Harris rallies supporters in Redford Township, Flint

Vice President Kamala Harris made a campaign stop at a fire station in Redford Township before speaking to roughly 5,000 enthusiastic supporters in Flint on Friday.

As expected, the auto industry was a hot topic at both events.

Harris says a second Donald Trump term would be disastrous for autoworkers.

“He promised workers in Warren that the auto industry would, ‘not lose one plant during his presidency,’ then American automakers announced the closure of six auto plants when he was president,” Harris said.

Last week, Republican Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance told the Detroit News a potential Trump administration would not honor a $500 million grant to convert a General Motors plant in Lansing to one that makes electric vehicles. He told his supporters at a campaign event in Auburn Hills on Wednesday that while he believes in encouraging innovation, “there’s a difference between promoting innovations and sending hundreds of billions of dollars to favored industries that make their products in China.”

In Flint, Harris told the largely union crowd that her administration would “ensure that the next generation of breakthroughs, from advanced batteries to electric vehicles, are not only invented but built right here in America by American union workers.”

The Democratic presidential nominee says since the pandemic, entrepreneurs have been trying to start up new businesses, including 500,000 small business grant applications in Michigan alone.

“When I am President, I plan to build on that progress and that success, including by raising the startup tax deduction for small businesses from $5,000 to $50,000,” she said.

Harris acknowledged that costs are up due to inflation, but also cited the September jobs report that added 250,000 new jobs to the economy.

In Redford Township, Harris called the jobs report “solid” and hit Trump on his jobs record.

“He said he was the only one who could bring back America’s manufacturing jobs. Michigan knows what I’m about to say. Then America lost nearly 200,000 manufacturing jobs when he was president, including 10s of 1,000s of jobs in Michigan,” she said.

Some of those lost jobs were during the height of the pandemic — however there was a drop in manufacturing jobs that started during his first year in office.

The vice president also invoked the memory of the Flint water crisis at the rally on Friday. The city’s drinking water source was switched in 2014. But because of mistakes in the treatment process, Flint’s drinking water carried lead and other contaminants into the homes of city residents.

Harris spoke of the need to provide clean drinking water.

“As president, I will continue to work with communities like Flint to ensure you not only have clean water, but the opportunity to recover economically and thrive,” she said.

Harris’ mid-Michigan campaign stop came just a day after Trump held a campaign rally near Saginaw. The Republican Party presidential nominee held a campaign event last month in the same Flint sports arena where Harris rallied her supporters on Friday.