Democratic Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz said hundreds of millions of dollars in federal support to help Michigan transition to build more electric vehicles is on the line in the presidential race.
Walz credited Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, with helping spur a manufacturing renaissance in the U.S. But if former President Donald Trump is elected, plants and manufacturing jobs bolstered by new federal industrial policies could disappear or fail to materialize, Walz said.
During a roughly 20-minute speech at Macomb Community College in Warren on Friday, Walz zeroed in on comments Trump's running mate U.S. Sen. JD Vance, of Ohio, made about a $500 million federal grant to help GM retool its Lansing Grand River Plant to produce electric vehicles, expected to help retain 650 autoworker jobs and add 50 new ones. Last week, during a campaign stop in Michigan, Vance declined to say whether a future Trump administration would honor the promised investment. And this week, during a stop in Detroit , Vance attacked the federal support as "table scraps" in light of what he predicts will be severe job losses in the auto industry amid an EV transition.
"Tell that to 650 families who feed their families with those table scraps," Walz said Friday. "These guys couldn't give a damn about Michigan workers." A group from several unions that represent autoworkers, bricklayers and carpenters, among others, stood behind Walz, wearing hard hats and holding signs that read "MADE IN AMERICA" and "LABOR FOR HARRIS WALZ." Walz fist bumped them before he began his remarks.
Walz pushed back against claims that Harris has supported an EV mandate. "Nobody's mandating anything to you," Walz said. What he and Harris want is to make sure EVs are made in America, he said.
While he cast his campaign with Harris as a way to fuel a manufacturing resurgence, he said Trump and Vance would cede the ground to China and ship jobs overseas. "But those guys, all's they know about manufacturing is manufacturing bull----," Walz said.
Trump's campaign blasted Walz ahead of his stop in Michigan. "Michiganders want leadership that is able to lower inflation, cut taxes, protect our automobile industry and close our southern border. Kamala wasn't able to do any of this over the last three and a half years — and clearly she doesn't have any intention to do so now," said Team Trump Michigan Communications Director Victoria LaCavita in an emailed statement Friday.
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The last time Walz visited Michigan , he met with University of Michigan students before heading to the Big House for the game against Minnesota on Sept. 28. U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor, who greeted Walz at the airport then said Democrats are staring down a tough battle against Trump for the White House. "Nobody is winning this state right now," she said as she waited for Walz's plane to land on Sept. 28.
In 2016, Dingell raised concerns ahead of the presidential election that year that Democrat Hillary Clinton was in trouble in Michigan.
Walz tried to rally the crowd in a college training facility Friday as Democrats head into the final stretch of campaigning ahead of the Nov. 5 Election Day. "This is all gas ... sleep when you're dead type of attitude," he said.
(This story was updated to add a photo.)
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: Walz blasts Vance comments on federal grant for auto plant during Michigan campaign stop
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