In Michigan, Vance says Trump can win, but only if voters don't wait until Election Day

With less than two weeks to go until Election Day on Nov. 5, Republican Vice Presidential Nominee JD Vance came to Oakland County Thursday evening to encourage supporters of former President Donald Trump in battleground Michigan to tell their friends and family to vote for the GOP ticket.

"I want every single person in this room — in this hangar — to get out there and vote ten times," Vance said to laughter from the crowd in Waterford. "That's going to be a Washington Post headline, 'Vance encourages voter fraud,'" he joked. "Here's the legal way. The legal way that we're going to vote ten times is we're going to take ourselves to the polls, and we're going to take nine friends and family along with us."

Vance echoed Trump's pleas for his supporters to vote early, a pivot from 2020 when the former president railed against mail-in voting and spread misinformation about the process. "Now look, I'm the world's biggest critic of election season over Election Day. But as Donald Trump says, 'It is what it is,'" Vance said. "We're going to win this game by playing by the rules, but not if everybody waits to vote until Election Day, ok? We got to get out there and vote and bank as many votes as possible."

Before Vance spoke, other Trump allies encouraged Trump supporters in Michigan to vote early to beat Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

U.S. Rep. John James, R-Shelby Township, likened early voting to a smart gameday strategy. "Imagine if our boy Dan Campbell said, 'You know what? We’re going to let the Titans run up the score for three and half quarters and then in the last few minutes, we’re going to try to win the game?'" he said, referring to the Detroit Lions coach. "That’s exactly what so many of us do. We wait until the last moment that the Democrats run up the score, and then we wake up the next morning and we're surprised when we’ve fallen behind."

Brian Pannebecker of Autoworkers for Trump took the stage and asked those in the crowd to raise their hands if they haven't voted yet, and arms shot up across the venue. He encouraged them to vote early in-person, championing a new voting option created by a voter-approved constitutional amendment in 2022 that prominent Republicans campaigned against. Early voting starts statewide Saturday, Pannebecker noted. "It's not absentee voting. It's in-person early voting," he said, a point he stressed multiple times. He directed voters to head to their clerk's office to take advantage of the new early voting option. But not every clerk's office is set up as an early voting location although at clerk's offices voters can request an absentee ballot and return it there at the same time.

In addition to trying to inspire Republicans to turn out, Vance delivered a familiar campaign speech that touched on range of topics, including illegal immigration into the U.S., President Joe Biden administration's target for electric vehicle sales and high housing costs.

Vance's appearance marked the latest in a series of Oakland County campaign stops this week. Republican former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming appeared alongside Harris at the Royal Oak Music Theatre to convince conservatives to elect a Democrat to the White House. Republican former Gov. Rick Snyder and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer held competing events in Rochester Thursday morning stumping for state House candidates. And Trump is scheduled to return to Oakland County Saturday for a rally in Novi.

Oakland County is Michigan's second-largest county and it's wealthiest. It has trended in recent years toward Democrats up and down the ballot, and the last time it voted for a Republican presidential candidate was 1992. On residential streets near where Vance spoke, neighbors planted Harris and Trump signs right next to each other.

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Ahead of Vance's ninth campaign visit to Michigan Thursday, the Harris campaign held a news briefing featuring Republican former U.S. Reps. Dave Trott of Birmingham and Fred Upton of St. Joseph who have both endorsed the Democratic presidential nominee. Upton recounted his experience on Jan. 6, 2021 in the U.S. Capitol when a mob of Trump supporters tried to stop the certification of the election. Upton predicts a similar outcome if Trump is defeated again this fall. "If he loses, he'll spread another big lie and that could spark even more political violence," Upton said.

Polling averages show a tight race in Michigan between Harris and Trump. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in the state in 2016 but lost Michigan to Biden in 2020. The state could again play a critical role in deciding the outcome of this year's presidential election.

Contact Clara Hendrickson at [email protected] or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, previously called Twitter, @clarajanehen.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Vance, Trump allies promote early voting in Michigan