Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz made his campaign pitch to young people during a visit to East Lansing Friday.
Walz briefly met with the Lansing mayor, a Democratic congressional candidate, a pastor, and a representative from the Michigan Education Association at the airport before heading to his first stop at an East Lansing bar.
There, before a packed room at the Graduate Rock Bar, Walz brought up topics that have become familiar to the campaign since he joined the ticket last month.
That included economic opportunity, social equity, and Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
As he had in the past, Walz used words like “weird” to describe his opponents’ stances on issues including abortion access and trans rights.
“This idea of cutting some people out and saying some people don’t belong. Some people don’t get to bring their authentic self or who they are. And I keep talking like this, a weird fascination with other people’s bedrooms? Not healthy. It’s not healthy,” Walz said during his around 12-minute remarks.
Also on the speakers list were former Democratic state Senator Curtis Hertel Jr., who’s currently running for the region’s congressional seat, and students with Michigan State University Democratic groups.
Each speaker noted what they saw as the stakes of not just the presidential election, but the down-ballot races as well.
“You live in a congressional seat that’s going to decide the control of Congress, in the state that will decide the Senate, and in the state that will decide the presidency, no pressure,” Hertel said.
During his speech, Walz leaned in heavily to the MSU crowd, starting off with a “Go Green, Go White” cheer.
He encouraged the younger attendees to think about the long-term future with their vote.
“The folks who don’t want to address things like climate change, who don’t want to address things like PFAS in our water, who don’t want to do those things. You should be super concerned, even more than me, about that because I will be dead long before you, and you are going to have to deal with it for decades to come,” Walz said.
Friday marked the second Walz stop in Michigan in as many days. Thursday, he met with supporters in Grand Rapids.
Republicans criticized the trips. In a written statement, Team Trump Michigan spokesperson Victoria LaCivita questioned Walz’s allegiance to the Midwest.
“His values are just as dangerously liberal as Kamala Harris', but he's not trying to hide them. Michiganders won't be fooled by his fake camo hat, donut eating dog and pony show. Tim Walz ignored the concerns of auto dealers, allowed Minneapolis to burn at the hands of violent rioters, and put tampons in boys' bathrooms. He's wrong for Michigan and wrong for America, which is why Michiganders are going to flip the Great Lakes State red in November,” LaCivita said.
Meanwhile, Republicans hosted an event in metro Detroit Friday evening with businessman and Trump campaign surrogate Vivek Ramaswamy.
The weekend is also attracting third party and independent candidates.
Green Party candidate Jill Stein addressed attendees at ArabCon in Dearborn on Thursday, and independent candidate Cornell West will be doing the same Saturday.
