Republican Party leaders claim the Michigan election is trending their way as the clock winds down ahead of Election Day.
Polling shows the races for president and Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat are close. And Michigan’s status as a key swing state this cycle is leading higher-ups, like Republican National Committee Chair Michael Whatley to visit.
Whatley said voters are siding with Republicans on issues like inflation, border security, and American involvement in foreign conflict.
“What we’ve seen here in Michigan in terms of all of the metrics that we can track -- voter registration, the number of volunteers, the doors that they’re knocking on, the phone calls that are being made -- the support that we are seeing at every single event here tells me Michigan is going to break our way,” Whatley told reporters Wednesday in Lansing.
Democrats are working hard to capture independent and moderate conservative voters, with candidates running their own ads highlighting topics like border security.
The race for mid-Michigan’s Seventh Congressional District is among those in the state where Democrats' messaging is directed toward the political center.
In that race, Democrats are highlighting reproductive rights as a central focus while criticizing Republican candidate Tom Barrett for previously supporting abortion bans while in the state Senate.
Barrett said regardless of past stances, he would respect Michiganders’ decision to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution should he win federal office.
“Case law changed, turned it from more a federal issue to one that is a state issue for decision. And since then, the voters of Michigan organized, voted for a constitutional amendment, and put that into our state constitution. Any changes to that are going to come from the people of Michigan,” Barrett said.
He’s running against one of his former Senate colleagues, Curtis Hertel Jr. While Hertel’s campaign has tried to paint Barrett as an extremist, Barrett’s campaign has been labeling Hertel a career politician.
The mid-Michigan seat could help decide the balance of power within the U.S. House of Representatives.
A close race in Michigan means every political inch has special importance, as shown by the RNC recently filing (and losing) a lawsuit challenging the state’s overseas voting guidance.
The party had sued over wording in a state manual that could let U.S. citizens who have never lived in the U.S. vote if they have a parent or spouse who last lived in Michigan.
The Michigan Court of Claims called it an “11th hour attempt to disenfranchise” military family members whose voting rights are protected under state and federal laws.
But RNC Chair Michael Whatley said an appeal is still on the table.
“In Michigan, it is not a requirement for people to vote overseas to demonstrate that they actually should be voting in Michigan. We obviously think that that’s a tremendous problem, which is why we filed a lawsuit in the first place and we will continue to look at all of our options going forward,” Whatley said.
The party unsuccessfully tried similar lawsuits in other states as well.
