5 things we learned from first Kamala Harris, Tim Walz Michigan visit

Vice President Kamala Harris has been to Michigan plenty of times but before Wednesday, it was never as the first Black woman and South Asian American woman to be a major party's presidential nominee.

But then, no one had ever come into the state under those circumstances, obviously.

Harris' campaign, which has been riding high in the 2 1/2 weeks since President Joe Biden stepped aside as the Democratic nominee and endorsed her, held a hot, rollicking rally in a hangar at Detroit Metro Airport on Wednesday night, introducing her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and striking a far different tone than other recent campaigns.

Here are five takeaways from the event:

With Walz on the ticket, there's some strong Midwestern vibes

Sure, everyone gets just how hard it is for a presidential nominee — any presidential nominee — to win the White House without winning in what used to be uncharitably called the Rust Belt, notably Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

That's why the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump has been in the state five times this year, picked a Midwesterner — U.S. Sen. JD Vance of Ohio — to be his running mate and make a lot of University of Michigan/Ohio State references. Harris noted Wednesday night that the path to winning runs right through the Wolverine State.

But Walz really leans into the Midwestern dad vibes, with a homespun delivery and referring to oddities — especially those he detects among the Republican ticket — as "weird." He hunts, he fishes. He was a high school football coach. People joke about him changing his own flat tires and a photo on X from 2020 showed him and his daughter Hope going through vinyl and coming across (!) A BOB SEGER ALBUM.

That's not running "Against the Wind."

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer happily leaned into the Midwestern theme, as would befit an official with two schools in the Big Ten, saying she's long had a friendly competition with Walz over policy achievements. She also said, "He's the only governor I know who curses more than I do. As a former football coach, though, she did add, "Maybe he should help out the Vikings after we (meaning the Lions) smoked them twice last year."

Yeah.

On a more serious note, Whitmer noted that Minnesota, which like Michigan minted a Democratic trifecta with the party controlling the governorship and both state legislative chambers in the 2022 midterms, has passed measures repealing abortion restrictions, restricting no-knock warrants and enacting paid family and medical leave for workers. And Walz praised Whitmer's leadership and said the states in the Upper Midwest have a natural bond as stewards of the Great Lakes. He also pointed to strong union heritage.

"We've got a lot of shared values in this room," Walz said.

Palpable excitement for the change-up

When Harris mentioned President Joe Biden the crowd cheered, even chanted, but it was clear from the start that Harris was the star of this show.

Actually, let's rewind that: It was clear even before that.

While an exact estimate of the crowd size wasn't available, its numbers — on a hot, muggy night that saw several people need medical attention because of the heat — were, according to Walz, the biggest campaign event the Democratic ticket has had this year.

Since the rally was teased last week as part of a multistate swing, Democratic supporters had desperately been trying to score access and the Harris campaign didn't go public with any word on how to get in, though apparently the website www.mobilize.us did have a link for some time until the capacity was overwhelmed.

That speaks to the sheer energy Harris has pumped into the campaign, with younger voters and progressives unsure of Biden coming back into the fold and an enthusiasm gap as compared to Republicans disappearing. And while national and swing state polling is tight, Harris is in striking distance, if not slightly ahead, of Trump in many political surveys.

At Wednesday's rally, supporters waved signs and chanted "KAM-A-LA." Some danced, some sang.

"Happy warriors" is what Harris called the Democrats looking to win and it seemed to fit.

Walz took the stage with Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" blasting over the loudspeakers and party music punctuated the night.

He told a pumped-up crowd, "Our next president brings the joy."

Michigan officials throwing all their weight behind Harris

If nothing else, the rally Wednesday indicated how all-in Democrats in Michigan appear to be for Harris and Walz. They virtually lined up to give speeches welcoming Harris to the state, and there was nothing tepid about the resounding praise and endorsement they offered.

Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Flint Township, U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, who Tuesday night won the primary to become the Democratic nominee to succeed U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Stabenow. And more.

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, and a close friend of Biden's, remembered how she was one of the few who cautioned Democrats about Trump's strength in Michigan in 2016 before he won the state en route to the White House. “I feel a lot better now than I did in 2016, Donald Trump is not going to win Michigan,” Dingell said. “Michigan will not let them win. We’re going to hold them accountable.”

There were only a few notable exceptions: U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Michigan, who, in his defense, always takes a cross-state motorcycle trip during the August recess (and appeared to be doing so now on social media) who has endorsed Harris and U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Detroit, the only Palestinian-American in Congress and who has sharply criticized the Biden administration for not demanding an Israeli ceasefire in Gaza.

But the mood was summed up by Whitmer.

"We can send Donald Trump packing once again and Michigan is going to do it," she said. "We need a strong woman in the White House and it’s about damn time."

UAW, labor part of Harris' Michigan strategy

Biden always touted himself as the strongest advocate of labor unions to ever be president. And he had some evidence, not least that he became the first sitting president to walk a picket line last September when he joined the UAW strike outside an auto plant in Belleville.

Biden's departure from the race has not signaled a withdrawal from the support for labor, however. Far from it.

Last week, the UAW's international board endorsed Harris and this visit to Michigan — both Wednesday's rally and a Thursday event that has not been made public — had or were expected to have strong union overtones. Walz' selection as Harris' running mate was widely seen as a nod to labor's influence; audience members chanted "U-A-W" at one point during his speech. Speakers referred to the importance of unions in securing benefits and middle-class wages for workers.

UAW President Shawn Fain, who has been a favorite target of Trump's, launched a vitriolic attack on the former president, detailing how Harris walked the picket line as a U.S. senator from California when the union struck GM in 2019 and how, in Fain's estimated, Trump allowed plants to close in Michigan and elsewhere when he was president.

While Trump knows nothing about the auto industry, he said, Harris is "a badass.” (It was meant as a compliment.)

Harris reveled in it and called out Fain by name, saying UAW knows what it fights for "and knows how to win."

It's worth noting that Michigan has a higher proportion of union members than the national average, 12% vs. 10% nationally as of 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

'Middle class kids' court middle class voters

Harris toward the end of her speech talked about the "promise of America," saying it was what made it possible for her and Walz to be onstage.

"Think about that. Two middle class kids," Harris said, highlighting her background being raised in California by a working mother and Walz' growing up working on a farm in Nebraska.

She also addressed an issue that's come up at dinner tables and in grocery aisles nationwide: Inflation. Prices are too high, she said, acknowledging what is a main line of attack against her by Republicans.

"When I was (California) attorney general I went after price-fixing schemes. And when I am president, it will be my day one priority to fight to bring down prices," Harris said, saying she'd do so by taking on corporations over price gouging and corporate landlords raising rents.

Can she sell that message to Michiganders and others who are feeling the sting of inflation in the post-pandemic world? We'll have to wait and see.

Contact Todd Spangler: tspangler@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.