Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris will visit Detroit on Oct. 19 to promote the start of in-person early voting.
Detroit is opening 14 early voting sites across the city where residents can cast ballots in person or drop off an absentee ballot. It’s Harris’ seventh visit to Michigan, her campaign said Saturday.
The vice president is also stopping in Detroit on Tuesday for a town hall style radio interview with “The Breakfast Club” host Charlemagne Tha God.
Charlamagne said his conversation with Harris will air at 5 p.m. It wasn’t clear how much prominence callers would have in the programming, or if Harris will make other stops in Michigan. Her campaign confirmed via email that Harris would be attending the radio event, but did not offer further details.
The Breakfast Club is popular with Black millennial audiences, a crucial voting bloc for Harris that Republican rival Donald Trump has also courted. A recent poll from Quinnipiac University showed Trump has substantially improved his performance with non-white voters in battleground states since he lost in 2022.
The radio show drew some notoriety in 2020 when now-President Joe Biden appeared as a guest and told Charlagne, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
Early voting was legalized by Michigan voters in 2022, allowing citizens to cast a ballot in person. Most communities will begin offering early voting on Oct. 26 under the law, but are allowed to open early voting centers sooner.
The Michigan Department of State reported 101,847 absentee ballots were sent to Detroit voters and 35% – 36,101 total – were turned in as of Oct. 11.
Detroit has received plenty of attention from presidential campaigns in the final weeks of the election. Former President Barack Obama is planning to visit Detroit on Oct. 22.
Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump spoke at the Detroit Economic Club on Oct. 10, where he discussed manufacturing policies but also warned the “whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Harris is elected.
The Harris campaign quickly issued an ad criticizing the comment, and local leaders like Mayor Mike Duggan rose to defend Detroit’s image. U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Rochester, told BridgeDetroit last week that Harris is working alongside Duggan and other local leaders to revitalize the city.
“The city’s moving forward, and what Donald Trump and JD Vance shows over and over again is that they want to take us backwards,” Stevens said. “That’s not going to cut it for us.”
Republican Vice presidential candidate JD Vance visited Eastern Market Detroit on Oct. 7. Harris’ running mate Tim Walz held a campaign event at Macomb County Community College on Friday.
Republican organizers are working to boost turnout in the Democratic stronghold. Michigan GOP Chair Pete Hoekstra told reporters they are reaching out to Black voters directly. A NAACP poll found that one in four Black men under the age of 50 support Trump.
Democratic surrogates have meanwhile continued to stump for Harris in Detroit. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and state Rep. Tyrone Carter, D-Detroit, promoted Harris’ support for manufacturing jobs on Oct. 8. Imam Mikail Stewart, leader of the Muslim Center in Detroit, endorsed Harris last week.
Actor Cornelius Smith Jr. talked with voters at The Final Kut barbershop on 7 Mile on Saturday. U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, D-Nevada, and members of the Divine Nine historically Black sororities and fraternities are holding another Detroit outreach event Sunday.
The Harris campaign has 52 campaign offices and 375 staff members working across the state.
Bridge Michigan reporter Simon Schuster contributed.
