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As early voting began Saturday in Detroit, Kamala Harris took to the gymnasium of the city’s high school to deliver a simple message: early voting is the best way to stop Donald Trump from returning to power. was.
“Now, who has the capital to make records?” the vice president asked of a city with a tradition of hit music. “So we’re going to break some records today here in Detroit.”
Ms. Harris joined superstar Ms. Lizzo at a high-spirited rally near a secluded park where early voting sites are located. Then, in a spectacular display of organization, the crowd marched across the street to a park where they could be among the first in the city to vote for Harris.
“If you ask me if America is ready for its first female president, all I can say is it’s about time,” Lizzo said, singing one of her biggest hits.
Early voting begins in Detroit on Saturday and will expand across the state next weekend. Democrats have traditionally deposited huge sums of money in Michigan before Election Day, but no one seems to know what direction that will take this year. Anecdotally, Democrats feel they have a slight advantage, given that Republicans have shown early renewed interest in bank voting after President Trump denounced it in 2020. Republicans claim to be on new ground.
That’s where Lizzo, the Detroit-born artist who made Harris’ case in a high school gymnasium without a concert-quality sound system under basketball-quality lights, appeared. The pared-down setting seemed clearly designed to cheer up local residents rather than suggest an arena-level event. Campaign aides say this was no coincidence, as the goal was to rally voters in their neighborhoods and get them to cross the street to vote.
Harris and Trump have spent the past 36 hours trolling Michigan, where the state’s 15 electoral votes are critical to both sides. On Friday night, President Trump suffered microphone trouble during an incoherent rally in which he tried to rephrase the bad things he said about Detroit a week ago.
In addition to Rizzo, Harris attended the rally along with six national union presidents and a number of local poles. As the speech progressed, Harris’ campaign aides shrewdly worked in the gym, gathering contact information for voters and volunteers.
“The race is close. It’s going to be hard work. But we like hard work,” said Harris, who was immediately rushing to the airport to collect Georgia’s early voters. “I’m here today because it’s a work day.”
The same goes for every day from now until Election Day.
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