Harris, Walz rally seeking to build momentum in Blue Wall states with Michigan, Wisconsin stops

Vice President Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), traveled Wednesday to Wisconsin and Michigan in the hopes of sustaining their campaign’s enthusiasm in two states likely to decide the outcome of November’s election.

The Democratic ticket spent their first full day together on the trail with stops in Eau Claire, Wis., and Detroit, speaking to crowds of thousands as they were joined by prominent backers like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D), Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), musician Bon Iver and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain.

Campaign officials said Wednesday night’s event in an airplane hangar in Detroit was the largest rally of the cycle for the Democratic ticket, and the campaign said it raised $36 million in the 24 hours after Walz was added to the ticket.

“This is a place full of working folks, students, folks who care. And think about this, you came out here early, found a place to park, stood in the sun, sat here and waited, and you did it for one simple and eloquent and beautiful reason. You love this country,” Walz said in Michigan. “I couldn’t be prouder to be on this ticket and to help make Kamala Harris the next president of the United States.”

Harris delivered her usual stump speech, stressing that the election will be close, introducing Walz, highlighting her record as a prosecutor and telling the crowd, “I know Donald Trump’s type.”

She outlined her policy priorities, including providing affordable health care and paid leave, lowering the cost of living and protecting abortion access. And she framed the election as a choice between moving forward and going backward.

“This election is going to be a fight. We like a good fight,” Harris said. “When you know what you stand for, you know what to fight for. We know what we stand for.”

Walz in his remarks on Wednesday sprinkled in references to the Great Lakes and their importance to the region, as well as a quip in Michigan about the rivalry between the Minnesota Vikings and the Detroit Lions. His comments were a sign of how the campaign hopes his Midwest roots might be used on the trail to help win over Blue Wall voters.

The Harris campaign has touted its infrastructure in battleground states like Wisconsin and Michigan. The campaign said it has 48 field offices in Wisconsin and 50 field offices in Michigan. Wednesday marked Harris’s sixth visit to Wisconsin this year and fifth trip to Michigan.

Trump won Michigan and Wisconsin in 2016 narrowly, while President Biden flipped both states in 2020. The former president last visited Michigan in late July after the Republican National Convention.

The former president has attacked Harris as a “radical” liberal, criticized her intelligence and falsely questioned her biracial heritage, while his campaign has attacked her over the Biden administration’s record on immigration and inflation.

Polling has shown an extremely close race in both Michigan and Wisconsin since Harris got into the race. 

A Marquette Law School survey of registered voters in Wisconsin released Wednesday showed Trump leading Harris in a two-way race, 50 percent support to 49 percent. Among likely voters in Wisconsin, however, the numbers were reversed, with Harris taking the lead, 50 percent to 49 percent, in a two-way race.

A Decision Desk HQ/The Hill average of polls out of Michigan shows Harris leading Trump by 1.2 percentage points in the state.

“Let’s all decide on this right now. We know it’s gonna be a hard race. We know it’s going to be close. But let’s not be so close that these guys have anything to say,” Walz said, an allusion to Trump’s repeated warnings of election fraud. “Let’s just win the damn thing by a broader margin.”