Kamala Harris' previous Michigan trips shed light on presidential run: Here's how

If Vice President Kamala Harris is the Democratic Party's presidential pick, expect to see a fair amount of her in Michigan over the next few months.

It won't be something new for the former California senator: From her first run as a presidential candidate in 2019 to her 2020 campaign with President Joe Biden and her nearly four years in the White House, she has crisscrossed the Mitten repeatedly.

Here's a quick (nonexhaustive) list of some of those visits, what they meant for her and what they meant for Michigan.

2019: An endorsement and debate

Amid a crowded Democratic field vying to take on then-President Donald Trump in the 2020 election, Harris came to Michigan in July 2019 hoping to gain some momentum. And she spent quite a bit of time here that month.

First, she attended the NAACP's national convention, hosted in Detroit. It was her second time in weeks speaking at an NAACP event in the city. Then her campaign garnered a little boost: The Michigan Democratic Black Caucus endorsed her after she made pledges to invest in historically Black colleges and universities.

After making quick stops around metro Detroit — having done the same a few weeks earlier — she joined other candidates in the state's largest city for a televised debate. It's the debate where then-opponent Biden told Harris to "go easy on me, kid."

Although her campaign collapsed a few months later, she outlined a strategy for winning Michigan and the Midwest: attempting to generate massive turnout in the Black community while courting suburban women and other voters who supported 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

2020: Election Day in Michigan

Trump often suggests Grand Rapids is a good luck charm, noting he has ended both his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns with rallies in the west Michigan city.

But he wasn't the only top-tier candidate in Michigan on Election Day in 2020.

Harris traveled around metro Detroit that morning, speaking at rallies to encourage voter turnout.

"We all have PTSD from 2016, yes, but there are lessons from 2016, and one of them is that in 2016, in Michigan, we missed that election by, on average, two votes per precinct. Think about that,” Harris said at the time. “Like, this is doable!"

It was her last of several stops in Michigan during that campaign. She visited Flint and Detroit earlier in the campaign, key Democratic constituencies in the state.

Each time Harris visited, she noted the importance of the state.

"We will keep coming back because so goes Michigan, so goes the rest of the country, as far as we are concerned," Harris said at the time.

While the entire political landscape feels topsy-turvy at the moment, the drive for both Republicans and Democrats to win Michigan's 15 electoral votes remains the same.

2021-24: Vice presidential visits

As vice president, Harris repeatedly toured areas all over Michigan. That includes a Detroit stop to urge vaccinations against COVID-19 in July 2021 and a return to the state as recently as last week.

In 2021, she came in an effort to spur improvements in vaccination rates. As the pandemic raged, majority-Black Detroit had one of the lowest vaccination rates in the country. Despite skepticism of vaccinations tied to experiments in Tuskegee and other issues, Harris encouraged residents to fight the pandemic by getting their shots.

"Detroit, you know better than most: Resilience is not automatic. Not everybody has it. Resilience is made. Resilience takes determination and it takes work. And resilience requires love. So in that spirit and the spirit of resilience, let us rise up, Detroit. Let us rise up, Michigan," Harris said.

She also helped raise money for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer during her visit. Whitmer, who would go on to easily win her second gubernatorial race, was among the names of Democrats many expected to at least consider a White House bid if Biden dropped out. Whitmer has endorsed Harris' presidential bid and is reportedly on a list of people being vetted as a potential vice presidential nominee although she has said she is not interested in that position.

Harris returned to Detroit in 2022 for a fundraiser, and visited Ann Arbor in 2023 on a policy visit. Specifically, she spoke with former Michigan governor and current U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm about fighting climate change. The roundtable discussion did not generate much buzz, but it did outline some of Harris' thoughts on an issue that Trump continues to minimize in his campaign.

"You can look at, for example, the data that tells us that some of the regions in America with the poorest air quality are low-income communities and communities of color," Harris said, tying bad social outcomes to the effects of climate change.

"When you look at rates of asthma, you see correlations. When you look at which communities are suffering most in terms of extreme weather and therefore need to evacuate, you can see a correlation."

More recently, Harris made trips to both west Michigan and Detroit.

In May, she touted what she sees as the Biden administration's economic success during a stop in Detroit.

"So, Michigan, you know I believe that America’s economy is powered by the ambition and aspiration of our people … to innovate, to create and to prosper therefore to grow our economy, we must invest in that ambition and those aspirations. I believe every person in our country then must have access to the opportunity to compete to succeed and to thrive," Harris said during her remarks.

The event drew pro-Palestinian protesters. Biden weathered substantial criticism in Michigan from many who felt he should do more to end the current war in Gaza. More than 100,000 people voted "uncommitted" in Michigan's Democratic Primary in April, another effort to push Biden to act.

It's unclear how a Harris administration could change course. But in an election that could be very tight — Trump won Michigan in 2016 by roughly 10,000 votes — wooing voters previously frustrated with Biden's approach could be crucial.

And in Portage last week, she warned Michiganders she believes Trump will strive to greatly limit access to abortion if returned to power. It's an issue that has energized Democratic voters before, although with a new amendment to the Michigan Constitution ensuring abortion access, it remains unclear how much Democrats can use the issue to drive voters to the polls.

“In these moments, we should not become dispirited,” Harris said at the Portage event. “This is not the time to throw up our hands, this is the time to roll up our sleeves.”

She also condemned the attempted assassination of Trump, agreeing with Biden and many others that "there must be unity around the idea that while our nation’s history has been scarred by political violence, violence is never acceptable."

While Harris' future with the party's nomination is still far from certain, she has been a consistent visitor to Michigan, a key swing state. It could prove to make the difference in November.

Contact Dave Boucher: [email protected] and on Twitter, formerly called X, @Dave_Boucher1.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Harris has made repeated trips to Michigan, a key swing state