Tim Walz to visit Grand Rapids: How the Michigan city factors into presidential elections

On the heels of the presidential debate, Vice President Kamala Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will stop in electoral battleground Kent County on Thursday, marking the first time the Democratic ticket has ventured outside metro Detroit in its Michigan visits since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.

Walz is slated to campaign in Grand Rapids before heading to Lansing on Friday. Details of the events have not yet been publicly released by the campaign.

As presidential campaigns flock to the key swing state of Michigan this fall, it's worth paying attention to where exactly in the Mitten State they descend on, as different parts of the state represent different groups of voters vital to carrying the state in any election.

Harris and Walz have so far spent their time campaigning in Michigan's Wayne County — the state's most populous county and one that has consistently delivered the largest chunk of votes for Democrats. On the Republican ticket, former President Donald Trump and his running mate Ohio U.S. Sen. JD Vance, meanwhile, have traversed Michigan with appearances across a wide swath of the state's Lower Peninsula, including stops in metro Detroit.

As Walz looks to drum up enthusiasm for the Harris ticket, his stop in Kent County represents a visit to a crucial battleground for votes that will likely play a significant role in deciding which candidate carries Michigan come November.

How Kent County votes in presidential elections often serves as an indicator to how the entire state votes.

Critical swing county in swing state

Since 2008, every presidential candidate who won Kent County ultimately won Michigan, except Mitt Romney in 2012.

Trump carried Kent County on the way to his upset win of Michigan in 2016, defeating Hillary Clinton by around three percentage points. With Harris on his ticket, Biden flipped the county four years later, beating Trump by six percentage points in 2020.

"We all know that the road to the White House runs right through Michigan, and it especially runs right through Kent County," said state Rep. Rachel Hood, D-Grand Rapids, during a Sept. 5 event where local Democrats stumped for Harris. "Every vote we can mobilize here matters."

Grand Rapids has been a favored landing spot for Trump — in both 2016 and 2020, he held rallies in and around the city on the night before Election Day. His most recent visit to Grand Rapids took place in July, when he held his first rally alongside Vance. It was the first one Trump held following an assassination attempt against him at a Pennsylvania rally.

The city of Grand Rapids — second only to Detroit in population among cities in Michigan at just under 200,000 residents — is a reliable source of Democratic votes in statewide and federal elections. But a mix of suburban, exurban and even rural communities result in the entire county being attainable for candidates of both parties.

Harris began her campaign in Michigan in friendlier Democratic territory on the opposite side of the state, picking up where Biden left off.

Harris campaign stops in Democratic stronghold Wayne County

Biden held what would be his final campaign rally at a Detroit high school where supporters chanted "don't you quit" and "we've got your back." Less than a month later, Democrats gathered at an airport hangar outside the city to show their support for Harris at her first campaign rally in Michigan, where Walz told the crowd they were part of their party's biggest campaign rally that year to date.

The next day, Harris and Walz visited a UAW hall in the city of Wayne to galvanize union members, a key voting bloc in Michigan. When Harris returned to the state earlier this month, she stopped in Detroit for a Labor Day rally where she vowed to protect workers' rights.

When Harris first appeared in Michigan as a presidential candidate, she said the path to the White House runs through the state. And the path through Michigan runs through Wayne County, County Commissioner Jonathan Kinloch previously told the Free Press. "And the superhighway that runs through Wayne County is Detroit," said Kinloch, who currently serves as chair of the 13th District Democratic Party.

The last time a Republican presidential candidate won Wayne County was 1928. But in his first solo trip to Michigan, Walz will head to more politically competitive territory.

Where has Trump campaign stopped in Michigan?

Since Biden dropped out of the presidential race, Trump and Vance have crisscrossed Michigan.

Trump has held campaign events in Livingston County'sHowell, Macomb County's Roseville and Ingham County'sPotterville. He also delivered a speech in Detroit to National Guard officers, telling them the country is "closer to World War III" than ever.

Vance has made three separate visits to the state, with stops in Macomb County's Shelby Township, Kent County's Byron Center and Mecosta County's Big Rapids.

The Trump campaign has not announced when it will next visit Michigan, but Team Trump Michigan Communications Director Victoria LaCivita said in an emailed statement that Trump and Vance "will be barnstorming all across Michigan" until the election, calling the state "ground zero."

Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@freepress.com

Contact Clara Hendrickson: chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Follow her on X, previously called Twitter, @clarajanehen.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Tim Walz to stop in Kent County, a key Michigan battleground