'Not taking anything for granted': Why JD Vance visited a deeply red part of Michigan

(This story has been updated to correct an inaccuracy and to add new information.)

MARNE, Mich. — JD Vance, the U.S. Senator from Ohio and former President Donald Trump’s running mate on the Republican presidential ticket this November, returned to west Michigan on Wednesday, this time for a stop in reliably red Ottawa County.

Vance spoke to a few hundred supporters at Berlin Raceway in Marne, a small unincorporated community in Wright Township. He continued to hammer the Democratic nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, for policies concerning the U.S. southern border and the manufacturing industry. The remarks weren’t wildly different from ones Vance made during an event in southeast Michigan earlier on Wednesday.

But even in an area widely expected to turn out for Trump in November, local Republicans say campaigning in GOP strongholds like Ottawa County could still prove fruitful. In Michigan, a state expected to be key to deciding the outcome of the presidential election, turning out as many voters as possible could prove decisive come election night.

“I really do appreciate JD Vance coming here, not taking anything for granted and fighting for every vote in Michigan,” said state Sen. Roger Victory, R-Georgetown Township, who represents parts of Ottawa County.

Trump won Ottawa County by 21 points in 2020. Victory said Vance’s visit to Marne shows the Trump campaign isn’t overlooking any potential voters.

“Sometimes you can just look at Ottawa County being reliable (for Republicans), even (nearby) Allegan County, but I think as the voters are out there studying the issues, they’re tired of being taken for granted,” Victory said.

Vance hasn’t been a stranger to the state’s western side — since being named Trump’s running mate in July, he’s made four stops in west Michigan (along with a visit to Traverse City, which is in the state’s western half but considered to be Up North).

“We’re going to be here every week, probably me or President Trump, until the election, because this is such an important part of the state,” Vance said.

Comparatively, Trump and Vance have visited west Michigan more than Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota. While Walz made a pair of stops in Kent County last month, Harris hasn’t campaigned in west Michigan since she became the Democratic nominee. Her last visit was in July, when she was still President Joe Biden’s running mate, for a campaign event about abortion rights in Portage.

A spokesperson for the Harris campaign touted its ground game throughout Michigan, however, noting it had dozens of field offices, including multiple in Kent and Ottawa counties, and more than 42,000 campaign volunteers.

At Wednesday’s event in Marne, Trump supporters said they felt energized and enthusiastic about their preferred candidate’s chances in November.

“That’s a big deal, coming to Marne, that’s a big deal as little as the community is,” said Peter Charron, a 69-year-old retiree who made the half-hour trip from Muskegon for the event. “They, we, still vote like anybody else, so this is their way of expanding their base. It’s awesome.”

Marne is in the part of Ottawa County that falls into Michigan’s 3rd Congressional District. Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Grand Rapids, bucked decades of Republican representation in Congress for Grand Rapids when she was elected in 2022.

At an event earlier on Wednesday, Scholten criticized Trump’s record on manufacturing jobs while he was in office, and also noted Vance is likely not done campaigning in west Michigan.

“After Trump led us into a manufacturing recession, Kamala Harris helped lay the groundwork for a manufacturing renaissance,” Scholten said, according to a transcript provided by the Harris campaign. “So, no matter how many times JD Vance comes around and he will be sure to come again, he won’t fool Michiganders.”

Ottawa County also represents a local example of some of the changes within Republican politics that have taken place since Trump first ran for president in 2016. In 2022, local residents upset with the county's handling of COVID-19 ousted a majority of incumbent Republicans on the county's board of commissioners, after forming a political action committee called Ottawa Impact. Upon swearing in, the new board wasted little time taking up campaign goals like eliminating the county's department of diversity, equity and inclusion, trying to fire the county health director and appointing a notable conservative attorney to be the county's corporate counsel. The board also fired the previous county administrator and replaced him with John Gibbs, a former congressional candidate endorsed by Trump.

The new board hasn't gone unchallenged, however — its attempt to fire the health director resulted in a judge ordering a $4 million settlement, only for the board to vote to retain her after criticism over the settlement grew. Gibbs also was fired a bit more than a year into his tenure after falling out with the board.

And then in August, five candidates supported by Ottawa Impact lost Republican primaries of their own, ensuring that the new board installed next year would not have a majority of candidates aligned with Ottawa Impact.

Michigan is expected to be closely contested in the Nov. 5 election — opinion polls currently show Harris leading Trump by a few percentage points, making the race a tossup. The state is considered one of a handful of battlegrounds where the election will be decided.

Both campaigns are keenly aware. Trump is slated to hold a rally in Saginaw on Thursday, just a day before Harris campaigns in Detroit and Flint on Friday. And as Vance noted, visits to west Michigan, even less considered areas like Marne, likely aren't done either.

Editor's note: This story was corrected to reflect that five Ottawa Impact candidates lost primaries in August.

— Contact Arpan Lobo: [email protected]

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: JD Vance rallies with supporters in west Michigan