3 takeaways from Biden's first campaign visit to Detroit

President Joe Biden capped a long day focused on shoring up support among Black voters across the country with a speech in Detroit at the annual Detroit Branch NAACP's Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner, marking his first visit to the city this election year.

The upcoming months will test whether Biden's message resonated beyond the convention hall where many of his biggest champions in Michigan dined to reach Black voters in the Motor City and across the state who are critical to his reelection.

Biden visit underscores importance of Black voters to his reelection

In his remarks, Biden credited Black voters for putting him in the White House four years ago. "Let's be clear, because of your vote, it's the only reason I'm standing here as President of the United States of America," he said.

While exit polling showed Black voters in Michigan overwhelmingly supported Biden in 2020, Biden slightly underperformed compared to Hillary Clinton's 2016 performance in Detroit where Black voters are concentrated. While he won more votes from the city, he won a smaller share of vote total compared to Clinton. It was a pattern he repeated in most majority-Black cities in Michigan, according to a Free Press analysis of their head-to-head vote in precinct-level data from the MIT Election + Science Lab.

"We're going to do everything we can to never ever repeat that kind of result," Biden's Michigan campaign senior adviser Eddie McDonald told the Free Press last week.

Biden turns up heat with anti-Trump rhetoric

While Biden highlighted what he sees as his administration's biggest accomplishments in delivering social and economic progress for Black Americans, he drew a sharp contrast on that front with former President Donald Trump.

"He's clearly unhinged," Biden said of his GOP opponent. Trump has celebrated those who stormed the U.S. Capitol to stop Congress from certifying the 2020 presidential election as patriots, Biden noted. He went on to ask the crowd Sunday what they think Trump would have done if Black Americans had stormed the Capitol. "I'm serious," Biden said.

Biden repeatedly took aim at Trump, but ended with a final warning: "Trump isn't running to lead America. He's running for revenge," Biden said.

Michigan 2024 Election: At Detroit NAACP dinner, Biden says he needs Black voters, chides Trump

During long day, Biden acknowledges incomplete progress

While he billed his first term in office as a huge stride toward achieving racial justice, he also seemed to recognize the potential shortcomings of that message Sunday as he addressed Black voters in both Georgia and Michigan who could decide the election in the pair of battleground states.

Biden has characterized the presidential contest as a fight to preserve American democracy. But in a commencement address in Atlanta at Morehouse College ? a historically Black liberal arts college for men ? Biden acknowledged those who wonder whether the current political system delivers desired changes.

"It's natural to wonder if the democracy you hear about actually works for you," Biden told the graduates. "What is democracy if Black men are being killed in the street? What is democracy if a trail of broken promises still leave Black communities behind? What is democracy if you have to be ten times better than anyone else to get a fair shot?"

Biden struck a similar tone in Detroit when he wrapped up his remarks at the Detroit Branch NAACP dinner. "Folks, the idea of America is that we're all created equal and deserve to be treated equally throughout our lives. "We've never fully lived up to it, but we’ve never fully walked away from it either. But Trump will. I will not."

Contact Clara Hendrickson at [email protected] or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, previously called Twitter, @clarajanehen.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: 3 takeaways from Biden's first campaign visit to Detroit