ICYMI: 7 times Kamala Harris has been to Michigan as VP—and what she had to say

Vice President Kamala Harris has been offering a consistent message to Michiganders during all seven of her vice presidential trips to Michigan over the last four years. 

MICHIGAN—Every time Vice President Kamala Harris has landed in Michigan over the last four years, US Sen. Debbie Stabenow has been there waiting on the tarmac to welcome her arrival.

So, when Harris flew into Kalamazoo last week for her fourth trip to Michigan this year, Stabenow wanted to keep the tradition going—and she again met the vice president as she was deboarding from Air Force Two and traveled with her team to a nearby campaign event.

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“Kamala was sworn into the US Senate and we became friends right away,” Stabenow said during her brief remarks before introducing Harris at the Air Zoo Aerospace and Science Museum. “She was immediately viewed as a leader in the US Senate. We worked together on healthcare, on mental health care, on justice issues—on all of the things that we care about, together. And I have to tell you, when she was a member of the [US] Senate Judiciary Committee, we watched her masterfully question [ex-President Donald] Trump’s [US] Supreme Court nominees and other people in the administration. She was amazing.”

As vice president, Harris has now made seven trips to Michigan—each time, focusing her remarks largely on the threat that another Trump presidency would pose to reproductive rights nationwide, including places like Michigan, where abortion is protected by the state Constitution.

She has also kept focused on protecting Michigan’s automotive manufacturing legacy, and ensuring workers are able to find high-paying jobs as the nation transitions to cleaner energy.

Here’s a quick overview of each of those visits, and what Harris had to say to Michiganders:

July 17, 2024

During her most recent trip to Michigan, Harris focused largely on Republican-led threats to abortion rights—pointing to a clear right-wing blueprint (known as Project 2025) that details exactly how Republicans, under Trump, plan to keep chipping away at those rights.

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At the time, Harris didn’t yet know that she would become the presumptive Democratic nominee to replace Biden. Still, she went on to urge Michiganders to defend their reproductive rights at the polls in November by voting for Democrats—or else risk losing access to abortion altogether when Trump and his Project 2025 agenda arrive back in the White House.

“In the midst of those who are trying to take individual freedoms, including the power to make basic decisions about your own life, we should remember the power of the people to make a decision about who sits in these offices,” Harris said. “We should not become dispirited.”

Harris also invited a former Trump staffer to help clear up some lingering misconceptions on the issue—including whether Michigan’s constitutional protections would do anything to protect residents from the consequences of a federal abortion ban, should Trump sign one into law.

“I can tell you as a former official in the Trump Pence administration, the Project 2025 plans for a second Trump term are very real,” said Olivia Troye, a former national security advisor for the Trump administration who joined Harris in Kalamazoo last week. “Project 2025 would ban abortion nationwide—even without the help of Congress, including right here in Michigan.”

June 8, 2024

Harris served as the keynote speaker at the Michigan Democratic Party’s annual “Legacy Dinner” in Detroit last month, where she reportedly hammered Trump for becoming the first American president to be convicted of felony crimes related to a hush money scheme. 

At the time, Trump’s supporters and allies were openly calling for violent retribution against the jury that returned the guilty verdicts and the judge who oversaw the former president’s trial.

“Donald Trump openly tried to overturn the last election. And now he openly attacks the foundations of our justice system,” Harris said. “Cheaters don’t like getting caught.”

Chandan Khanna/AFP via Getty Images

Harris also reportedly attended a political fundraiser in Ann Arbor earlier that day, and made a brief stop at the Black Stone Bookstore and Cultural Center in Ypsilanti, where she also (again) warned Michiganders about the Republican-led threats to their reproductive rights. 

“If Donald Trump gets the chance, be sure he will sign a national abortion ban that would outlaw abortion in every single state, including right here in Michigan,” Harris said during her remarks at the dinner. “But we are not going to let that happen. We are not going to let that happen.”

May 6, 2024

This spring, Harris made a stop at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit, where she and other federal officials announced that the Biden-Harris administration had pledged more than $100 million to help Michigan’s automotive parts suppliers retool their assembly lines to support the production of electric vehicles.

“The last administration invested in access to tax cuts for billionaires,” Harris said during the event, according to the Detroit News. “We are investing in access to capital for entrepreneurs.”

Harris said the investments were designed to ensure Michiganders have access to training, education, and services that provide a path to a “good career” within their local communities.

“The strength of America’s economy is also based on the strength of America’s supply chains— we all learned that in the pandemic if we weren’t clear before,” Harris told the crowd in Detroit. 

Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images

She also reportedly touted the Biden-Harris record’s focus on supporting Black business development, student loan forgiveness and creating more opportunities for home ownership. 

“Black men have been falling for three decades straight. We gotta do something about that,” Harris told the crowd. “In our budget, President Biden and I outlined a blueprint to provide folks who are first in their family to buy a home with $25,000 toward a down payment.”

Feb. 22, 2024

Less than a week after reports revealed Trump was entertaining a nationwide abortion ban, Harris was back on another flight to Michigan—this time to join a roundtable discussion with voters at a church in Grand Rapids, where she again warned Michiganders not to get too complacent about their new constitutional rights to access reproductive health care.

“The people of Michigan cannot sit back and take comfort without also understanding that elections matter—and that there is a full-on, concerted effort to pass a national [abortion] ban, which would mean the people of Michigan would not be as safe,” Harris explained.

Courtesy/Gov. Gretchen Whitmer

The vice president’s visit to Michigan was part of a nationwide tour designed to outline the stakes of the upcoming presidential election, and warn voters about how Trump had reportedly voiced support for a nationwide abortion ban that would prohibit the procedure after 16 weeks.

“Let’s understand the connection between all of these issues and the responsibility and the role that we each have to protect these fundamental freedoms, and the people of America to be able to be able to make decisions about their own lives and the future of their family,” Harris said.

Since Roe v. Wade was overturned, abortion has been banned or restricted in 21 states. And during her visit to Grand Rapids, Harris wasn’t shy about putting the blame squarely on Trump, who appointed three of the justices that decided the case—and then bragged about it.

“This is an issue that is about fundamental freedoms and liberties, and real harm that is happening everyday,” Harris said during the roundtable discussion. “How did this happen? I would say: Ask who is to blame. When you look at the fact that the previous president of the United States was clear in his intention to hand-pick three Supreme Court justices who would overturn the protections of Roe v. Wade. And he did. That’s what got us to this point today.”

Stabenow, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and US Rep. Hillary Scholten also joined the discussion.

“Even though we have come so far in Michigan, women like me are still terrified about what might happen,” Scholten said. “That’s why every day I’m working to make sure that we have constitutional protections over these [abortion] rights and over these freedoms.”

Jan. 12, 2023

Last year, Harris flew into Ann Arbor to keynote an event focused on climate change and social responsibility alongside US Energy Secretary and former Gov. Jennifer Granholm.

“Our responsibility now … is to continue with this moment and lead, not wasting a minute, because we don’t have a minute to spare,” Harris told a crowd at the University of Michigan.

Since the start of the Biden-Harris administration, more than $866 billion in new investments in clean energy and manufacturing have been announced nationwide, according to a White House fact sheet. And recent reports show that federal investments have led to at least $25 billion in clean energy projects announced in Michigan, which are set to create more than 21,000 jobs.

At the event, Harris reportedly stressed the importance of younger generations and their role in building on momentum for clean energy. She also used the platform as an opportunity to speak about protecting LGBTQ rights, as well as the right to access reproductive health care.

“We are at one of the most incredible moments in this movement—a movement that you all are going to be leading for years and generations, and I’m so excited about it,” Harris said. 

Afterwards, Ann Arbor and University of Michigan officials—along with other community members and students—embraced and applauded Harris’ call for urgent climate action.

Oct. 15, 2022

Harris reportedly spoke at a fundraiser for the Michigan Democratic Party in Detroit, alongside Whitmer, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, Attorney General Dana Nessel, and other state officials.

During the event, she praised Whitmer’s handling of federal pandemic relief, as well as federal funding that was provided to Michigan through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Inflation Reduction Act, and CHIPS and Science Act, according to reports from Michigan Advance. 

As usual, she also talked about the need to defend reproductive rights from Republican attacks.

Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Harris also toured a school in Detroit to promote the CHIPS and Science Act and held a “MI First Vote” rally with students at Southfield High School, where she told students that they need to hold their elected officials accountable on issues like reproductive rights and climate change. 

“I’m here to say our nation needs you. We need your voices of clarity,” Harris said. “We are counting on you to use your voices, to know your voice is critical to everything we will ever be.”

July 12, 2021

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Harris traveled to Detroit to encourage more Michiganders to get vaccinated against the virus. It was part of a nationwide tour and she reportedly praised frontline health care workers during her 18-minute presentation. 

“We need to build on that progress and we need to build on that progress now,” Harris said. 

Earlier in the day, Harris also attended a panel discussion about voting rights with Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, where she said “fighting for the right to vote is as American as apple pie.”

“It is so fundamental to fighting for the principles of our democracy,” Harris said. “I’m here to meet with these leaders to ensure that we fight every day to make sure that all Americans, unencumbered, are able to express their voice through the ballot and through their vote.”

READ MORE: Michigan Democrats unite behind Kamala Harris to take down Trump

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