MICHIGAN — While Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump hardly mentioned Michigan during their first debate Tuesday night in Philadelphia, there were some key ties to the mitten state.
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The fiery debate saw Harris present herself as a “new generation of leadership” and urged voters to “turn the page” on Trump, while the former president himself portrayed the Biden-Harris administration as weak on the economy and border.
Michigan is a one of a handful of battleground states that will play a pivotal role in the upcoming election. Biden narrowly won the state in 2020, Trump in 2016.
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As such a crucial battleground, it was surprising neither candidate made much mention of Michigan. But there were numerous Michigan ties to questions on the manufacturing, the Israel-Hamas War and the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.
Here are some highlights:
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Manufacturing
Late in the debate, Harris touted her endorsement from the Detroit’s United Auto Workers union President Shawn Fain. She also added that the Biden-Harris administration created roughly 800,000 manufacturing jobs.
Trump fired back by claiming that Chinese companies are working in Mexico and planning to import vehicles into the U.S., killing manufacturing jobs.
Trump said he would stop any imports because they would threaten the United Auto Workers union and autoworker, “whether it’s in Detroit or South Carolina or any other place.”
President Biden did place a 100 percent tariff on electric vehicles from China earlier this year to curtail any imports and bolster U.S. jobs and manufacturing.
I’m Talking, I’m Speaking
About midway through the debate, Trump claimed Harris wanted to defund the police during the protests after George Floyd’s death in 2020. Harris shook her head no and said that wasn’t true, and then Trump said “Wait a minute, I’m talking now, if you don’t mind, please. Does that sound familiar?”
It was a line referenced from Harris last month when she shut down a group of pro-Palestinian hecklers who tried interrupting her while she was speaking at a rally inside a hangar at Detroit Metro Airport in Romulus.
“I’m here because we believe in democracy. Everyone’s voice matters, but I am speaking now,” Harris said while smiling.
The crowd also cheered and tried phasing out the hecklers with louder “we’re not going back” chants, but the hecklers continued while Harris was speaking.
“You know what, if you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking,” Harris said while glaring at the protestors.
At Tuesday’s debate, Harris said she supports Israel’s right to defend itself after the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks that left more than 1,000 Israelis dead and hundreds more kidnapped. But she also mentioned that too many innocent Palestinians have been killed in the war, and that a ceasefire is needed to end the war.
Trump, on the other hand, claimed the war would have never happened under him and that he’d end it immediately, though he didn’t provide any details. He also claimed Harris hates Israel and Arab-Americans, though he provided no evidence.
Crowd Sizes
Harris seemed to get under Trump’s skin when she claimed that people are leaving his political rallies early out of boredom. Trump responded by saying that people are highly energized at his political rallies and mocked Harris’ crowds in comparison to his.
“First, let me respond as to the rallies,” Trump said at the debate. “People don’t leave my rallies, we have the biggest rallies, the most incredible rallies in the history of politics.”
Trump also claimed that Harris pays people to attend her rallies and that her campaign is busing people in to attend, a similar accusation he made about Harris’s campaign stop at Detroit Metro Airport in August when he claimed AI generated photos were used to show the crowd.
“Has anyone noticed that Kamala CHEATED at the airport?” Trump posted on Truth Social. “There was nobody at the plane, and she ‘A.I.’d’ it, and showed a massive ‘crowd’ of so-called followers, BUT THEY DIDN’T EXIST!”
Harris campaign officials said they were 15,000 people at the rally.
2020 Election
Trump repeated claims that the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election was plagued by frauds and corruption in a handful of states, including Michigan.
Trump and his allies claimed that dead people voted in Michigan, hundreds of thousands of unsolicited absentee ballots were sent to Michigan voters and that voting machines were manipulated in some places of the state, including in Detroit.
An investigation that was led by Michigan Republicans in 2021 found that none of that was true and that there was no widespread fraud in Michigan during the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.
“The Committee found no evidence of widespread or systemic fraud in Michigan’s prosecution of the 2020 election,” the report said. “Citizens should be confident the results represent the true results of the ballots cast by the people of Michigan.
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