Michelle Obama speaks at a campaign rally in Kalamazoo, Mich., on October 26, 2024.
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Brendan Smialowski/AFP
KALAMAZOO, Mich. — Michelle Obama stood before a few thousand people packed into a high school gym on the first day of early voting in Michigan and confessed she was frustrated — and a “little angry” — at some of the things she’s heard about why people are holding back on support for Vice President Harris.
Speaking directly to the stark gender divide that polls show is a feature of this presidential campaign, Obama railed against “the lie that we do not know who Kamala is or what she stands for,” saying too many voters are shrugging off former President Donald Trump’s character and his track record on a wide range of issues.
Trump was also campaigning in Michigan this weekend, making a stop in Traverse City late Friday night, and a second in the Detroit suburbs on Saturday.
Polls show the race is extremely tight in swing states like Michigan, and Democrats — including former President Barack Obama — have been urgently working to shore up enthusiasm for Harris among Black men, young voters, and other parts of the Democratic base.
“I hope you’ll forgive me if I’m a little frustrated that some of us are choosing to ignore Donald Trump’s gross incompetence while asking Kamala to dazzle us at every turn,” the former first lady said in her first appearance on the campaign trail with Harris.
Vice President Kamala Harris and former first lady Michelle Obama at a rally on Oct. 26, 2024, in Kalamazoo, Mich.
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“I hope that you will forgive me if I’m a little angry that we are indifferent to his erratic behavior, his obvious mental decline, his history as a convicted felon, a known slum lord, a predator found liable for sexual abuse — all of this while we pick apart Kamala’s answers from interviews that he doesn’t even have the courage to do, y’all,” she said.
Obama described Harris as a “grown up” with a clear set of policies, and said she fears “too many people are willing to write off Trump’s childish, mean spirited antics by saying, ‘Well, Trump’s just being Trump,’ rather than question his horrible behavior. Some folks think he’s funny.”
“That’s exactly how he got elected the first time — folks gave him a pass and rolled the dice betting that he couldn’t possibly be that bad,” she said.
Harris and Obama focused on women’s health care
Harris focused much of her remarks on Saturday on abortion restrictions. She had made a stop at a local doctor’s office in Kalamazoo before the rally and talked to providers and medical students about concerns Trump would expand abortion restrictions nationally, should he win.
Doctors were also featured in her Friday night rally in Houston, making the case that they were unable to provide adequate care for women because of new abortion restrictions.
“Remember how we got here,” Harris told the Saturday rally. “Donald Trump hand-selected three members of the United States Supreme Court with the intention that they would undo the protections of Roe v. Wade. They did as he intended,” she said.
Obama pointedly named a long list of women’s everyday reproductive health issues – cramps, nausea, hot flashes, lumps, and pap smears – and said a second Trump presidency could have a “chilling effect” on doctors being willing to specialize in women’s health care because of abortion restrictions.
She spoke specifically to men in her remarks, emphasizing that further restrictions on abortion and other aspects of women’s health care would impact them and their sons, too.
“I am asking y’all from the core of my being to take our lives seriously — please,” Obama said. “Do not put our lives in the hands of politicians — mostly men — who have no clue or do not care about what we, as women, are going through.”