Warren — Former President Donald Trump encouraged Michigan voters to support his slate of Republican candidates during a rally in Macomb County on Saturday, saying they could “save the day” in the battleground state.
Speaking inside the Macomb County Community College Sports and Expo Center in Warren, Trump was briefly joined on stage by Republican candidate for governor Tudor Dixon, attorney general hopeful Matt DePerno and Kristina Karamo, the GOP’s nominee for secretary of state.
“These people hate our guts because they are terrified of this political movement,” Karamo said as Trump stood nearby.
“There is nothing they can do to stop this MAGA movement,” Karamo added.
Trump said his political movement was standing up to “menacing forces.” He spoke in front of a crowd of a few thousand people for about an hour and 40 minutes. He criticized Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, calling her a “radical abortionist,” he targeted a handful of investigations into his actions and he even labeled some fellow Republicans as weak.
“Too many Republicans are weak and they’re afraid,” Trump said at one point. “And they better get strong fast, or you’re not going to have a Republican Party.”
Trump discussed rising prices, energy costs and crime rates. He drew loud applause from the audience when he mentioned his 2016 victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton and his false claim that he won the 2020 election.
“Now, we might just have to do it again,” the former president said, referencing the possibility he could run for the White House again in 2024.
Talking to reporters, Dixon said her campaign was “within striking distance” of Whitmer.
The event took place 38 days before a pivotal election, in which the GOP is hoping to unseat three Democrats who control the executive branch of state government.
Dixon, a political commentator and businesswoman from Norton Shores, spoke for about 25 minutes before Trump took the stage at 7:15 p.m. Dixon used her speech to criticize Whitmer for running what she described as a “basement campaign” and vowed to make Michigan’s schools the best in the nation.
“After all of the spending, we’re still within striking distance,” Dixon told reporters afterward. “I think it means that our message is resonating and she doesn’t really have a message.”
More:Whitmer, Dixon present voters with diverging visions for Michigan’s schools
Karamo said she was planning to use the event with Trump to energize supporters to go out and knock doors and talk to voters in her bid to unseat Democratic Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson.
“It galvanizes the troops,” said Karamo, an educator from Oak Park. “It gets people involved. It helps spread the message.”
Karamo, Dixon and DePerno, the Republican candidate facing Democratic Attorney General Dana Nessel in the Nov. 8 general election, have all been endorsed by Trump and spoke at Saturday’s rally.
The Democratic candidates have maintained leads in public polling. Whitmer was up by 13 percentage points, according to an Aug. 29 through Sept. 1 survey by The Detroit News and WDIV-TV. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
Dixon’s running mate, former state Rep. Shane Hernandez, participated in a tailgate in a parking lot outside the rally Saturday afternoon.
Hernandez, R-Port Huron, said Trump’s appearance would bring excitement to the Michigan campaigns and get the grassroots of the party involved.
“The message is what people are talking about at their kitchen table: education, public safety, the economy,” Hernandez said.
Ads promoting Dixon would ramp up soon, Hernandez predicted. So far, Democrats have spent millions of dollars on TV commercials promoting Whitmer and criticizing Dixon’s opposition to abortion in almost all cases, but Dixon’s side has been relatively quiet.
Trump won Michigan by less than 1 percentage point over Democrat Hillary Clinton in 2016 but lost the state to Democrat Joe Biden by 3 points in 2020.
Trump has repeatedly made…
Read More: Trump, Michigan Republicans put faith in’MAGA movement’ at Warren rally