Democrats running for governor were busy today walking in parades, handing out candy to children, while talking to their parents about voting in next month’s primary.
With one month to go in the campaign before the August primary, candidate Gretchen Whitmer says it’s “all hands on deck.”
“We’re on the doors. We’re on the phones. I’m attending events across Michigan at senior centers or parades,” Whitmer said as she waited for the start of Wyandotte’s 4th of July parade, her second parade of the morning.
At times Whitmer worked the same side of the street as fellow Democratic candidate Abdul El-Sayed.
A recent poll showed Whitmer holding a comfortable lead in the race for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.
But El Sayed points to a recent upset in a Democratic congressional primary in New York for inspiration.
“We saw what happened with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York,” El Sayed says, citing the little-known candidate’s upset win over a 10-term congressman.
“She was able to win a race that nobody thought she could win because she was able to excite voters who traditionally have been democrats but who have been forgotten by the party,” says El Sayed.
The third Democratic candidate for governor, Shri Thanedar, walked in Ann Arbor’s Fourth of July parade.
On August 7th, voters will decide which of the three will face off against the Republican Party nominee in November’s general election.
