harris says she wants to fix the immigration system and create an earned pathway to citizenship.
You can learn more here about how all the presidential candidates on the Michigan ballot stand on this and other issues.
The campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris leaned into star power Tuesday night with a rally in Detroit featuring former President Barack Obama and Eminem.
The event leaned heavily into the narrative the Harris campaign has been pushing that Trump is both out of touch with working class people and possibly in cognitive decline.
Obama brought up lies Trump has told about the 2020 election being stolen, and false claims that FEMA funds were diverted away from hurricane relief.
Obama said it’s time to stop giving Trump the benefit of the doubt.
“We act like it’s okay. Or at least those who say they support him, they say well, you know, he’s just joking or it’s not that serious. Or, as long as we win, that’s how politics is played. No, it’s not,” Obama said.
“What does he mean about that? I assume he means anybody who disagrees with him,” Stabenow said.
In a press release ahead of the visit, the Trump campaign said it’s not worried about the Obama appearance, adding that it suggested Obama himself was out of touch.
Victoria LaCivita is the spokesperson for Trump’s campaign efforts in Michigan.
“You know things aren’t going well for Democrats when they have to fly in Barack Obama from his $12 million Martha’s Vineyard estate and his ‘high eight-figure’ Netflix production deal to campaign for Kamala Harris during the homestretch. And while it’ll probably be a slightly less unhinged affair than what other Kamala surrogates are doing to move the needle, an Obama visit isn’t going to convince Michiganders to vote for another four years of open borders, rising prices, and disaster at home and abroad,” LaCivita said in a statement.
With two weeks left until election day, the presidential race remains tight in Michigan, a key swing state. Tuesday’s rally in Detroit sought to bring enough excitement to the Harris ticket to break through the noise.
Speakers met the crowd with the popular Detroit greeting, “What up, doe?” Obama came on stage to Eminem’s ‘Lose Yourself.’ And Detroit Lions legend Calvin Johnson Jr. gave the first speech to a packed room at the Huntington Place convention center.
Eminem said supporters need to volunteer with the campaign and knock on doors.
“There are still a lot of people who have not made up their minds about this election. And they’re not going to be convinced by another ad or another email. They’re going to get out and vote because of people like you and me. So, with that being said, politics is not a spectator sport,” he said.
Early in-person voting is already open in Detroit and will become available statewide on Saturday.
Both Harris and Trump will be back in Michigan later this week to continue rallying voters. That includes competing events on Saturday.
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The U.S. presidential election is just a few weeks away, and early in-person voting has already begun in some communities.
As Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump’s campaigns ramp up in key swing states like Michigan, we continue talking to voters about what’s motivating them to vote in this pivotal election year.
The U.S. election special broadcasted live across the U.S. and Canada from 4-6 p.m. on Sunday, with many listeners from both the U.S. and Canada calling in to join the conversation and share how the election’s outcome could affect them.
Watch the video below to hear the full conversation.
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WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
Former President Donald Trump sought to bring together various parts of his coalition during an Oakland County roundtable Friday evening.
The talk included a New York businessman, representatives of the law enforcement community and members of the United Auto Workers and Teamsters unions. Each was there to highlight a different part of the Republican candidate’s campaign messaging.
For the union workers, Trump discussed his plans for U.S. trade policy should he win back the White House.
Trump has been using promises to jack up tariffs to appeal to autoworkers in particular. He says raising taxes on imported goods would boost the auto industry.
“The higher it goes, the more likely it is that they build in this country,” Trump said.
Presidential campaigns spend a lot of time in Michigan.
Whichever candidate gets the most statewide votes wins all of Michigan’s 15 coveted electoral votes. Kamala Harris (D) and Donald Trump (R) are nearly tied in most polls of the state’s voters.
The map below shows where we know candidates (and some surrogates) have publicly appeared in Michigan since July 15, 2024.
The height of each county on the map represents the number of voters in the 2020 presidential election.
The colors of each county show which party had the lead in votes and how big the lead was. Dark red means Republicans had a big lead and dark blue means the same for Democrats. Counties that look almost white had both parties nearly tied.
His Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, is also promoting some tariffs, including a 100% tariff on Chinese electric vehicle imports.
Economists take a mixed view of tariffs, saying they can protect domestic industries, but companies could just pass the cost of the tariffs along to consumers rather than eating those extra costs themselves. Harris has characterized Trump’s heavy tariff plan as, effectively, a national sales tax.
For law enforcement, Trump renewed his “tough-on-crime” messaging. He called for the death penalty against people convicted in the deaths of police officers, and for greater support for law enforcement indicted for alleged crimes while on duty.
Trump said police should have greater shields from prosecution.
“You have a quarter of a second to make a decision and if it’s the wrong decision, your life is over. So, we’re going to do the immunity thing and we’re going to fight alongside them. We have to stop being so politically correct,” Trump said, presumably referring to the legal doctrine of qualified immunity while speaking with Police Officers Association of Michigan President Jim Tignanelli.
Qualified immunity has been criticized as shielding police officers from accountability when they’re involved in shootings or deaths of suspects.
During the discussion, Trump asked Tignanelli how many he felt were innocent out of the 16 officers that Tignarelli estimates are facing indictment in Michigan.
“Innocent, innocent? Probably about 10 of them,” Tignanelli responded.
Aside from the business and blue-collar worker communities, the roundtable also featured someone from Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s former Make America Healthy Again coalition.
Kennedy, who’s still appearing on the ballot in Michigan, tried to end his campaign in states where he thought his candidacy would hurt Trump.
Nancy Jaafar owns a wellness center in Dearborn. She said the Kennedy messaging made her feel a “glimmer of hope.”
“I have to say I am genuinely terrified for humanity in general. The world needs healing and I can only hope that you and your campaign are the catalysts for that,” Jaafar said.
While Trump campaigned Friday in Auburn Hills and Detroit, Harris was crossing the state trying to build her own coalition.
The Harris campaign has been working to bring together supporters including union members, women, and conservatives who worry about a second Trump presidency.
Both campaigns see Michigan as a critical state in their bids for the White House. Harris is in Detroit Saturday to rally supporters on the first day of early voting in the city.
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WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are campaigning in metro Detroit today.
The visits come before in-person voting begins in Detroit this weekend.
Harris joined a national radio show broadcast from Detroit earlier this week. The Democratic nominee will be stumping in Grand Rapids and Lansing on Friday, before finishing with an event in Oakland County.
She’s expected to be in Detroit on Saturday for the start of early in-person voting.
Harris needs a strong turnout from the typically Democratic stronghold, where Trump has tried to make inroads.
He’ll be in Oakland County as well on Friday for a roundtable discussion, before heading to a rally at Detroit’s Huntington Place — a convention center Trump falsely claimed was the site of massive voter fraud in 2020.
The general election is taking place on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. For the latest election information, visit WDET’s Voter Guide at wdet.org/voterguide.
Reporting by Quinn Klinefelter, WDET
More headlines for Friday, Oct. 18, 2024:
Million Muslim Votes, Black Muslim Leadership Council and Dream of Detroit are hosting Muslim Vote Fest 2024, a get out to vote rally, from 1-3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 20, at the Jam Handy in Detroit.
The Black Political Power Tour, hosted by Capital B, is taking place at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 24, at Spot Lite Detroit, featuring vital discussions about the political landscape of Black Detroit, networking opportunities and more.
Monster’s Ball, Detroit’s largest annual Halloween event, is coming to the Russell Industrial Center in Detroit on Saturday, Oct. 19, featuring live music, food trucks, and a variety of unique costumes.
Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
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WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
Michigan’s marijuana industry has grown significantly since adult recreational use was legalized by voters in 2018. But the direction it goes in the future may depend on what happens next at the federal level.
Michiganders are talking about what kind of presidential leadership they would like to see when it comes to federal marijuana regulation.
One way of assessing how much marijuana has become mainstream in Michigan is the fact that a dispensary grand opening in Saginaw back in August included not only the local Chamber of Commerce, but also U.S. Senator Gary Peters.
These are pretty high times for Michigan’s cannabis business. Sales topped three billion dollars in 2023.
But there are headwinds.
In September, more than 1,500 people attended a marijuana industry showcase at DeVos Place in Grand Rapids.
Brett Thompson is a cultivator and processer in southwest Michigan. He was at the conference looking to expand his cannabis business to other parts of the state.
He’d like to see the next president lead on loosening federal banking regulations and de-schedule marijuana as an illegal drug on the federal level. Though Thompson is concerned about what that may mean.
“It’s one of those things, “be careful what you ask for,” said Thompson. “We’re trying to pay our taxes, and more than willing to pay our taxes; just give us a break.”
Michigan law enforcement also wants to see presidential leadership on marijuana.
Robert Stevenson is the executive director of the Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police. He said marijuana, medical and recreational, has been a challenge for Michigan law enforcement.
Stevenson said marijuana being illegal federally and legal on the state level has put police officers in something of a legal limbo.
“What we need is some clear direction out of Washington. If it’s going to be legalized, let’s legalize it. If it’s going to stay illegal, then let’s enforce it,” said Stevenson. “But having laws on the books that aren’t enforced or that are ignored, generally is not good for public safety. Doesn’t matter whether it’s marijuana law, or any type of law, if you have a law it should be enforced.”
Banking and scheduling are not the marijuana industry’s only challenges at the federal level.
Dave Morrow is the CEO of Lume, Michigan’s largest cannabis company. He wants to see presidential leadership on dealing with a loophole that allows hemp producers to sell THC products in states where marijuana products are illegal.
“People of like our general age don’t really understand the Delta-8 Delta-9 business, simply because we’re adults and can afford to go into a store to buy regulated product. When you go to Florida, people walking into these vape shops buying this stuff aren’t people like you, they’re 16-year-old kids,” he said.
Gordon MacDougall is also concerned about teenagers getting access to THC products. The Ludington man’s 16-year-old son Henry died in a car crash, after consuming an intoxicating level of marijuana.
MacDougall wants the next president to reassert federal controls on marijuana over state regulation.
“It’s like you have 50 children running around and some making poor decisions,” said MacDougall. “I believe the federal government should play parent in this and be the responsible adult.”
Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former president Donald Trump favor rescheduling marijuana to reduce federal penalties.
Click on this link to learn more about how all the presidential candidates on the Michigan ballot stand on this and other issues.
Tonight on the Detroit Evening Report, we cover Harris’ recent visit to Detroit to shore up support from Black male voters; the opening of the new Dr. Maya Angelou Village in northwest Detroit and more.
Vice President Kamala Harris spent part of the day in Detroit on Tuesday to take part in an “audio town hall” moderated by Charlamagne Tha God, host of iHeartRadio’s nationally syndicated radio show “The Breakfast Club.” Discussion topics ranged from the economy, to the use of misinformation, to the violence on Jan. 6, 2021.
“Donald Trump incited a violent mob to try and undo the will of the people and undo the results of a free and fair election,” Harris said Tuesday. “That violent mob attacked the United States Capitol. Over 140 law enforcement officers were injured. Some of them were killed. And he has said since then, that there will be a bloodbath after this election.”
Harris has been working to attract more Black male voters in recent weeks, making several trips to Detroit in the process.
Harris and Trump in Detroit Friday
Both Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump are scheduled to campaign in metro Detroit on Friday. The Harris campaign announced Wednesday that former President Barack Obama will come to Detroit next Tuesday. Michigan is a key battleground state in what is expected to be a very close presidential election.
Duggan to host District 6 meeting
Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan is scheduled to hold a charter-mandated community meeting in District 6 Wednesday night. It’s an opportunity to hear from the mayor and his administration about important news and events in the area. Officials from the Detroit Police Department will be there to give a presentation to residents about code enforcement. The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at the Kingdom Apostolic Ministries, 4735 W Fort St., Detroit. Interested residents can also join the meeting via Zoom.
Maya Angelou Village opens
A new development named after renowned poet Dr. Maya Angelou has opened in northwest Detroit, Model D reports. The mixed-use permanent supportive housing development, located near Grand River and Burt Road, is a partnership between a Chicago-based developer and the Detroit-based non-profit Alternatives for Girls. The non-profit focuses on serving at-risk girls and young women in Detroit.
Devin Scillian retiring
Longtime Detroit television anchor Devin Scillian is retiring. He announced the move last night on WDIV.
“I am currently in my 30th year here at WDIV. And maybe it’s the roundness of that number, but I’ve decided to move on to the next chapter of what has been a most enjoyable and gratifying book,” he said.
Scillian started at the station in 1995. In the past three decades, he has covered politics, natural disasters, court trials, the Olympics and a wide range of news stories in metro Detroit. Scillian gained national prominence shortly before coming to Detroit, when he covered the Oklahoma City bombing for a local station there. He says he has decided to retire now to devote more attention to some of his other passions, including writing children’s books and singing with his band. Scillian’s last newscast will be sometime in December.
Do you have a community story we should tell? Let us know in an email at detroiteveningreport@wdet.org.
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WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
The presidential campaign for Vice President Kamala Harris is taking its messaging to Black men in Detroit this week.
That’s through the release of a new policy platform and events aimed at Black male audiences, like a nationally syndicated radio appearance with The Breakfast Club host, Charlamagne tha God.
During that interview, Harris fielded questions about the border, the stakes of the election, and how she would advance the Black community if she wins in November. Harris took that chance to highlight parts of her recently unveiled agenda for Black men.
Those include proposals for increased downpayment assistance for first-time homebuyers, and forgivable loans for Black businessowners, before being ribbed by Charlamagne that some of her general talking points have become her “greatest hits.”
“The needs of the Black community are not just about criminal justice,” Harris said. “The community is not going to stand up and applaud just because everybody has a job. That should be a baseline.”
Harris also fielded a question from Detroit rapper Icewear Vezzo, who has said he’s dissatisfied with Democratic politicians, over whether her proposals for the Black community were opportunistic, given the timing.
Harris said her plan “is not new and not for the sake of winning this election,” before continuing into her record working with Black business owners prior to running for president.
The push to shore up Harris’ support among Black men comes at a time when there’s been reporting that her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, was making inroads in that community.
In that vein, the Harris campaign hosted an event this week in Detroit also geared toward Black men. Harris was not there, but it featured range of speakers, including political commentator Bakari Sellers and actors Don Cheadle and Delroy Lindo.
Lindo said he got involved after hearing about doubts young Black men had about Harris.
“For me, it’s a question of coming out, meeting people where they are, if I can, talk to as many young people as I can, and try to understand why are you feeling that way. Well, let me tell you what I feel, let me tell you what I understand. And see if we can have a meeting of the minds,” Lindo said.
Campaign staff said the Tuesday event built upon ones in other states.
BET personality Jeff Johnson, who also spoke, said this is the first presidential election he’s seen campaigns discuss what he calls the “complexity of Black men.”
“To help make Black men the center of this election is a blessing and I’m excited about that. And I think it gives us an unbelievable opportunity to really show who we are and what our power is in a way that the country has never paid attention to before,” Johnson said.
The Trump campaign says he has a history “delivering for Black Americans.”
Janiyah Thomas is Black media director for the campaign.
“Under his leadership, we saw historic job creation, rising wages, and real opportunities for building generational wealth. In contrast, the Harris-Biden administration’s policies have reversed these gains, leaving many Black families burdened by higher living costs, stagnant wages, and a surge in crime,” Thomas said in a statement.
The statement went on to criticize Harris for some of the ways she’s campaigned for the Black vote.
“While Kamala Harris panders to Black voters with collard green recipes and cheap ads at the BET Awards, Team Trump is actively making inroads with Black voters,” Thomas said.
Both Harris and Trump will be in metro Detroit on Friday.
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WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
ATLANTA (AP) — The latest method of voting to fall into the political crosshairs is the way overseas voters — including members of the military stationed abroad — cast their ballots.
The process is governed by federal law and implemented by states. In recent weeks, Republicans have been challenging how states handle these voters, something former President Donald Trump didn’t do in 2020 when he and his allies challenged his loss in court.
But things have changed, with just a month before Election Day and a tight race between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris. It’s part of a broader legal strategy by Republicans to position themselves for post-election challenges should Trump lose.
Ballots already have been sent to overseas and military voters under a federally mandated deadline. Trump and his Republican allies contend these ballots could be part of an elaborate scheme to steal the election from him, a claim for which there is no evidence. Their challenge comes as the voters who receive the ballots are increasingly from groups that are presumed to be Democratic.
Here’s a look at the issues involved and what’s driving the claims.
Who are these voters?
Congress passed a law in 1986 that was signed by then-President Ronald Reagan requiring states to allow certain groups of citizens to register and vote absentee in federal elections. Known as the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act, or UOCAVA, it applies to military members, their family and U.S. citizens living outside the country.
In 2020, states sent more than 1.2 million ballots to military and overseas voters. Of those, more than 900,000 were returned and nearly 890,000 were counted, according to data collected by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission.
Before 2016, military members and eligible family members represented most of these voters, according to the commission. But that has shifted slightly. In 2020, overseas citizens accounted for 57.4% of the registered voters. Overall, 40% of all military and overseas ballots were cast in three states: California, Florida and Washington.
That shift explains why Trump and other Republicans may be turning on the program. While military voters are presumed to vote for the GOP, other overseas voters are widely assumed to lean Democratic. This year, for the first time, the Democratic Party is spending money to try to turn them out.
The Federal Voting Assistance Program, which supports military and overseas voters, estimates that 2.8 million U.S. citizens of voting age were living overseas in 2022.
Election officials who receive their applications “do everything they can to verify that these are eligible voters and not just persons without any kind of identification,” said Election Assistance Commission member Christy A. McCormick.
How do overseas voters register and cast ballots?
Federal law allows qualified military or overseas voters to register to vote and request an absentee ballot at the same time, using what is known as the federal postcard application, which can be submitted electronically in many states. This is aimed at addressing the challenges military and overseas voters can face, such as slow or even unavailable mail delivery. Other accommodations include requiring states to have a system for delivering ballots electronically.
The federal postcard application asks applicants to provide their name, address, birth date, Social Security number and driver’s license. That information is logged and checked based on state procedures, according to Tammy Patrick, a former election official with the National Association of Election Officials.
“It’s not the case that anyone in the world can apply for a ballot. They still have to demonstrate they are an eligible American citizen,” she said.
Each person completing the form must also sign an oath under penalty of perjury that the information is correct, that they are a U.S. citizen, that they are not disqualified from voting and are not requesting a ballot or voting in any other jurisdiction in the U.S.
Unlike other voters, overseas voters can use an address where they have not lived for several years.
All but 13 states allow U.S. citizens born overseas but who have never lived in the U.S. to register and vote using a parent’s last residential address, according to data collected by the Election Assistance Commission.
What are the Republicans’ claims?
In Pennsylvania, a group of Republican members of Congress is asking a federal judge to order county elections officials to verify the identity and eligibility of military and overseas voters. They also want ballots cast by those voters to be kept apart from other ballots for the Nov. 5 election.
The lawsuit claims current practices have created “an illegally structured election process which makes Pennsylvania’s elections vulnerable to ineligible votes by individuals or entities who could purport to be UOCAVA-eligible.”
Out of nearly 27,000 military and overseas ballots cast in Pennsylvania in 2020, 1,363 — or 5% — were rejected. That’s a higher rejection rate than all but one state, according to federal data.
The lawsuits filed by the Republican National Committee argue that Michigan and North Carolina should not be allowing overseas voters who have never lived in their state to vote.
Why are these claims being raised now?
The warnings about overseas ballot fraud join a very long list of Trump allegations of rampant fraud in U.S. elections, even though there has been no evidence of any widespread fraud. Reviews, recounts and audits in the battleground states where Trump disputed his 2020 loss all affirmed President Joe Biden’s victory, and his own attorney general said there was no evidence of fraud that could have tipped the election.
Trump has claimed without evidence that huge numbers of non-citizens vote, that mail ballots are forged and that voting machines are secretly programmed against him. The goal has been to sow doubt about the reliability of any election he loses, enabling him to try to overturn his defeat.
Politically, Trump has tried to distinguish between military voters, who traditionally vote Republican, and other overseas voters. The Democratic Party in August announced it planned to spend about $300,000 trying to turn out overseas voters on behalf of Harris, its first expenditure on that group.
“They want to dilute the TRUE vote of our beautiful military and their families,” Trump claimed of Democrats in a Sept. 23 post on his social media network.
It’s likely, though, that challenges to these voters would carry consequences for both groups, including the military voters that Republicans routinely count on to pad their totals in close elections.
A spokesperson for the Republican National Committee said the litigation is aimed at preventing unlawful votes from diluting lawful ones.
“The point of the election integrity lawsuits is to fix the holes that we know exist as much as possible before the election,” RNC spokesperson Claire Zunk said.
What do election officials say?
With less than a month before the Nov. 5 election, now is not the time to raise objections to state law that has been in place for 13 years, said Patrick Gannon, a spokesman for the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
“This lawsuit was filed after voting had already begun in North Carolina for the general election,” Gannon said in a statement. “The time to challenge the rules for voter eligibility is well before an election, not after votes have already been cast.”
In Michigan, the relevant state laws and procedures also have been on the books for years, according to state election officials. A state law passed in 1995 says a spouse or dependent of an overseas voter who is a U.S. citizen can register using their parent’s or spouse’s Michigan address.
State election officials said local offices follow standard procedures to check the identity of all those seeking to register to vote in Michigan. That includes military and overseas voters, who are required to renew their status every year. Their ballots also are subject to the same checks as those cast by non-military and overseas voters, including signature verification.
“This is not a legitimate legal concern — just the latest in the RNC’s PR campaign to spread unfounded distrust in the integrity of our elections,” said Angela Benander, spokeswoman for the Michigan secretary of state’s office.
In Pennsylvania, ballots cast by ineligible voters occur at “extremely low” rates and are investigated, said Matt Heckel, spokesman for the state election office. Heckel said anyone who lies on the form faces substantial penalties, including a potential felony conviction, prison sentence and fine.
The Democratic National Committee has filed a motion to dismiss the Pennsylvania case.
“Plaintiffs’ inexcusably belated request for relief in the middle of an election would create chaos for election administration, confuse voters and potentially disenfranchise tens of thousands of eligible Pennsylvanians who wear their nation’s uniform or are otherwise living overseas,” the DNC said in its brief.
Story by Christina A. Cassidy and Nicholas Riccardi, Associated Press. Associated Press writers Mark Scolforo and Julie Carr Smyth contributed to this report.
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