Michigan Advance

Dems tell Michigan DNC delegates they get the Great Lakes State

By Andrew Roth,

3 days ago

https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2ojQOq_0v5BhDUP00

Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz speaks at a Michigan Democratic Party delegation breakfast during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 20, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

Leaders from coast to coast on Tuesday told Michigan’s delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago that they understand the Midwest.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said she is familiar with the political importance of organized labor as she grew up in a union family.

“I know that’s where the power is because I come from a union family,” Hochul said.

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) compared President Joe Biden’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’ record on labor and manufacturing to former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, pointing to various new factories that have been planned or opened in Michigan.

“It was FDR that industrialized American auto manufacturing, and President Harris and Vice President Tim Walz will continue the manufacturing renaissance that Joe Biden delivered and Donald Trump only talks about,” Khanna said.

Hochul said that investment has helped cities that people once wrote off become part of the conversation again.

“I understand the Great Lakes state. I understand the challenges that we both faced with people counting them out and saying Detroit can never come back and Buffalo can never come back,” Hochul said. “But guess what my friends, we fought hard and we brought our cities back.”

Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz made a surprise appearance, greeting the Michigan delegates as “fellow M-state people.”

download <\/a> and watch with your favorite video player! <\/video>"}},"inView":false,"email_subject":"Check out this awesome image !!","email_message":"Here is the link to the image : %%image_link%% and this is the link to the gallery : %%gallery_link%%","lightbox":"direct"}" id="jtg-77296">

U.S. Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland speaks at a Michigan Democratic Party delegation breakfast during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 20, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo speaks at a Michigan Democratic Party delegation breakfast during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 20, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

Minnesota first lady Gwen Walz, left, greets U.S. Secretary of Interior Deb Haaland, right, at a Michigan Democratic Party delegation breakfast during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 20, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez speaks at a Michigan Democratic Party delegation breakfast during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 20, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore speaks at a Michigan Democratic Party delegation breakfast during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 20, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., speaks at a Michigan Democratic Party delegation breakfast during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 20, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul speaks at a Michigan Democratic Party delegation breakfast during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 20, 2024. (Photo by Andrew Roth/Michigan Advance)

Walz said she has friends in Michigan, including Whitmer, and praised Mackinac Island as “so incredibly beautiful,” saying that is something Michigan has in common with Minnesota.

“I’ve found in my life in politics and my life as a school teacher that relationships are really important in the fight that we have,” Walz said. “So I said at the convention, let me just go and let me just see the people that we’re going to be campaigning with, so you can know that I’m willing to be on the phones with you, I’m willing to be part of a door knock with you, and I can’t wait to come to Michigan so that we can do this together.”

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, a former governor of Rhode Island, brought her husband on stage with her, noting that he is from Mt. Pleasant, graduated from University of Michigan and taught for more than 30 years at Central Michigan University.

“I’m an honorary Michigander,” Raimondo said.

Raimondo said that “it is time that we have a woman who’s president,” adding that Michigan knows “what a woman in charge can bring” since the state elected Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, a former U.S. House member from New Mexico, said it is important to have leaders who not only represent Americans demographically, but also in lived experience.

“Representation truly does matter,” Haaland said. “And at a time when women are losing rights by the minute, the climate crisis is hurting communities across the country and the Republican agenda threatens to make life harder, it matters more than ever.”

“I lived most of my life paycheck to paycheck. Raising my kids as a single mom there were times when I didn’t know if I should pay the rent or buy food. And I’m still paying off student loans,” Haaland said. “I’m not a stranger to the struggles many families across America face today, and neither is Kamala Harris. She grew up middle class, raised by a single mom, worked at McDonald’s through college and taking care of a sick parent. And Tim Walz, he knows what it’s like to raise an entire family on a teacher’s salary.”

“There’s so much value in having elected officials who understand this struggle, because they have lived it, and that’s something that Kamala’s opponent will never understand,” Haaland said.

Dems tell Michigan DNC delegates they get the Great Lakes State

Comments / 0