Last month, Jeremy Hobson — host of NPR’s The Middle — joined Created Equal to discuss the geographic, economic and political characteristics of the “American middle” and its impact on national politics.

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

This week, Hobson returned to Created Equal  — post-election — to continue his discussion with host Stephen Henderson about the American middle and to reflect on how middle-class concerns helped drive the results of the 2024 presidential election.

Hobson believes that many voters were hesitant to vote for the incumbent party because of their economic struggles under the Biden administration. He explained that although states throughout the country moved towards Donald Trump in this election, this shift was most visible in swing states, leading to a heightened sense of political polarization between the middle of America and the coasts. 

Hobson also discussed how the Democratic Party’s focus on abortion rights may have been misplaced, when many states had referendums about abortion rights on their ballots this election or in the past. 

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

Guests:  

• Jeremy Hobson is the host of the NPR call-in show The Middle and the former host of Here and Now and the Marketplace Morning Report.

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

Imam Mustapha Elturk is the president of the Islamic Organization of North America in Warren, Michigan.

He’s also the co-chair of the Imams Council of Michigan. He said he’s content with the election results.

“I was content with the results, not because I like the Republicans or I like the Democrats, but because it’s God’s will, literally,” he said. “I try to let our community understand that no matter who the people vote for, it is in God’s wisdom, we have to accept and be content with the results, even if they did not turn out to our favor.”

Elturk says he encouraged people to get out the vote, regardless of which candidate people chose. But he said the ultimate results are up to God.

“I would remind them that no matter who wins the race, it is God Almighty who chose the outcome,” he said.

He also expressed the need for people to come together in unity, despite political differences.

“I know our community is split into Democrats, Republicans, and many voted for third party… political differences is OK, is healthy, but that should not, you know, all these differences should not lead us to division,” he said.

Elturk said people have to work with local and national leaders, holding them accountable for their positions in power.

He also encourages people to run for office and volunteer locally.

“[An] election is one way of civic engagement, but to unite and work together for the good, greater good of our larger community by volunteering and that what’s going to bring the community together, not only politically, but also engaged, engaged socially, doing something together for the community,” he said.

Michigan set a record in the 2024 election. Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson announced that 79% of eligible voters in the state cast their ballots — the highest turnout in the state’s history. However, turnout in Detroit decreased — and nationwide, nearly 13 million voters stayed home.

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

The efforts to expand voter rolls are working, but why aren’t they connecting in places like Detroit? Mario Marrow, political consultant and president of Mario Marrow and Associates, and Brady Baybeck, professor of political science at Wayne State University, joined Created Equal on Wednesday to unpack the story of turnout on Election Day and what it means for our elections going forward. 

Baybeck pointed out that although many people feel compelled to vote because of a sense of civic duty, voting still comes with personal cost for many people. He stressed the importance of candidates inspiring voters to participate and explained that Trump was very effective at inspiring his base to vote, noting that Democratic messaging to voters could have been more widespread. 

Marrow suggested that Harris had difficulty gaining momentum among voters because Biden dropped out late in the campaign, resulting in low turnout in some areas. He also explained that Trump was more successful connecting with his base through his use of TV and social media advertising, whereas the Harris campaign’s focus on knocking on doors and in-person organizing was inefficient at reaching out to an already fatigued voter base. 

“It doesn’t work, you have to move into an area of technology, you have to move into getting to your constituents with an emotional affect,” Marrow said. 

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

Guests:

• Mario Marrow is the president of Mario Marrow and Associates.
• Brady Baybeck is a professor of political science at Wayne State University

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

Democrats were on the blunt end of a very strong message on election day, as Donald Trump flipped many parts of the country and some traditionally Democratic constituencies to win another term in the White House. What’s the lesson for the party going forward? Can it reclaim independents and male voters, who seemed to abandon the party in large numbers? How much is this about issues, and how much of it is about identity?

Debbie Dingell is a U.S. Representative for the 6th District of Michigan, and Jamal Simmons is a political strategist, CNN political commentator and former Communications Director for Vice President Kamala Harris. They joined Created Equal to discuss the future of the Democratic party. 

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

Dingell discussed that the Harris campaign was likely plagued by a lack of awareness of “kitchen table issues” and immigration issues that were affecting voters, as well as a general lack of compassion for the struggles of the average American. She also explained that the campaign was too focused on fundraising and targeting Republican areas as opposed to speaking directly to Democratic-leaning voters in unscripted environments. 

Simmons agreed that Democrats failed to speak to voters in multicultural and welcoming environments. He explained the importance for future Democratic campaigns to focus on change and be on the side of the disaffected rather than defending institutions, but it’s difficult to sell that image when they’ve been in charge of the government for a long time. 

He also discussed how the Democratic Party’s reliance on polling led to a lack of awareness in how rhetoric from the Trump campaign was affecting voters. 

“Maybe the poll or the focus groups say it’s not really having the impact that we thought, but all the real people say it is. So you have to balance it out,” Simmons said. 

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Guests: 

• Debbie Dingell is a U.S. Representative for the 6th District of Michigan 
• Jamal Simmons is a longtime political strategist, CNN political commentator and former Communications Director for VP Kamala Harris

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

One of President-elect Donald Trump’s key promises to the American public has been the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants.

In Michigan, tens of thousands of migrant workers and their dependents contribute significantly to the agriculture and food processing industries each year, according to the state health department.

Advocates say the mass deportation plan threatens not only the lives these individuals have built in the U.S., but also the workforce in states like Michigan, where they play a critical role in local economies.

Susan Reed, director of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, said deportations could drive up the cost of produce.

“Employers are very likely to face employer-focused raids, and I would expect that to impact prices as businesses struggle to replace a workforce that is either no longer migrating or no longer present in the community,” Reed explained.

The logistics of Trump’s deportation plan remain unclear, although he has stated he would rely on local law enforcement and the National Guard to carry out the operations. How this will unfold is uncertain, particularly given that local law enforcement agencies operate under a separate leadership structure and do not report directly to federal authorities.

Moreover, said Reed, many local communities have implemented protections to safeguard their vulnerable residents.

“Many local communities have adopted resolutions or ordinances stating that local resources can only be used to cooperate with immigration enforcement to the minimum extent required by law,” Reed said. “I certainly expect new federal laws or proposals aimed at forcing more cooperation. But for now, many local communities already have policies that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.”

Despite these local protections, Reed said her office continues to field calls from concerned people in Michigan—both documented and undocumented—who worry that their lives will be upended once Trump returns to office.

“I’m hearing from my clients who are on the path to citizenship—some who have been granted asylum but don’t yet have a green card, others who have a green card but haven’t yet become citizens, and some who are citizens but are so traumatized by the process and by the rhetoric that they’re terrified of losing their status,” Reed said. “I try to reassure them, while being honest about the uncertainties ahead.”

While the future remains unclear, Reed emphasized that deportation is often described as a “civil death,” and said she advises vulnerable individuals to prepare for the worst—especially those whose children have birthright citizenship.

Reed said parents should have power of attorney, or, in Michigan, a delegation of parental authority, in place. She said this legal document can help ensure that children are not placed in the foster care system if their parents are deported.

She also recommends that parents obtain and keep updated passports for their U.S. citizen children.

President-elect Donald Trump won Michigan this week in what was expected to be a very close presidential election. In this episode of MichMash, Zach Gorchow of Gongwer News Service speaks with Senior Capitol Correspondent Tim Skubick about how the former President defied the experts and secured a victory in Michigan on election night.

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

In this episode:

• Why Donald Trump over-performed in Michigan
• The sea change in the Michigan House of Representatives
• What’s to come in Michigan politics in 2026

Trump made a surprising comeback, handily winning 74 ​counties in Michigan despite losing the state in 2020. Skubick says this shift was largely attributed to high turnout among male voters, especially in regions outside of the typical “Trump country.”

“What ​Mr. ​Trump ​was ​able ​to ​do ​is ​he ​defied ​the ​experts ​who ​didn’t ​think ​he ​could ​get ​enough ​of ​those ​couch ​potatoes, ​men ​mostly, ​off ​of ​the ​couch ​and ​into ​the ​polls. ​And ​that’s ​exactly ​what ​he ​did,” he said. “​He ​overperformed ​by ​500,000 ​votes ​compared ​to ​what ​he ​did ​in ​2016. ​I ​mean, ​game ​over.”

Skubick also noted that Vice President Kamala Harris’ late entry into the race and her focus on critiquing Trump rather than promoting her own platform may have hurt her chances significantly.

“Ms. ​Harris, ​I ​think, ​made ​a ​huge ​mistake,” he said. ​”You ​have ​to ​give ​people ​a ​reason ​to ​vote ​for ​you ​rather ​than ​a ​reason ​not ​to ​vote ​for ​the ​other ​guy ​or ​person. ​How ​they ​missed ​that ​is ​incredible.”

More from WDET:

• MichMash: Jemele Hill on the changing dynamics of the Black vote in Michigan
• Created Equal: Examining the future of conservative politics under Trump
• The Metro: Retired UAW member shares why he proudly supported Donald Trump

A second Trump presidency was not what many conservatives, or even many Republicans, said they wanted. But voters had a different idea on Nov. 5.

What is the Republican Party now, with the many defections that have taken place in the Trump era? What about the authoritarian impulses that Trump indulges? Are they the contours around which a new Republican party is forming?

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

Today on Created Equal, host Stephen Henderson was joined by three guests to discuss what the future of their politics — as conservatives who opposed Trump — looks like.

Fred Upton, former U.S. Rep from Michigan and a member of the Republican party discussed how MAGA has become ingrained in the culture of the Republican Party. He described how Trump’s Republican Party is marked by an opposition to working with the other side of the political aisle and bridge-building in general, as evidenced by his lack of outreach to primary opponent Nikki Haley. He also discussed how the American primary system, where only a minority of states have ranked choice voting, leads to polarization between the eventual nominees and hurts bipartisan efforts.  

Andrea Bitely, a political and communications strategist at Bitely Communications and former spokesperson for former attorney general Bill Schuette, explained that inflation in grocery prices and other “kitchen table” issues have recently dominated the national consciousness causing longer term national issues to fall to the wayside. Trump’s focus on these issues combined with Harris’ lack of messaging regarding them may have contributed to Trump increasing his votes among blue collar workers and union members this cycle. She also discussed a possible switch from the Republican Party to the Democratic Party by upper-class, educated voters.   

Shikha Dalmia, president of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, discussed how the Republican Party platform has evolved from prioritizing limited government, free markets, and free trade to a form of authoritarianism under Trump. This populist authoritarianism is marked by Trump’s appeal to an “in group” through the scapegoating of an “out group” consisting of several minority groups and his carving away at the guardrails against executive authority.  

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Guests:  

• Shikha Dalmia is the president of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism. She is also the editor-in-chief of the free Substack publication, “The UnPopulist.”
• Andrea Bitely is a political and communications strategist at Bitely Communications, and a former spokesperson for former Attorney General Bill Schuette.
• Fred Upton is a former U.S. Rep from Michigan and a member of the Republican Party. 

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

President Joe Biden is scheduled to deliver remarks to the nation in what will be his first appearance on camera in the aftermath of Donald Trump ’s decisive victory over Kamala Harris.

Control over the U.S. House of Representatives hangs in the balance, teetering between a Republican or Democratic majority with dozens of races left to be called.

The Republicans won control of the U.S. Senate early Wednesday.

Here’s the latest election news from the Associated Press:

Independent Angus King wins reelection to the US Senate from Maine

Independent Sen. Angus King won a third term in the U.S. Senate representing Maine on Thursday, turning back challenges from a former Republican state party chair and a Democratic environmental activist.

The 80-year-old former governor would be the oldest senator from Maine to serve if he completes his term, which ends in 2030, but he wasn’t dogged by questions about his age like President Joe Biden, the former Democratic presidential nominee. King caucuses with Democrats and was first elected to the Senate in 2012. The Associated Press declared King the winner at 10:14 a.m. EST.

Here’s how 5 key demographic groups voted in 2024

Donald Trump won the presidency after holding tight to his core base of voters and slightly expanding his coalition to include several groups that have traditionally been part of the Democratic base. That finding comes from AP VoteCast, a sweeping survey of more than 120,000 voters nationwide that shows what issues mattered to voters in this election.

Trump picked up a small but significant share of Black and Hispanic voters and made narrow gains with men and women. As Trump chipped away at parts of the Democratic coalition, Vice President Kamala Harris wasn’t able to make enough of her own gains.

Trump succeeded in locking down his traditionally older, white base of voters, and he slightly expanded his margins with other groups into a winning coalition.

Read more about how five key demographic groups voted

Many European leaders at summit stress the need for defense self-reliance in wake of Trump’s reelection

Around 50 European leaders on Thursday called for a stronger defense posture across the continent that no longer necessitates a fundamental dependence on Washington as they gave a guarded welcome to U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.

The European Political Community summit on Thursday in Hungary’s capital of Budapest reassessed trans-Atlantic relations in the hope that Trump’s second U.S. presidency will avoid the strife of his first administration.

“He was elected by the American people. He will defend the American interests,” French President Emmanuel Macron told the other leaders, adding that it was not the role of European Union leaders to “comment on the election … to wonder if it is good or not.”

“The question is whether we are willing to defend the European interest. It is the only question. It is our priority,” Macron said.

There are concerns, too, that the robust military aid Ukraine has enjoyed under President Joe Biden will be cut under Trump, particularly if Republicans take control of the House.

Read more about how European leaders are responding to Trump’s election

Feds set to cut interest rates again amid post-election uncertainty

Federal Reserve officials are poised Thursday to reduce their key interest rate for a second straight time, responding to a steady slowdown of inflation pressures that exasperated many Americans and contributed to Donald Trump’s presidential election victory.

Yet the Fed’s future moves are now more uncertain in the aftermath of the election, given that Trump’s economic proposals have been widely flagged as potentially inflationary. His election has also raised the specter of meddling by the White House in the Fed’s policy decisions, with Trump having proclaimed that as president he should have a voice in the central bank’s interest rate decisions.

The Fed has long guarded its status as an independent institution able to make difficult decisions about borrowing rates, free from political interference. Yet during his previous term in the White House, Trump publicly attacked Chair Jerome Powell after the Fed raised rates to fight inflation, and he may do so again.

Read more about interest rate cuts

FACT FOCUS: A multimillion-vote gap between 2020 and 2024 fuels false election narratives

Less than 24 hours after Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States, social media users began pushing two conflicting narratives to suggest election fraud, one that revived false claims by Trump that the 2020 vote was stolen from him and the other questioning how Vice President Kamala Harris could have received so many fewer votes in 2024 than President Joe Biden in 2020.

Both narratives hinge on a supposed 20 million vote gap between Harris and Biden.

Here’s a closer look at the facts.

CLAIM: President Joe Biden won approximately 20 million more votes in the 2020 election than Vice President Kamala Harris earned in the 2024 race, proving either that Trump has cheated his way to a second term or that there was widespread fraud four years ago.

THE FACTS: The claims are unfounded. Votes from Tuesday’s presidential election are still being counted, so any comparison with previous races would not be accurate. In addition, election officials and agencies monitoring the vote have reported no significant issues with Tuesday’s election. Claims of widespread fraud in 2020 have been debunked countless times.

Read more on this fact focus

Trump’s return elicits both worry and hope among Iranians

Iranians, like many around the world, are divided on what Donald Trump’s next presidency will bring: Some foresee an all-out war between Tehran and Washington, particularly as other conflicts rage in the region. Others hold out hope that America’s 47th president might engage in unexpected diplomacy as he did with North Korea.

But nearly all believe something will change in the U.S.-Iran relationship.

And while Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all matters of state, has repeatedly expressed his own disgust with Trump, Iran’s new reformist president has kept the door open to talks with Trump to seek relief from international sanctions to buoy a cratering economy. The Iranian rial, in a free fall for years, hit its lowest value against the dollar on Wednesday before slightly recovering.

Read more about the response in Iran to Trump’s election win

What could US diplomacy look like under Trump?

Trump’s second term could realign U.S. diplomacy away from traditional international alliances and more toward populist, authoritarian politicians, according to both those leaders and outside observers.

Among them are:

1. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán

2. President Vladimir Putin of Russia

3. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

4. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey

5. President Javier Milei of Argentina

6. Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico

Read more about these leaders and their diplomatic approaches

Bernie Sanders calls for reckoning in Democratic Party following election losses

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders did not mince words in a scathing statement Wednesday.

“It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them,” Sanders, Vermont’s senior senator, said.

“First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well,” Sanders said.

Sanders won reelection to a fourth term on Tuesday. He singled out wealth inequality, a slipping standard of living in the U.S., a lack of full health care guarantees and support for Israel’s recent military campaigns as problems Democrats need to focus on. Sanders’s 2016 presidential run was a key factor in pushing the dialogue in the Democratic party to the left. Sanders has built his political career outside — and often criticizing — the Democratic Party, but he caucuses with Democrats in the Senate.

Vatican No. 2: Holy See hopes Trump will help end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza

“At the start of his mandate, we wish him much wisdom because this is the main virtue of rulers according to the Bible,” Cardinal Pietro Parolin said, speaking on the sidelines of a Rome conference on Thursday, according to Vatican News.

While acknowledging no one had a “magic wand” to end wars in Ukraine and Gaza, Parolin said the Holy See hoped Trump “can indeed be an element of détente and pacification in the current conflicts that are bleeding the world.”

Parolin also said he hoped Trump would work to end polarization in the U.S., including over abortion. On migration, he recalled Pope Francis’ call to welcome those fleeing wars, poverty and climate change.

After visiting the U.S.-Mexico border in 2016 and asked about Trump’s call to build a wall, Francis famously said anyone who builds a wall to keep out migrants was “not Christian.”

More recently, Francis recommended U.S. voters choose the “lesser evil” when asked how a U.S. Catholic should vote given Trump’s pledge to deport migrants and Vice President Kamala Harris’ support of abortion rights.

The Dalai Lama congratulates Trump on his election win

“I have long admired the United States of America as the champion of democracy, freedom and the rule of law,” the Tibetan spiritual leader said in a message to Trump from the northern Indian town of Dharamshala where he has lived in exile since fleeing Tibet in 1959.

“The Tibetan people and I have been honored to have received the support of respective U.S. Presidents and the American people, in our endeavor to protect and preserve our ancient Buddhist culture — a culture of peace, non-violence and compassion that has the potential to benefit humanity as a whole,” he said.

Turkey’s president spoke with Trump late on Wednesday

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan conveyed his hopes in a call for strengthened cooperation between their two countries during Trump’s new term in office, according to a statement from the Turkish president’s office.

Trump’s presidential transition starts now. Here’s how it will work

Trump’s impending return to the White House means he’ll want to stand up an entirely new administration from the one that served under President Joe Biden. His team is also pledging that the second won’t look much like the first one Trump established after his 2016 victory.

The president-elect now has a 75-day transition period to build out his team before Inauguration Day arrives on Jan. 20. One top item on the to-do list: filling around 4,000 government positions with political appointees, people who are specifically tapped for their jobs by Trump’s team.

That includes everyone from the secretary of state and other heads of Cabinet departments to those selected to serve part-time on boards and commissions. Around 1,200 of those presidential appointments require Senate confirmation, which should be easier with the Senate now shifting to Republican control.

Read more about Trump’s transition

Neither party has a dominant pathway to House majority

The House contests remain a tit-for-tat fight to the finish, with no dominant pathway to the majority for either party. Rarely, if ever, have the two chambers of Congress flipped in opposite directions.

Each side is gaining and losing a few seats, including through the redistricting process, which is the routine redrawing of House seat boundary lines. The process reset seats in North Carolina, Louisiana and Alabama.

Much of the outcome hinges on the West, particularly in California, where a handful of House seats are being fiercely contested, and mail-in ballots arriving a week after the election will still be counted. Hard-fought races around the “blue dot” in Omaha, Nebraska and in far-flung Alaska are among those being watched.

Updates on the last two presidential races left to be called

With a win in Wisconsin early Wednesday, Trump cleared the 270 electoral votes needed to clinch the presidency. But his exact margin of victory is still unclear — there are two presidential races that the AP has yet to call:

Arizona: Officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County said late Wednesday they’ve got more than 700,000 ballots left to count, which means the races for president and senate were too early to call. In all, AP estimates there are at least a million ballots to be added to the results in Arizona. County election officials are expected to firm up those numbers on Thursday.

Nevada: AP estimated late Wednesday evening that there are more than 200,000 ballots left to count in Nevada — including more than 130,000 in Clark County. Given the narrow margins in the races for president and U.S. Senate, both are too early to call. The AP will further review results released by Nevada election officials on Thursday.

Decision Desk updates on key Senate races

Arizona: Officials in Arizona’s Maricopa County said late Wednesday they’ve got more than 700,000 ballots left to count, which means the races for president and senate were too early to call. In all, AP estimates there are at least a million ballots to be added to the results in Arizona. County election officials are expected to firm up those numbers on Thursday.

Nevada: AP estimated late Wednesday evening that there are more than 200,000 ballots left to count in Nevada — including more than 130,000 in Clark County. Given the narrow margins in the races for president and U.S. Senate, both are too early to call. The AP will further review results released by Nevada election officials on Thursday.

Control of the US House hangs in the balance with enormous implications for Trump’s agenda

The U.S. House majority hung in the balance Wednesday, teetering between Republican control that would usher in a new era of unified GOP governance in Washington or a flip to Democrats as a last line of resistance to a Trump second-term White House agenda.

A few individual seats, or even a single one, will determine the outcome. Final tallies will take a while, likely pushing the decision into next week — or beyond.

After Republicans swept into the majority in the U.S. Senate by picking up seats in West Virginia, Ohio and Montana, House Speaker Mike Johnson predicted his chamber would fall in line next.

“Republicans are poised to have unified government in the White House, Senate and House,” Johnson said Wednesday.

Read more about control of Congress

Biden will deliver a Rose Garden address at 11 a.m. ET

The remarks to the nation will be Biden’s first appearance on camera in the aftermath of Trump’s decisive victory over Harris.

How Trump spent his first day as president-elect

Donald Trump spent his first day as president-elect receiving congratulatory phone calls from his defeated opponent, world leaders and President Joe Biden as he began the process of turning his election victory into a government.

Trump was keeping a low profile, staying out of the public eye after addressing supporters in Florida during the wee hours of Wednesday morning.

Vice President Kamala Harris called Trump to concede the race and to congratulate him, while Biden invited the man he ousted from the White House four years ago to an Oval Office meeting to prepare to return the keys.

Biden’s chief of staff later Wednesday nudged the Trump team to sign the required federal agreements necessary to begin an orderly presidential transition, a White House official said.

It’s the day after the Election, and Donald Trump is poised to retake the presidency. What does his reelection say about voters, their preferences, and the state of the country?

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

Nancy Kaffer of the Detroit Free Press, former Michigan Senator Randall Richardville, and Washington Post columnist E.J. Dionne join the show to discuss Donald Trump’s reelection, local races in Michigan and in Detroit, and what this election says about voters, their preferences, and the state of the country.

Dionne partially attributed Trump’s win to an increase in aggressive messaging from his campaign about economic discontent and immigration. He also discussed Kamala Harris’ attempts at building solidarity among young women voters with her focus on the right to choose. 

Richardville explained that although Harris’ focus on the right to choose resonated with young women, some men in similar demographics felt a lack of focus on issues directly affecting them. This sense of political “homelessness” among young men may have led to an increase in votes for Trump. He also discussed the significant increase in Trump support among Black and Latino voters.

Kaffer said some immigrants may have voted for Trump because of the perceived unfairness of migrants entering the country illegally while others had to use complex legal channels. She also discussed the possibility of a coalition shift in the country’s politics and stressed the uniqueness of American democracy. 

“America is unique in the world because we’re not based on a race or ethnicity or religion or tribal affiliation, we’re an idea. And the idea is democracy,” Kaffer said. 

Guests: 

• Nancy Kaffer is an editorial page editor for the Detroit Free Press. 
• Randall Richardville is the former Majority Leader of the Michigan State Senate. 
• E.J. Dionne is a professor at the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, a political columnist for the Washington Post, and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. 

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

President-elect Donald Trump won 42% of the vote in Dearborn, according to the city’s unofficial results.

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

He campaigned in Dearborn last week, pledging to bring peace to the Middle East, despite his longstanding support of Israel. Vice President Kamala Harris garnered 36% of the vote among city residents.

Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who campaigned as the anti-war candidate, received 18% of the votes. Some Muslim and Arab American voters shifted toward Stein and Trump hoping one of them would end Israel’s war in Gaza.

Still, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cheered Trump’s victory, and foreign policy experts say the win could embolden Netanyahu to expand the war. Trump has urged the prime minister to do whatever it takes to win in Gaza. 

Visit wdet.org/electionresults for more general election results for the metro Detroit area.

Other headlines for Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2024:

• Tickets are now on sale for the SphinxConnect 2025: Ignite “convening,” referred to by organizers as the largest and longest-standing event dedicated to excellence and inclusion in classical music. The event will take place Jan. 23-25 at the Detroit Marriott at the Renaissance Center.
• City Councilmember Coleman Young II is hosting an “I Am Thankful” dinner before an At-Large Evening Meeting next Tuesday, Nov. 12, at the Northwest Activities Center in Detroit. Attendees are asked to RSVP by calling 313-628-2766 or emailing zina.johnson@detroitmi.gov. 
• Former WDIV reporter Chauncy Glover has died. The Detroit News reports Glover, 39, had been working at KCAL in Los Angeles as a news anchor for more than a year. The circumstance of his death have not been released. 

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

The WDET News team is keeping track of all the key races Michigan residents are following in the 2024 general election, from the presidential and Congressional races to down-ballot races and ballot proposals in metro Detroit and around the state.

Tune in to WDET 101.9 FM for the most up-to-date election results and analysis, or visit wdet.org/electionresults for live updates on the following races:

• State Representatives in Wayne County
• State Representatives in Oakland County
• State Representatives in Macomb County
• Michigan Supreme Court
• Wayne County election results
• Oakland County election results
• Macomb County election results
• State Board of Education
• Wayne State University Board of Governors
• Michigan State University Board of Trustees
• University of Michigan Board of Regents

More than three million people have already voted in Michigan’s general election, but officials say they’re still expecting a busy day on Election Day as voters head to the polls.

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

Shira Roza is the election protection director at Promote the Vote. She says her group is ready to help.

“Our nonpartisan election protection boiler room has in the past week alone responded to over 100 voting-related issues, from long lines at early voting sites to a lack of accessibility for voters with disabilities to voter intimidation,” said Roza.

To report issues or get assistance from Promote the Vote, you can call their hotline 866-OUR-VOTE. If you feel physically threatened at a polling place, call 911. 

Polls close at 8 p.m. in Michigan — excluding the Upper Peninsula counties of Dickinson, Gogebic, Iron and Menominee, which are in the Central Time Zone and will close their polling locations at 9 p.m. ET. Follow along with WDET on-air and online at wdet.org/electionresults for local, state and federal election results updated in real-time by the WDET News team.

—Reporting by Russ McNamara, WDET

Other headlines for Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024:

• Polls across Metro Detroit are open until 8 p.m. If you’re in line by 8, you will be allowed to vote no matter how long it takes.
• Poll workers are keeping an eye out for possible disturbances, so don’t wear campaign-related clothing to the polls, and make sure to listen to the instructions that poll workers are giving you.
• At the top of today’s ballot, Republican former President Donald Trump faces off against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris. The candidates and their running mates have made several trips to Detroit in the past few weeks, making their cases for your votes. There are also several other presidential candidates on the ballot, from a wide array of political parties.
• In the race for U.S. Senate, Democrat Elissa Slotkin and Republican Mike Rogers are battling for the seat left open when incumbent Senator Debbie Stabenow decided not to run for reelection.
• Here in the city of Detroit, there are two Congressional races. The 13th Congressional District covers the eastern half of the city and parts of Downriver.  In that race, Democratic incumbent Shri Thanedar faces Republican challenger Martell Bivings.
• On the city’s far west side, Democratic incumbent Rashida Tlaib faces Republican challenger James Hooper for the 12th Congressional District.
• Among the many other races on the ballot are contests for the Michigan Supreme Court, the 36th District Court, the Detroit School Board, and the Wayne State Board of Governors. There are also two educational millages.
• If you have questions about the general election or what’s on your ballot, visit the WDET Voter Guide at wdet.org/voterguide. 
• And be sure to follow along with WDET on-air at 101.9 FM and online at wdet.org/electionresults for local, state and federal election results updated in real-time.
• In non-election news, ESPN is reporting that the Detroit Lions have made a trade for Cleveland Browns defensive lineman Za’Darius Smith to bolster its defense.  The team plays the Houston Texans Sunday night. 

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

Election Day is finally here. American democracy has persisted for more than two centuries, and the role this year’s election could play in upholding that democracy has been touted by both sides of the political aisle.

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

Today on Created Equal, award-winning author and Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Desiree Cooper joined the show, along with Bret Stephens, opinion columnist on domestic politics and cultural issues for the New York Times, to discuss how they feel about American democracy and what they kept in mind as they cast their ballots. 

Stephens discussed the prevailing feeling among voters that democracy itself will end if their candidate does not win and the eroding of the values of liberal democracy. He drew attention to the cyclical nature of American democracy and highlighted the fact that there have been many historical instances of social upheaval throughout American history, but a sense of commonality had always returned to the country.

Cooper explained that many “undecided” voters may be having trouble deciding between upholding American democracy or upholding party supremacy, pointing to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, as an example. She discussed the importance of not taking the right to vote for granted even as voting access has expanded.   

“Just because you had a right yesterday, doesn’t mean you will have a right tomorrow,” Cooper said. 

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

Guests: 

• Desiree Cooper is an award-winning author and Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist
• Bret Stephens is an opinion columnist for the New York Times on domestic politics and cultural issues. 

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

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.

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

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 to check 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.

The 2024 general election is less than 24 hours away, and the WDET News team has been hard at work bringing Michigan residents the information they need about early voting, election security, and the many candidates running for president, Congress, state Legislature, county leadership positions and more.

Pre-election and Election Day coverage

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson will join Stephen Henderson on Created Equal Monday to share her takeaways from Michigan’s early in-person voting period, which ended on Sunday. Then on Tuesday, Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist and Detroit community activist Desiree Cooper joins the show to reflect on the current state of American democracy and how this historic election might affect its future.

On The Metro, BridgeDetroit reporter Malachi Barrett joins the show Monday with Imani Harris — communications lead for Detroit education nonprofit 482Forward — to discuss early voting engagement. Also on the show, Dance for Democracy Co-director Ellen Vial previews an upcoming dance party at Spot Lite Detroit on Tuesday to help encourage civic engagement among young people. The event will feature performances from Detroit artists Stacey Hotwaxx Hale, Haute to Death and more.

WDET News Director Jerome Vaughn will join the show on Election Day to talk about WDET’s election coverage, election integrity and what to expect on election night.

Tune in to 101.9 FM for additional election-related conversations and information throughout the day from the WDET News team.

Election night coverage

WDET will pre-empt our regular Tuesday evening programming from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. on Election night to carry NPR’s live special coverage, offering election results, analysis and insights from across the country. Vaughn will join All Things Considered host Russ McNamara in-studio to provide live updates on local races and other news you need to know throughout the night.

Be sure to follow along with us at wdet.org/electionresults for real-time updates on key metro Detroit, state and national races.

Still undecided?

For those still unsure about what’s on your ballot or who to support in this election, there is still time to familiarize yourself with the candidates running in your district. Visit wdet.org/voterguide to get more information about the candidates running for president, Congress, state House of Representatives, university boards and more in Michigan. You can also find helpful links to check your voter registration status, look up your polling place, view a preview of your ballot and more.

For real-time updates on winners and votes tallied in the national, state and local races in Michigan, visit wdet.org/electionresults.

Authorities have charged a 19-year-old Chinese student in Ann Arbor with voting illegally.

The unidentified University of Michigan student allegedly registered and voted on Sunday. While the student has a green card, he is not legally allowed to vote in U.S. elections.

The student faces two felony charges authorized by the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office:

1. Unauthorized Elector Attempting To Vote
2. Perjury – Making a False Affidavit for Purpose of Securing Voter Registration

The Michigan Attorney General’s office has commenced its own parallel investigation.

The Michigan Republican party blamed Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, for the alleged crime.

“This individual’s ability to vote is a direct result of Secretary Benson’s disregard for the integrity of our electoral system and her continued efforts to weaken Michigan’s election laws. It’s an insult to Michiganders. Nobody should be able to lie and cast a vote,” Michigan GOP spokesperson Victoria LaCivita said in an email to Michigan Public.

Benson, in a joint statement with Washtenaw County Prosecuting Attorney Eli Savit, also a Democrat, said Michigan’s elections are secure, saying noncitizen voting is “extremely isolated and rare,” and records of who voted in each election are public, so anyone attempting to vote fraudulently is “exposing themselves to great risk.”

“Our duty to the law is paramount, as is our responsibility to ensure that every eligible voter is able to register and cast a ballot,” Benson and Savit said.

The special counsel in the election subversion case against former President Donald Trump released a report weeks ago that held extra significance for officials in Detroit.

It concerned a contentious time for Detroit poll workers who counted the 2020 presidential election results in what was then the TCF Center.

A crowd of Republican observers at the center grew increasingly angry as false rumors of voting fraud spread across social media. And, according to Special Counsel Jack Smith, a Trump campaign employee told operatives on the scene of the unrest to “make them riot.”

Now, four years later, Detroit election officials say they’re determined to avoid a repeat of the chaos that engulfed poll workers.

Fraud claims lit a chaotic fuse

The tinderbox at the former TCF Center came back into focus during a recent rally for the Harris campaign in downtown Detroit.

In the center now known as Huntington Place, former President Barack Obama told the crowd to vote early — in part because of what happened inside that building four years ago.

“The day after the 2020 election, thousands of mail ballots were being counted right here in this convention center,” Obama reminded the crowd. “And protestors came down, banged on the windows shouting,  ‘Let us in! Stop the count!’ Poll workers inside were being intimidated.”

The scene became one of the centerpieces of Trump’s false narrative that the 2020 election was rigged against him.

“In Detroit there were hours of unexplained delay in delivering many of the votes for counting. The final batch did not arrive until four in the morning. And nobody knew where they came from,” Trump said.

But officials in charge of tabulating those election results counter that no one asked at the time why those ballots arrived so late.

Detroit Elections Department COO Daniel Baxter says he could have supplied the answer.

He supervised poll workers who had to wade through more than 170,000 absentee ballots, about two-thirds of all the votes cast in the city.

“You gotta remember we were in the middle of the pandemic. Nobody wanted to go to the polls on election day, so they opted to vote by absentee,” Baxter said. “And some of them were a little slower than others in terms of getting them delivered. And that is exactly what you experienced at three o’clock, four o’clock in the morning.”

But as the vote-counting wore on, the situation deteriorated.

Hundreds of people had converged on the convention center.

Some poll challengers demanded election workers’ political and religious affiliations. One poll watcher even threatened violence.

It escalated when the hall reached full capacity and certain challengers were ordered to leave, and Baxter was in the middle of it all.

“I heard banging on the windows. I heard chanting, ‘Stop the count! Stop the count! It was a hairy moment,” he said.

Baxter said it was hard for those counting votes to keep from being distracted. And then things got worse.

“Someone made the bad call of putting cardboard up on the windows. When I discovered that, I made sure it was removed,” Baxter said. “I got on the microphone and explained to our staff, all of our poll workers, that we were not going to stop counting until the last ballot was delivered here.”

Shrinking a site and increasing security

After the near riot, those who game planned for the next presidential contest hardened their resolve to protect poll workers, says the official who oversees all of Detroit’s elections, City Clerk Janice Winfrey.

“We got through 2020 when all of that happened, the threats and the hurling insults at election workers. And it wasn’t expected. So now we know that may happen and we are ready if it should happen,” Winfrey said.

That includes the implementation of new security procedures designed to block any Election Day upheavals at Huntington Place.

Officials moved the central polling location to the enclosed, cavernous Hall A, on the opposite end of the center from where votes were tallied in 2020.

Baxter says there won’t be any banging on windows at Hall A.

“There’s no windows. And if you do not have credentials you cannot be inside in any area. Those folk who decide to be present for protests or whatever, the Detroit Police Department has designated an area where they can be.”

Baxter says the new location is also a smaller and more secure space than its 2020 counterpart. He says it’s usable because Michigan now allows Detroit to tabulate absentee ballots more than a week ahead of Election Day.

That means fewer workers are needed for each shift because the vote-counting is spread across numerous days.

“We only have 50 tables for processing. In 2020 we had 134 tables. That made for more people, more challengers, more poll workers,” Baxter said. “Now at the table you have 300 ballots that you have to process, versus 3,000 ballots in 2020.”

There are also magnetometers guarding the doorways.

Media, poll workers and challengers must swipe a drivers’ card, a state ID or some other form of identification to get credentials.

And Baxter says officials will keep track of how many people get in.

“A digitized check-in system will contain a maximum number for each group and organization. Once we max out on that number no one will be allowed entry, whether it’s the Democrat Party, the Republican Party, the NAACP, the League of Women Voters or whoever they are,” he said.

The need to harden infrastructure as well as resolve became glaringly apparent in 2022.

Winfrey notes there was an incident at a building roughly four miles away from Huntington Place, where a GOP challenger confronted a deputy clerk in an alley behind the Elections Department.

“All of our windows on the first floor of our building has been replaced with bulletproof glass,” she said. “We have uniformed and plain-clothed officers. And the alleyway is now blocked off.”

Winfrey and Baxter estimate with early voting this year, workers will tabulate about 90% of Detroit’s ballots by early evening on Election Day.

That means poll workers should be able to leave the convention center much earlier than in 2020, shielding them, officials hope, from any disruptions by angry poll challengers.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

Michigan is among 47 states in the U.S. that have early in-person voting this presidential election.

More than 500,000 people have voted early and in-person since it began statewide on Saturday, and more than two million votes have been cast across the state when including absentee ballots.

However, this increase in voting access is seemingly connected to a rise in mistrust of election integrity and claims of fraud.

To discuss this phenomenon, Created Equal host Stephen Henderson was joined on Wednesday by David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation & Research, and political science professor Dale Thomson.

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

Becker explained that although we do not have much data on the effect of early voting access on voter turnout, early voting improves election integrity by mitigating the effects of family emergencies, technical difficulties, dangerous weather, and disinformation. He also described how some voters perceive the inclusion of more people in democracy to be inherently fraudulent and insecure, especially as they are exposed to a lot of negative rhetoric about election security. 

Thomson explained that although there is no evidence of widespread election fraud in recent years, the Trump campaign is using claims of election fraud to cast doubt on election results. He also discussed how immigrants are often targeted with claims of election fraud, even though there’s very little quantitative evidence that non-citizens are committing fraud on a wide-scale. 

“A study conducted by the [Brennan] Center for Justice analyzing almost 24 million votes across 42 jurisdictions in the 2016 general election concluded there were approximately 30 instances of non-citizens voting. So there’s data out there,” Thomson said. 

Use the media player above to hear the full conversation.

Guests:

• David Becker is the executive director for the Center for Election Innovation & Research. He’s also the author of “The Big Truth” and host of the podcast The Count.
• Dale Thomson is a professor of political science at University of Michigan – Dearborn. He is also the director of the Ottawa Internship Program.

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