MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, Mich. — Former President Bill Clinton visited a Muskegon Heights church on Wednesday to stump for Vice President Kamala Harris, pitching her as the presidential candidate who will protect democracy, improve the economy for working people and navigate foreign policy challenges.
He acknowledged a chief foreign policy issue affecting Michigan residents, particularly the state’s Arab-American communities — the war between Israel and its neighbors in the Middle East. Some Democrats have withheld support from Harris over concern she is not aggressive enough about pressuring Israel to end the war.
“This is far more complicated than you know,” Clinton said after describing his experience trying to negotiate a peace deal between Israeli and Palestinian leaders as former president. “All I ask you to do is to keep an open mind. Kamala Harris said that she will try to negotiate an end to the violence, an end to the killing…”
Clinton on Wednesday joined the ranks of other Democratic party powerhouses hitting the campaign trail in Michigan as the time left before Election Day dwindles to less than a week. Former President Barack Obama spoke at a rally in Detroit in late October and former first lady Michelle Obama spoke in Kalamazoo shortly after.
Clinton’s first stop Wednesday was at Christ Temple Apostolic Faith Church in Muskegon Heights, where supporters gathered first over breakfast before crowding around the podium with Harris-Walz campaign signs. Clinton also had stops scheduled Wednesday in South Haven and Benton Harbor.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer introduced Clinton at the church. She acknowledged the tight race between Harris and Trump, and encouraged the crowd to tell their friends and neighbors about their options for voting before Election Day via absentee or early in-person voting.
“We’ve got less than a week now,” Whitmer said. “The whole world is watching a handful of states in this country, and Michigan is in the middle of everything.”
Both campaigns are encouraging their supporters to vote before Election Day. At a campaign stop in Saginaw Township on Tuesday, Trump’s running-mate Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance and other Michigan Republican leaders encouraged the crowd to bank their votes and take their friends and family members to the polls.
Approximately 2 million Michigan voters already have cast ballots in the Nov. 5 election, with 1.6 million votes coming from absentee ballots and more than 389,000 votes cast in-person at early voting centers across the state, according to the Secretary of State’s office. Early, in-person voting continues through Nov. 3.
Johnnie Simon, 69, of Muskegon, is one of those early Michigan voters. He visited the Muskegon Heights church on Wednesday morning for the rare opportunity to see a former president up close.
Simon voted Tuesday at a Muskegon County early voting station.
“I was going to do it anyway,” he said. “I vote every year, every election. It’s just my right. Look at how long we fought to get it. I always look back, way beyond me, at people who died, got lynched, killed, murdered for us to be able to vote. This was deeper than Martin Luther King.”
Each election, including this one, feels more important than the last, Simon said. He doesn’t want to see Trump, who he referred to as a “crook,” have another term in office.
“What gets me, out of all this, how in the hell can he run with 34 convictions, tried and found guilty?” Simon said. “I couldn’t go near the White House (with 34 convictions). I’d be in jail.”
Later on stage, Clinton said Trump will surround himself with supporters if elected back to the White House, whereas Harris understands “diverse groups make better decisions.”
Trump will fill every position “with people who are unquestionably loyal,” Clinton said. “They made it absolutely clear. I think that is a recipe for disaster, because nobody knows everything.”
Clinton also chided Trump for promoting himself as the better candidate for the economy. He ribbed Trump for taking credit an economy built by his predecessor former President Barack Obama and for blaming current President Joe Biden for inflation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic supply chain issues.
“He’s the best credit-claimer I’ve ever seen,” Clinton said of Trump. “‘The sun rose this morning, I did that. But it rained yesterday. If I had been president it never would have rained.’ You’ve got to give it to the guy, he’s really good at this.”
Trump’s and Harris’ contrasting plans for manufacturing, primarily automotive manufacturing, have become a divisive point in Michigan. Vance on Tuesday said Trump would use increased tariffs on foreign-made automobiles to promote American automakers, whereas Harris has touted the Biden administration’s large investment in Michigan auto plants to help them transition to making electric vehicles as part of her vision for the industry’s future.
Harris’ support of working people and the middle class is among the biggest draws for Nina Simone Hill, 53, of Grand Rapids. She voted in person on Sunday, more than a week before Election Day, but attended Clinton and Whitmer’s campaign stop in Muskegon Heights to show her support for the Harris ticket.
Hill cares for her mother, who is experiencing health issues, and works full time as a flight attendant. She said she feels tied to Harris, who also had the experience of caring for her ailing mother, and heartened by Harris’ support for people taking care of their loved ones.
“I support who is for the (greater good), thinking of others, not just themselves,” she said. “We the people. We’re all together.”
