Michigan Speaker says Trump Voters “Know What They’re Getting” For 2020

Vice President Mike Pence is addressing the Republican National Convention just days before he’s scheduled to campaign in Michigan. And the Speaker of the Michigan House says the GOP’s message still resonates with voters in the battleground state.

Former State House Speaker Lee Chatfield on Jan. 30, 2020.

Michigan’s delegates to the Republican convention have already nominated President Trump as the party’s standard-bearer.

Those delegates include Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield.

He says Trump presided over one of the strongest economies in U.S. history before the coronavirus pandemic hit.

“I heard the exact same thing in 2016, ‘He doesn’t resonate with people, they’re not gonna vote for him.’ But they know what they’re getting. The president has kept the same style. And I feel very confident about his chances.” – Michigan House Speaker Lee Chatfield

Chatfield claims Trump is far better suited than Democratic nominee Joe Biden to get the economy humming again.

And Chatfield says talk of an “empathy gap” between Trump and Biden won’t matter to voters.  

“They know what they’re getting. The president has kept the same style in ’20 as he had in ’16,” Chatfield says. “I heard the exact same thing in 2016, ‘He doesn’t resonate with people, they’re not gonna vote for him.’ But there were a lot of quiet Trump supporters and those supporters are coming back out in 2020. And I feel very confident about his chances.”

Reached on his cell phone, the Michigan House speaker told WDET’s Quinn Klinefelter that even in the midst of a pandemic and a mostly-virtual convention, he believes the GOP is making a strong case for Trump to remain in the White House.

Click the player above to hear the full conversation with Michigan Speaker of the House Lee Chatfield.

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Author

  • Quinn Klinefelter
    Quinn Klinefelter is a Senior News Editor at 101.9 WDET. In 1996, he was literally on top of the news when he interviewed then-Senator Bob Dole about his presidential campaign and stepped on his feet.