ROMULUS, MI — A lot can change in a presidential election in 27 days.
Some things, though, stay the same.
A crowd of 15,000 people roared for Vice President Kamala Harris as she and her new running mate rallied supporters for her presidential campaign in a Detroit Metropolitan Airport hangar Wednesday, Aug. 7.
The event unfolded 27 days after President Joe Biden hosted one of his last rallies 20 miles away, in a packed, high-energy Detroit high school.
Harris, who replaced the president at the top of the 2024 Democratic campaign’s ticket last month, received a similarly raucous reception from a packed crowd, this time in an airport hangar in neighboring Romulus.
Like Biden weeks earlier, Harris pitched supporters on a vision for America Democrats hope will appeal to voters in Michigan, considered a key battleground state in the 2024 race for the White House.
It’s a focus that has landed presidential hopefuls in the Detroit area five times and Harris in Michigan five times this year.
“So, Michigan, here’s the thing,” Harris told the crowd Wednesday. “So much is on the line.”
Like Biden weeks earlier, Harris spent large chunks of her speech painting herself in stark contrast to her Republican opponent, Donald Trump, the ex-president hoping to win back the White House.
“Hear me, Detroit, when I say, I know Donald Trump’s type,” said Harris, who reminded the crowd she once served as California’s attorney general and worked as a prosecutor.
“I’ve been dealing with it my whole career.”
Harris appeared Wednesday along with Tim Walz — the Minnesota governor announced as her running mate one day earlier — as well as Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and a lineup of the state’s top Democrats.
Related: Whitmer hypes up crowd on a Harris/Walz ticket at Michigan rally
Harris and her delegation hit on key themes of Democrats’ 2024 platform: protecting election integrity, supporting labor unions, preventing gun violence, advancing policy addressing climate change, and protecting women’s abortion rights.
“If (Trump) wins, he will sign a national abortion act to ban abortion in every state,” Harris said. “We trust women to know what’s in their best interest. When I am president and Congress passes a bill to restore reproductive freedom, I will sign it into law.”
Harris and her surrogates railed against “Project 2025,” a nearly 1,000-page handbook authored by former Trump White House officials that has generated scrutiny in recent weeks. While Trump has distanced himself from the document, Democrats claim the Republican — if he returns to the White House — would use the playbook to radically reshape civic infrastructure in part by cutting thousands of federal jobs.
“We’re not going back because we know what that will look like,” Harris said. “Donald Trump intends to take us back. We all remember what that looked like. We’re not going back. Our fight is the fight for the future and it’s a fight for freedom.”
Harris said her immediate priorities as president would include driving down inflation and to “take on” pharmaceutical companies and “corporate landlords” who drive up living costs.
“Unlike Donald Trump, I will always put the middle class and working families first,” Harris said. “The middle class built this great country of ours. When the middle class is strong, America is strong.”
Harris and Walz arrived in Michigan via Air Force Two, which delivered them from an afternoon campaign stop in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The Wednesday doubleheader represented the midpoint of a 5-day campaign stretch that crisscrossed America’s swing states.
“Make no mistake, this campaign is not just about us versus Donald Trump,” Harris told the gathering in Romulus. “It’s about two very different visions: One — ours — focused on the future; The other is focused on the past. We here, in Michigan, fight for the future.”
The rally was interrupted by protesters about midway through: “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide, we won’t vote for genocide,” they appeared to shout.
Many in the crowded hangar could hear the protests but could not understand what they were saying.
Harris picked up on the noise and responded.
“If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that; Otherwise I’m speaking,” Harris said, drawing applause.
The shouts of protests spanned about five minutes.
While Harris did not address the room until about 8 p.m., the crowd began pouring into the Romulus hangar about 3 p.m. They were greeted by loudspeakers playing the likes of Stevie Wonder, Taylor Swift, Rob Base, Missy Elliott, and Mary J. Blige at thunderous volumes.
The bass at times rattled light equipment sitting on tables where media were stationed, next to a booth where three DJs operated multiple soundboards. Some in the crowd danced and mouthed the words as the day progressed.
Bushman, a popular radio personality with 97.9 WJLB, acted as a hype man during an early stretch of the gathering.
“Detroit: What up ’doe?,” Bushman repeated throughout the day, inciting booming responses of affirmation.
Despite the structure’s roof shielding the crowd from the sun, the mass of people kept the warehouse-sized space toasty and brows slicked with sweat.
At least seven times, campaign staff and politicians — including Harris — at the podium requested medical attention for people seemingly in medical distress. Many people transformed their HARRIS WALZ signs into makeshift fans. Volunteers and security staff handed out bottled waters.
When the crowd spotted aircraft nearing the open hangar door, they cheered and stomped the concrete floor, anticipating the star of the show. There was one false alarm, and the crowd seemed to sigh in unison as the airplane rolled toward another wing of the massive airport.
Air Force Two, the jet carrying Harris, touched down on the tarmac about 6:30 p.m. as Beyonce’s “Run the World (Girls)” blared, sending supporters into a frenzied applause.
Along with Harris, Walz and Whitmer, Democratic surrogates who addressed the rally included U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow; and U.S. House Reps. Shri Thanedar, Hillary Scholten, Haley Stevens, Dan Kildee, Elissa Slotkin, and Debbie Dingell.
Joining them were Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes; Wayne County Executive Warren Evans; Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan; Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist; and Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers union.
“This election is real simple. It’s about one question that we made famous in the labor movement: ‘What side are you on?,’” Fain told the rally. “On one side, you’ve got a billionaire who serves himself. On the other side, you’ve got a strong, badass woman who stood on the picket line with striking workers.”
Gilchrist appealed to the room’s Michigan sensibilities.
“Y’all look like you’re here for the future,” Gilchrist told the crowd. “Y’all look like you’re ready to fight. That fight begins here in Michigan.”
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Publish date : 2024-08-07 15:13:00
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