Former President Donald Trump said Detroit’s “real comeback” won’t start unless he returns to the White House during a campaign rally at the city’s riverfront convention center.
The rally was held with 18 days left in the campaign and one day before early in-person voting starts in Detroit. State data showed 53,251 Detroiters cast absentee ballots as of Friday, representing nearly half of all citizens who requested one. Trump encouraged the crowd at Huntington Place to “get the hell out there” and vote early.
“Kamala doesn’t have a plan to save Detroit,” Trump said, warning that she would “reduce your future to rubble.”
Four years earlier, Trump supporters were organized to “stop the count” at Huntington Place, where Detroit holds its absentee ballot processing center. Friday’s rally was held in a convention hall adjacent to where absentee ballots will be processed and counted.
Trump’s speech heavily emphasized illegal immigration, claiming a “migrant” invasion is overrunning cities with violent criminals and snatching jobs from Americans. Trump pledged to invoke a 1798 law allowing the federal government to deport immigrants based on a declared war.
The former president promised a “stunning rebirth” for Detroit.
Democratic nominee Kamala Harris returns to Detroit on Saturday for a campaign rally featuring Detroit-born artist Lizzo. Harris campaigned in Grand Rapids, Lansing and Oakland County on Friday.
Trump targets Detroit voters
Trump is aggressively campaigning in Detroit, with six visits by the former president and his running mate JD Vance this year. A campaign spokesperson said Trump is going on offense to grow Trump’s support in the Democratic stronghold.
Trump met supporters at a Hamtramck organizing office and attended a roundtable on business issues in Auburn Hills before the Detroit rally.
The campaign is focused on turning out Black men, particularly low-propensity voters who feel financially worse off under the Biden-Harris administration. Trump’s campaign is depending on surrogates like Detroit Pastor Lorenzo Sewell, who led the crowd in prayer and hosts weekly “Souls to the Polls” discussions at 180 Church to organize Republican voters.
Trump earned 7,700 Detroit votes in 2016, compared to nearly 235,000 for Democrat Hillary Clinton, while in 2020 he improved to 12,700 as Democrats had just 234,000 for Biden.
The Trump campaign believes its focus on Detroit has pushed Harris to work harder to turn out voters in the important battleground state. Trump flipped Michigan in 2016 but lost the state in 2020.
Campaign mail is being sent to Detroit voters. Detroit School Board Member Sherry Gay-Dagnogo, a Democrat, said she’s received 20 pieces of Trump mail. MIGOP ran a radio ad featuring former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who endorsed President Trump, using portions of a speech he gave at an Oakland County Republican event.
U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, met with members of Divine Nine Greek organizations at the historic Alpha house in Detroit’s Brush Park neighborhood Friday morning. Warnock campaigned with U.S. Senate candidate Elissa Slotkin at Cass Technical High School earlier in the day.
Warnock told attendees that voter apathy was a greater threat to Harris than Black men voting for Trump.
“I don’t buy this messaging that there will be these huge waves of Black men voting for Donald Trump,” Warnock said. “There was some last time and this time there will be some.”
Warnock predicted Trump would lead a national ban on abortion if elected, which would have devastating effects on Black women who face higher rates of maternal mortality. Warnock said abortion is a “family issue” Black men should care about.
He cited the death of Amber Thurman, a 28-year-old Georgia woman who left behind a 6-year-old son when doctors denied her an emergency abortion.
The Gamma Epsilon Chapter of the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity has operated out of its Detroit house since 1939, making it the oldest fraternity house in the Divine Nine. Chapter President Harry Todd encouraged his fraternity brothers to help elect Harris.
“Black men who aren’t here, I want to grab you by the arm and say, come on, brother. Let’s wake up,” Todd said.
Former President Barack Obama is visiting Detroit to campaign for Harris on Oct. 22.
Make Detroit Great Again?
Trump supporters carried “Make Detroit Great Again” signs showing the city’s skyline. Trump briefly brought boxer Tommy “Hitman” Hearns and rapper Trick Trick on stage.
Michigan Republican Party Chair Pete Hoekstra encouraged attendees to take advantage of early voting options. He said he feels momentum swinging in their direction.
“We’re going to win this,” Hoekstra said. “That doesn’t mean we take it for granted, it means we work a little harder each and every day.”
Attendees said immigration and the economy are their top concerns. Omar Mitchell, owner of Table No. 2 restaurant in downtown Detroit, told the crowd his business was performing better under the Trump administration. People have less money to dine out now, he said. Mitchell encouraged attendees to “coach” and rally Black voters around Trump.
“We need to get the economy back to what it used to be,” Mitchell said. “We need to get this dollar strong. Detroit is the heart of Michigan.”
Monica Williams, a 54-year-old Ypsilanti resident, said she voted for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2016 and as a write-in ballot in 2020. She’s since become frustrated with “condescending” Democrats and the “destruction” of Southeast Michigan in her lifetime.
“Kamala did nothing,” Williams said. “You’re going to pop someone in and we’re supposed to support her. I believe Kamala is fake.”
Bryan Small, a 30-year-old Westland resident, said he grew up in Detroit and voted for Democrats until 2020. He became a Republican during the pandemic, saying he felt Trump was wrongly blamed for the virus spinning out of control.
A week earlier, Trump disparaged the city during a speech before the Detroit Economic Club. Trump called Detroit “a mess” and said the rest of the country would “end up” like the city if Harris is elected.
Trump’s remark about Detroit didn’t bother Small.
“He was right,” Small said. “The people who were mad weren’t here in 2008… I won’t say Detroit is the worst city. I grew up in Northwest Goldberg. We need residents to get opportunities.”
Small said Democrats are “pandering” to Black men by promising to legalize marijuana and regulate crypto-currency.
“They think we’re dumb,” Small said. “Democrats aren’t for working people.”
Canton resident Matthew Thomas, 70, said he voted for the Democratic ticket in 2016 and 2020. Thomas changed his views during the COVID-19 pandemic, arguing that he saw Democrats weaponize institutions and compared news to Nazi propagandists.
Thomas was collecting signatures for a petition circulated by billionaire Elon Musk in support of the First and Second Amendments. Thomas said he’s paid $47 per signature and has gathered 30 signatures so far.
Trump praised Musk during his remarks, thanking him for campaigning on his behalf in Pennsylvania.