Walz once again predicts women will play decisive role in 2024 election

With a hoarse voice at the end of the last day before the 2024 presidential election, Democratic Vice Presidential Nominee Tim Walz late Monday night delivered a final message focused on reproductive rights to Michigan voters at a rally in downtown Detroit as the campaign drew to a close.

In 2022, about 57% of Michigan voters approved a ballot measure adding an explicit right to abortion in the state's constitution after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.

Echoing a similar message he delivered Friday in Michigan, Walz once again told the men in the crowd to think of the women in their lives. "Their lives are at stake in this election," said Walz, who as Minnesota's governor signed an abortion rights bill into law. He talked about how Trump's appointment of conservative justices paved the way for abortion bans in states across the country. But in the first presidential election after the U.S. Supreme Court stripped women of a national right to abortion they had for nearly half a century, Walz said in this election women would deliver a message to Trump. "Whether he likes it or not," Walz said, riffing on Trump's promise to protect women "whether they like it not."

"We are in the fourth quarter. Two minutes left. The game is tied. But we've got the damn ball. And we've got the best quarterback on the field in Kamala Harris," Walz said in a short speech he delivered shortly after 10:30 p.m. Monday night. "Michigan, bring this thing home for America."

Walz' wife Gwen Walz spoke right before him and invoked her teaching background to fire up voters, describing the election as a high-stakes group project. "And guess what? It's due tomorrow, and it's pass-fail."

Republican former President Donald Trump was scheduled to appear in Michigan Monday night at a rally in Grand Rapids, where he also ended his 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns.

In Hart Plaza where Walz spoke trees were lit up in blue and red and iconic downtown Detroit buildings were aglow on a drizzly night as the vice presidential contender looked out at his supporters at the edge of the Detroit River. A short walk away from where Harris supporters gathered, Detroit election workers have spent the last several days processing and tabulating absentee ballots cast by the city's voters. As of Monday morning, about 33% of Detroit voters had already turned out to vote either early or absentee. Statewide, about 44% of voters had already cast a ballot. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said in a statement Monday night that Michigan appears to be on track for another high-turnout election. The state in 2020 saw the highest turnout in 60 years.

Several Michigan politicians took the stage before Walz spoke, including Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, Lt. Garlin Gilchrist II, U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Holly, who's vying for an open Michigan U.S. Senate seat in a race against GOP former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Brighton, and U.S. Sen. Gary Peters. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer who has crisscrossed Michigan to stump for Democrats delivered a final pitch to Harris supporters late Monday night.

"This is it, folks. The whole world is counting on us," Whitmer said. "Michigan, we deserve leaders who know us and see us. Kamala Harris is that leader."

Several musical acts took the stage at the Walz rally on election eve in Michigan's biggest city, including the Detroit Youth Choir and a joint performance featuring Jon Bon Jovi, The War and Treaty and Michael Stipe of R.E.M. "I have one simple question: Who can we rely on to unite us when we are at our most divided?" asked Bon Jovi. "Kamala" the crowd responded. After Walz, the musicians returned to the stage and performed an acoustic rendition of "Livin' on a Prayer."

Throughout the rally, a DJ spun Motown and pop hits that had the crowd and some security personnel singing and dancing along. In a presidential cycle that has at times been marked by dark and apocalyptic rhetoric, Harris supporters seemed determined to have a party before the final day of voting on Election Day Tuesday. They line-danced to "The Wobble" during one musical interlude as they waited to hear from Walz.

Amanda Marsh, 35 of Washington D.C., came to Michigan for some canvassing ahead of the election and to visit her family from Grosse Pointe. She said she decided to delay her return flight home so she could attend the Walz rally. Amid the joyous atmosphere, she noted an underlying nervousness about the upcoming election. "I think Democrats are just naturally anxious after everything that happened with Hillary," she said, referring to Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 2016 loss to Trump.

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Trump's campaign blasted the Walz rally Monday morning. "Free concerts and flashy performances are not going to change the fact that Michiganders have been suffering under the weight of Kamalanomics and the failed policies of the Harris-Biden administration. Hardworking Michiganders are ready to elect President Trump to put more money in their pockets, secure our border, and make life affordable again," said Team Trump Michigan Communications Director Victoria LaCivita in a statement Monday morning.

Eight years ago, Trump beat Hillary Clinton in Michigan by 10,704-vote or 0.3 percentage point margin — the slimmest of any state — delivering Michigan for a GOP presidential candidate for the first time since 1988. In 2020, Biden defeated Trump by over 154,000 votes or 2.78 percentage points. In this year's election, Michigan is once again a critical battleground state.

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

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This story was updated to add post from X.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Walz caps Harris Michigan campaign with Detroit rally