U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance speaks at a Grand Rapids rally for former President Donald Trump, July 20, 2024 | Lucy Valeski
During a one-hour campaign stop in Detroit, U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) railed against Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris.
Vance, who is former President Donald Trump’s running mate, returned to Michigan after campaign stops in Auburn Hills and Marne last week. In Eastern Market, Vance spoke about immigration, the economy and automotive production.
“I’m going to be in Michigan like 30 times,” Vance said.
There are 28 days to go until Election Day, Nov. 5, but early voting has already started in Michigan, a key swing state. Both presidential tickets and their surrogates have made frequent stops to the Great Lakes State, with Harris campaigning in Flint on Friday and Trump stumping in Saginaw on Thursday. Trump is slated to speak at the Detroit Economic Club on Thursday.
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Vance was joined at the rally by Michigan GOP Chair Peter Hoestrka, U.S. Rep. Lisa McClain (R-Bruce Twp.) and Martell Bivings, the GOP nominee for the 13th Congressional District. McClain is being challenged by Democrat Clinton St. Mosley for her 9th District seat. Bivings is challenging U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Detroit) in a rematch.
“I promise you that when Donald Trump is back in the White House, automakers in the city of Detroit are going to have an ally again,” said Vance to an audience of about 300. “Not somebody is trying to destroy their jobs like Kamala Harris and going to fight for their jobs every single day.”
But Democrats and the UAW have criticized Vance for refusing to commit to upholding a $500 million federal grant from the Biden administration that would convert the General Motors Lansing Grand River Plant into a future electric vehicle plant that would save an estimated 650 jobs and create up to 50 new positions.
In Detroit, Vance called the $500 million “table scraps.”
“So neither me nor President Trump has ever said that we want to take any money that’s going to Michigan auto workers out of the state of Michigan,” Vance said. “We certainly want to invest in Michigan auto workers as much as possible.”
Ahead of Vance’s visit, U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (D-Bloomfield Twp.), U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham), Michigan Teamsters President Kevin Moore, and state Rep. Ranjeev Puri (D-Canton) criticized Trump’s record of shipping Michigan jobs overseas, allowing an auto plant in Warren to shutter, and eliminating 280,000 Michigan jobs.
“We had six auto plants all across the country that were closed when Donald Trump was the president, and in Michigan — in Warren — the GM [auto] plant that had been there for decades closed,” said Peters. “[Harris has] been a proponent of manufacturing with her work as vice president, making sure that we pass the CHIPS and Science Act [and] the Inflation Reduction Act, those investments have already created hundreds of thousands of jobs here in America.”
“In fact, there’s a major investment for a GM plant in Lansing, as a result of the work of Vice President Harris. And now we understand that J.D. Vance refuses to commit whether or not they would continue to make those investments in Michigan… [Trump] doesn’t care about Michigan. He doesn’t care about the auto industry. He doesn’t care about workers. His record is absolutely crystal clear,” Peters added.
Stevens said that Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, would put Michigan workers first.
“She will harness the power of American innovation, invest in our auto industry, and ensure that Michigan remains the beating heart of American manufacturing,” Stevens said.
Vance was asked about an item in a motion unsealed last week from special counsel Jack Smith in his criminal case against Trump regarding the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. In the motion, Smith alleges that a Trump campaign official encouraged supporters to “riot” while votes were counted in the former TCF Center following the 2020 November election.
Trump lost Michigan to President Joe Biden by more than 154,000 votes.
“Nobody in this room and nobody in this movement is going to riot,” Vance said.
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