Thousands of Michiganders pack inside Detroit airline hangar to ‘fight for the future’

At least 15,000 Michiganders came out to support Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, in what marked the largest rally of their campaign. 

DETROIT—A crowd of at least 15,000 people turned out to the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Wednesday to welcome Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to Michigan, for what marked his second day on the campaign trail since he was announced as Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate in the 2024 presidential election.

Several dozen buses clogged roadways near the airport as rally-goers shuttled in from a nearby parking lot, and then waited for hours inside an aircraft hangar for Harris, Walz, and a star-studded lineup of speakers that included Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, United Auto Workers (UAW) union President Shawn Fain, and nearly every Michigan Democrat in US Congress.

“Holy hell, can you throw a party here in Michigan?” Walz said as he took the stage.

Walz told the crowd that he hadn’t gotten much sleep since Tuesday morning, when Harris chose him as her running mate and thrust him out onto the campaign trail for a cross-country tour. But the deafening crowd in Detroit on Wednesday evening would’ve jolted anyone wide awake. 

Campaign officials told The ‘Gander it was Harris’ largest campaign rally yet. 

“This is a place full of working folks, students, folks who care,” Walz said. “You came out here early, found a place to park, stood in the sun, sat here, and waited. And you did it for one simple and eloquent and beautiful reason: You love this country. I couldn’t be prouder to be on this ticket and to help make Kamala Harris the next president of the United States.”

Walz is a former football coach, high school teacher, and military veteran who was born and raised in a small farming town in Nebraska. 

Jeanne Ruff, a Livonia teacher who attended the rally, labeled Walz an “all-around good guy.”

“He’s a UAW supporter. He’s for the middle class and the hard workers and wages and everything, so I think the two of them together, it’s going to be a really nice transition and smooth into the White House,” Ruff told The ‘Gander before Walz took the stage. 

Other teachers at the rally were thrilled to see someone with experience in public education. 

“I’m so pleased that she found someone in public education,” said Vida Bonacci, a teacher from Dearborn Heights. “It’s just really, really fabulous to see someone who worked in public education that can understand the problems and the situations that go on in public schools.”

Over the last two days, elected Democrats from across Michigan have also voiced lockstep support for Walz, touting him as a “fellow midwesterner” who will work alongside Harris to stand up for Michiganders in the White House. It’s a message that was echoed at the rally by Whitmer, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, US Sen. Debbie Stabenow, and US Reps. Hillary Scholten, Shri Thanedar, Haley Stevens, Dan Kildee, Debbie Dingell, and Elissa Slotkin. 

“Tim and I get along because we both lead according to a three-part strategy: Get shit done,” Whitmer said. “Tim’s the real deal. He’s the only governor I know who curses more than I do.”

As governor, Walz (much like Whitmer) has worked with Democratic state lawmakers to make school meals free for all students, create a paid family and medical leave program, boost funding for public schools, legalize recreational weed, make abortion a fundamental right under state law, and a whole lot of other accomplishments since he became governor in 2019. 

“Tim worked across the aisle to build consensus. He passed the largest infrastructure bill in Minnesota. He cut taxes for working families, protected public safety, grew Minnesota’s economy and so much more,” Whitmer said. “Now, if a lot of that sounds familiar, it’s because Tim and I have been trying to outdo one another on all these fronts for the last couple of years.”

Union workers, school teachers, and thousands of other working-class Michiganders waved newly printed Harris-Walz signs and chanted throughout the rally: “We won’t go back” in reference to stopping ex-President Donald Trump from getting back into the White House.

A brief interruption from hecklers was also quickly overshadowed by chants of “Kamala.”

“Tim Walz is a working class guy. He knows working-class values,” Fain told the crowd. “He’s a proud union member and he always puts the working class first. With the Harris-Walz ticket, we have what I call the dynamic duo for democracy. Meanwhile, on the other side, we know who we’re dealing with: Trump is a scab and his sidekick isn’t any better. J.D. Vance is a vulture.”

In recent weeks, Walz has emerged as one of the most effective critics of the Republican Party—including as the first high-level elected official to call the Trump-Vance ticket “weird” and “strange,” a message that has since been adopted by wide swaths of the Democratic Party. 

It’s a message that Walz repeated again in Detroit this week.

“I can’t wait to ask [Vance] why he wants to take healthcare and reproductive rights and why he wants to make sure that the wealthiest pay no taxes as we destroy unions in the middle class. … “These ideas that they’re putting out there, they are weird as hell,” Walz explained. 

He added: “No one’s asking for it. We’re asking for a fair shot. We’re asking for healthcare and childcare. We’re asking for an education. We’re asking for safety in our streets. That’s what we’re asking for. And we’re going to get it because that’s what this campaign’s about.”

Harris also spoke for about 20 minutes, largely to emphasize the importance of heading to the polls in November—or risk losing manufacturing jobs and reproductive rights in Michigan when Trump takes office and enacts the far-right agenda that’s detailed in Project 2025.

“The path to the White House runs right through this state. And with your help, we will win in November,” Harris said. “But make no mistake, our campaign is not just about us versus Donald Trump. It’s bigger than that. It is about two very different visions for the future of our nation.”

Project 2025 is a detailed, 900-page blueprint for how Trump would run the federal government if he’s elected in November—and it threatens to reshape policies dealing with everything from public education and reproductive rights to student loans and tax rates. And for Michiganders, the stakes couldn’t be higher ahead of this year’s presidential election, Harris told the crowd.

“Please do check out Project 2025 because I’m telling you, it is a plan. It is a plan to weaken America’s middle class,” Harris said. “If he is elected, Donald Trump intends to give tax to billionaires and big corporations. He intends to cut Social Security and Medicare. He intends to surrender our fight against the climate crisis. And he intends to end the Affordable Care Act.”

Alternatively, the Harris-Walz ticket is “fighting for the future,” Harris explained.

“We fight for a future where every worker has the freedom to join a union, where every senior can retire with dignity, a future with affordable housing, affordable childcare, affordable healthcare, and paid leave,” she said. “A future where we build a broad-based economy where every American has an opportunity to own a home, to start a business, and to build wealth.”

As part of this week’s presidential campaign tour, Harris and Walz also planned to visit a Detroit-area union hall to speak with more Michigan workers on Thursday afternoon before heading out to a series of weekend events in North Carolina, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada. 

“I haven’t slept in 24 hours,” Walz said. “You know why? We’ll sleep when we’re dead.”

READ MORE: 10 things Michiganders should know about Project 2025

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