The President and First Lady will both be in Detroit this weekend, but for different reasons.
Both President Joe Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden have speaking engagements at Huntington Place (formerly Cobo Hall) in Detroit, with President Biden slated to give the keynote address at the 69th Annual Detroit NAACP Fight for Freedom Fund Dinner on May 19, and Dr. Jill Biden delivering the keynote at the Michigan Democratic Women Legacy Luncheon on May 18.
First Lady Biden, who is currently in Michigan, has already stopped at two additional cities in Michigan as part of her push to re-elect President Biden. She was in Marquette on Thursday, May 16 and in Midland on Friday, May 17. All three visits have been with women leaders in an effort to rally that demographic behind the re-election campaign. Douglas Emhoff, the husband of Vice President Kamala Harris, has accompanied the First Lady on each of her stops, Biden campaign officials said.
As for the purpose of President Biden’s trip, the campaign says it’s simple: meet Black voters where they are.
“This campaign will not take a single voter for granted,” Trey Baker, a senior campaign adviser, wrote in a memo. “We are not, and will not, parachute into these communities at the last minute, expecting their vote.”
The Biden campaign did not give any additional details about the President’s planned meetings with voters and/or small-business owners during his Detroit visit.
Vice President Harris made a visit to Detroit last week, speaking at the Charles H. Wright Museum in front of hundreds of supporters. During her visit, she unveiled plans for a $100 million investment aimed at empowering small and medium-sized auto manufacturers to upgrade their facilities and pivot towards the production of electric vehicles (EVs).
“I believe that America economy is powered by the ambition and the aspiration of her people,” said Vice President Kamala Harris. “The ambition and aspiration to innovate, to create and to prosper. Therefore, to grow our economy, we must invest in that ambition and those aspirations. I believe every person in our country must have access to the opportunity to compete, to succeed, and to thrive; the ability to achieve what I call financial freedom, which means having enough not just to get by but to get ahead.”
The visits give a clear indication of the campaign’s understanding of exactly how important Michigan is to the outcome of the Nov. 2024 presidential election. In fact, not since presidential hopeful John Kerry’s 2004 campaign has a nominee won the Michigan vote and failed to be voted into office as President.
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