Mapping Biden, Harris, Trump, Vance and Walz visits to Michigan
Battleground Michigan has seen a flurry of presidential campaign visits this year as voters stare down a tight race that polling — at points — has made seem like the election between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris will be decided by a razor-thin margin.
Trump has spent 17 days campaigning in Michigan in his bid to return to the White House, according to a Detroit Free Press tracker of candidate visits. Harris has spent 16 days in the state: she made four of those trips before President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and the rest after she launched her last-minute campaign.
Biden himself held what would be his final campaign rally at a Detroit high school before he ended his campaign, heeding Democrats' calls to exit the race following a disastrous debate performance against Trump. And Trump came to Michigan to hold his first campaign rally following an assassination attempt against him at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Harris was last in Michigan Sunday for a swing through the state that ended with a rally in East Lansing. Trump was last in Michigan for an election eve rally in Grand Rapids where he took the stage just after 12 a.m. Monday..
Harris and Trump's vice presidential picks have appeared with their running mates and made solo appearances too. In total, Trump's running mate Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance has spent 12 days campaigning in Michigan, and Harris' vice presidential pick Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has spent 10 days in Michigan.
Map: Michigan presidential campaign stops 2024
Calendar: Michigan presidential campaign stops, August-October 2024
All the stops by the leading candidates and their running mates have taken place in Michigan's lower peninsula with most occurring in Wayne County, the state's largest county and a Democratic stronghold. Kent County has seen the second-highest number of visits, a critical swing county in a swing state.
Trump won Michigan in 2016 by the tightest margin of any state: beating Democrat Hillary Clinton by about 10,700 votes — less than 0.25 percentage points. Biden went on to defeat Trump in 2020 by more than 154,000 votes or just under three percentage points.
Once again, Michigan is among just several toss-up states that could decide the presidential election. Which likely means more visits from the candidates and surrogates stumping for their pick to drum up support in the final stretch of the race.
Absentee voting is already underway in Michigan. Early in-person voting will become available statewide Oct. 26. Election Day is Nov. 5.
Feb. 1: Biden in Harper Woods and Warren
Feb. 17: Trump in Waterford
Feb. 22: Harris in Grand Rapids
March 14: Biden in Saginaw
April 2: Trump in Grand Rapids
May 1: Trump in Tittabawassee Township
May 6: Harris in Detroit
May 19: Biden in Detroit
June 8: Harris in Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti and Detroit
June 15: Trump in Detroit
July 12: Biden in Detroit
July 17: Harris in Portage
July 20: Trump in Grand Rapids
Aug. 7: Vance in Shelby Township; Harris and Walz in Romulus
Aug. 8: Harris and Walz in Wayne
Aug. 14: Vance in Byron Township
Aug. 20: Trump in Howell
Aug. 26: Trump in Detroit and Roseville
Aug. 27 Vance in Green Township
Aug. 29 Trump in Potterville
Sept. 2: Harris in Detroit
Sept. 12: Walz in Grand Rapids
Sept. 13: Walz in Grand Rapids and East Lansing
Sept. 17: Vance in Sparta Township; Trump in Flint
Sept. 19: Harris in Farmington Hills
Sept. 25: Vance in Blair Township
Sept. 27: Trump in Walker and Warren
Sept. 28: Walz in Van Buren Charter Township and Ann Arbor
Oct. 2: Vance in Auburn Hills and Wright Township
Oct. 3: Trump in Kochville Township
Oct. 4: Harris in Redford Township and Flint
Oct. 8: Vance in Detroit
Oct. 10: Trump in Detroit
Oct. 11: Walz in Warren
Oct. 15: Harris in Detroit
Oct. 18: Harris in Grand Rapids, Lansing and Waterford; Trump in Hamtramck, Auburn Hills and Detroit
Oct. 19: Harris in Detroit
Oct. 20: Walz in Buena Vista Township
Oct. 21: Harris in Royal Oak
Oct. 24: Vance in Waterford
Oct. 25: Trump in Traverse City
Oct. 26: Trump in Novi; Harris in Kalamazoo
Oct. 28: Harris in Thomas Township, Warren and Ann Arbor
Oct. 29: Vance in Saginaw Township and Fillmore Township
Nov. 1: Walz in Detroit, Taylor, Flint and Traverse City; Vance in Portage; Trump in Dearborn and Warren
Nov. 3: Harris in Detroit, Pontiac and East Lansing
Nov. 4: Vance in Flint; Walz in Detroit and Trump in Grand Rapids
Looking for more on Michigan’s elections this year? Check out our voter guide, subscribe to our elections newsletter and always feel free to share your thoughts in a letter to the editor.
Contact Clara Hendrickson: [email protected] or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, previously called Twitter, @clarajanehen.
Contact Amy Huschka: [email protected] or follow her on X (formerly Twitter): @aetmanshuschka.
Contact Kristi Tanner: [email protected] or follow her on X (formerly Twitter): @MIdatalove.
Follow the Detroit Free Press on Instagram (@detroitfreepress), TikTok (@detroitfreepress), YouTube (@DetroitFreePress), Twitter/X (@freep), and LinkedIn, and like us on Facebook (@detroitfreepress).
Stay connected and stay informed. Become a subscriber.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Mapping Harris, Trump presidential candidate visits to Michigan