Michigan Democrats energized for Kamala Harris, Tim Walz visit to metro Detroit

Vice President Kamala Harris visits metro Detroit Wednesday for the first time as a presidential nominee amid new excitement among Michigan Democratic voters.

"She just seems real," said Dean Smith of Ferndale, who said he doesn't normally attend political rallies but has signed up for the Harris event. "She's very motivating. I think she connects with people. She's just a fresh face."

Harris, who campaigned in Pennsylvania Tuesday, will host events in Michigan Wednesday and Thursday before heading to other battleground states with her newly named running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

On Wednesday, a rally was set to be held at Detroit Metro Airport, featuring a who's who of state Democratic Party figures slated to speak, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Wayne County Executive Warren Evans, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, six of the state's seven Democratic U.S. House members, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II and UAW President Shawn Fain. Harris and Walz were expected to begin their remarks at about 7 p.m.

Details of Thursday's event hadn't been made public.

Smith, 59, a hairstylist, is a Democrat who strongly dislikes Trump but was worried Joe Biden was going to lose the Nov. 5 election. With Harris, "I have hope," he said. "I think she's going to win."

Many Democrats are making similar comments about Harris as their party's prospects have improved since Biden announced July 21 he would no longer seek the party's presidential nomination for the November election and was throwing his support behind her.

Harris, a former California attorney general and San Francisco district attorney, has drawn about even or slightly ahead of Trump in most national and battleground state polling. Though the Democratic convention in Chicago doesn't convene until later this month, Harris was officially declared the nominee late Monday after she won overwhelming support from delegates in a five-day virtual vote ahead of the convention.

Though Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was considered a frontrunner to be selected as running mate to Harris, there were concerns that he could alienate pro-Palestinian voters in the Detroit area, who were frustrated with Biden and favored Walz as a Harris running mate.

Republicans, including the presidential nominee, former president Donald Trump, slammed both Harris and Walz Tuesday as radical leftists.

"Tim Walz is in lockstep with Kamala Harris’ out-of-touch and dangerous national Democrat agenda of open borders, sky-high inflation, and policies that are hurting hardworking Americans," Republican Governors Association executive director Sara Craig said in a news release.

Julie McManus, 67, who voted in the August primary Tuesday in Pleasant Ridge with her husband Mark, said she would have voted for Biden but feels more energized about voting for Harris now that Biden has dropped out of the race.

“I vote Democrat but I’m excited to vote for Kamala,” she said.

“I like her energy. I like the fact that she stepped up to the plate.”

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More: Tim Walz to campaign in Detroit with Kamala Harris: What to know about Minnesota governor

Gabrielle Pough, 20, of Farmington Hills is a rising senior at the University of Michigan studying neuroscience and applying to medical school.

She voted absentee in the primary and said she is eager to vote for Harris in November.

“I think she’ll win,” Pough said. “I think it will be close, but I think she’ll win.”

She didn’t have an opinion yet on Walz.

But Howard Dembs, 70, of West Bloomfield, said he was excited by Harris' selection of Walz.

“I like the fact that he is governed in a state that has enacted policies that align with my values, a woman's right to choose, and others,” he said. “He's been a two-time governor, very popular, very plain spoken.”

One concern he has about Walz is that his policy positions are very similar to those of Harris, so he worries that he doesn’t expand the vote.

Dembs is Jewish and said he likes Shapiro, who is also Jewish, but he is happy Harris chose Walz over Shapiro.

“At a time when there are issues of antisemitism and an Israel-Gaza conflict, I think that would have hurt the Democrats,” he said.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or [email protected]. Follow him on X, @paulegan4. Staff writer Todd Spangler contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan Democrats energized for Kamala Harris, Tim Walz visit