Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he knew he was "speaking to the choir" on Sunday in Saginaw County.
The Democratic vice presidential nominee met with two key voting groups in the county: union members and churchgoers.
Walz started his day at a Saginaw union hall, filled with supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris. But the governor told his audience they need to do more than just vote.
“You’re here on a Sunday morning, for God’s sakes. You’re committed. You know what’s at stake,” said Walz. “But there’s a lot of people, these final 16 days, is when they make up their mind.”
Saginaw County has been a reliable bellwether of Michigan’s presidential voting in recent years.
The county has seen former President Donald Trump hold a rally on a local state university campus this month. President Joe Biden also campaigned in Saginaw this year before he withdrew from the race.
After the union hall stop, Tim Walz spoke at a church in nearby Buena Vista. He tried to draw a distinction between what Kamala Harris and Donald Trump stand for.
"The Bible is to be read and followed and absorbed,” Walz told the churchgoers. “It’s not to be branded and sold for $59.”
There’s a little more than two weeks left in the 2024 presidential campaign.
The Harris campaign is gearing up its get out the vote efforts.
Vice President Kamala Harris was campaigning in the state on Friday and Saturday. She’ll be back on Monday for an event in Oakland County with former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney.
On Tuesday, former President Barack Obama will be campaigning for Harris in Detroit. Former First Lady Michelle Obama will be campaigning with Harris on Saturday in Michigan.
Former President Donald Trump has made Michigan a frequent campaign stop. The Republican presidential candidate was just in the state on Friday.
Polls have shown the race between Trump and Harris as extremely tight heading into the final days of the campaign.
Presidential campaigns spend a lot of time in Michigan.
Whichever candidate gets the most statewide votes wins all of Michigan's 15 coveted electoral votes. Kamala Harris (D) and Donald Trump (R) are nearly tied in most polls of the state's voters.
The map below shows where we know candidates (and some surrogates) have publicly appeared in Michigan since July 15, 2024.
The height of each county on the map represents the number of voters in the 2020 presidential election.
The colors of each county show which party had the lead in votes and how big the lead was. Dark red means Republicans had a big lead and dark blue means the same for Democrats. Counties that look almost white had both parties nearly tied.
Sources: CQ Press Voting and Elections Collection, Geocodio, Candidate visit information from campaign communications and reports from Michigan Public and other news organizations. • Data visualization and analysis by Adam Yahya Rayes and Zoe Clark | Michigan Public. • Visit marker locations are not exact. • Last update: Oct. 17, 2024.
