President Joe Biden speaks at a rally at Renaissance High School in Detroit as Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist looks on, July 12, 2024 | Lucy Valeski
President Joe Biden rallied a lively crowd waving “Motown is Joetown” and “We Heart Joe” signs in Detroit Friday evening, emphasizing that he will not leave the presidential race.
“You made me the nominee,” Biden said at Renaissance High School. “No one else. Not the press; not the pundits; not the insiders; not the donors. You the voters, you decided. No one else, and I’m not going anywhere.”
During the event, Biden outlined his plan for his first 100 days if he’s reelected, disparaging his opponent former President Donald Trump and journalists’ depiction of him along the way.
Biden came to Michigan with something to prove Friday. Questions about the president’s health and demands that he step off the ticket emerged following his worrisome performance at the first presidential debate on June 27. Biden and his team have scrambled to assure voters that the debate was just a “bad” night.
“You may have noticed that since the debate, the press … they were hammering me,” Biden said. Rally attendees turned to boo reporters after the president gestured towards the press pool.
During the rally, Biden criticized journalists and pundits for not paying more attention to Trump, who has been convicted of 34 felonies and faces three other indictments, following the debate.
Along with national lawmakers, donors and pundits, some Michigan Democrats have recently asked Biden to end his reelection run, including U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Grand Rapids) and state Rep. Phil Skaggs (D-East Lansing). Democrats expressed concern that Biden won’t be able to defeat Trump in November, who has mounted a far-right campaign linked to the Heritage Foundation’s far-right Project 2025.
Amid media reports that former President Barack Obama has expressed concerns about Biden as the nominee, Trump posted on social media Friday: “OBAMA AND BIDEN HATE EACH OTHER! OBAMA NEVER RESPECTED BIDEN, THOUGHT HE WAS DUMB, AND A TOTAL LIGHTWEIGHT. WILL BE AN INTERESTING COUPLE OF WEEKS. OBAMA WANTS HIM OUT, WANTS V.P. HARRIS IN!”
But some of Michigan’s Democrats, like Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing) have continued to support Biden. Whitmer met with Biden last week at the White House, alongside other Democratic governors. A bloc of Democratic state lawmakers representing the Detroit area signed onto a letter supporting Biden on Thursday.
“Some people are having a little too much fun getting on TV and talking trash about our president,” Michigan Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist said during the rally. “… They had too much fun talking about somebody who has shown up for Detroit, Michigan, America and the world, unlike anybody in generations.”
Biden repeatedly vowed to stay in the race this week, with a letter to lawmakers, a live press conference and a busy speaking schedule in must-win states, like Michigan, and the NATO conference in Washington, D.C.
He also promised to stay in the race at Renaissance High School in Detroit. Biden campaigned at the same school the day before Michigan’s March 10, 2020, presidential primary — which he decisively won — in addition to holding a 2012 rally there when he ran for reelection as Obama’s vice president.
Much of the crowd at Friday’s rally also wanted him to stay in the debate, chanting, “Four more years!” and “Don’t give up!”
Biden arrived in Michigan Friday afternoon and stopped at Garage Grill and Fuel Bar in Northville for an event before the Detroit rally.
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, U.S. Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Birmingham), U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor), U.S. Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Detroit), Michigan House Speaker Joe Tate (D-Detroit), Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler, Reproductive Freedom for All President Mini Timmaraju and actress Octavia Spencer, amongst other local leaders, joined Biden for his campaign swing.
Biden highlighted his support for labor unions and improving the economy for the working class during his speech. Members representing LiUNA 1911 and SEIU, two labor union locals, were present at the event.
He also made fun of Trump.
“Poor Donny. He can’t even watch TV this week because it’s Shark Week,” Biden said, both a reference to a speech Trump made about how he would rather be electrocuted than be near a shark and Whitmer’s catchphrase, which she references in her new book, “It’s Shark Week!”
Biden blasted Project 2025, which includes banning abortions, eliminating federal agencies and ending Social Security programs, as a “project built for Trump” that’s “run and paid for by Trump people.”
“Folks, Project 2025 is the biggest attack on our system of government and on our personal freedom that’s ever been proposed in the history of this country,” Biden said.
While Biden called Trump a threat to democracy and made the case that a Democratic win would prevent autocracy, the president also took the moment to highlight his own plan of action in office.
The 100-day plan included restoring abortion access nationwide, signing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, “make the rich pay their fair share,” end medical debt, raise the federal minimum wage, ban assault weapons, expand policy to combat climate change and make child care tax cuts permanent.
Biden would need to have a Democratic Congress to achieve those goals — and the U.S. Senate would likely need to reform the filibuster.
Michigan is a crucial swing state, with Trump last campaigning here in June, doing an event at a Detroit church and speaking at the Turning Point Action conference.
Friday was Biden’s fourth visit this year to Michigan. The president visited Detroit for an NAACP dinner in May, Saginaw in March and Macomb County in February to celebrate his endorsement from the United Auto Workers union.
Vice President Kamala Harris, first lady Jill Biden and second gentleman Doug Emhoff have also made several appearances in Michigan this year.
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The post In Detroit, Biden vows to stay in the race and lays out plans for his 1st days of a 2nd term appeared first on Michigan Advance.
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