Cars, jobs fuel VP feud in Michigan

By Robin Bravender | 10/15/2024 01:55 PM EDT

Tim Walz and JD Vance are offering competing visions for the future of industry in Michigan.

JD Vance and Tim Walz are pictured side by side.

Vice presidential nominees JD Vance and Tim Walz have both been spending a lot of time in Michigan in the run-up to Election Day. Paul Sancya; Al Goldis/AP

WARREN, Michigan — Tim Walz and JD Vance can’t seem to get enough of the Great Lakes State.

The two vice presidential candidates have become regulars in this electoral battleground where a whopping 16 electoral votes are on the line. Their respective campaigns are dispatching them to Michigan consistently in hopes that their Midwestern bona fides will help them woo voters and energize loyalists in the run-up to the Nov. 5 election.

Minnesota Gov. Walz swoons over Michigan’s baseball team, the state’s Democratic governor and Detroit. Ohio Sen. Vance declares that although he’s a graduate of the University of Michigan’s rival school, Ohio State University, he thinks it’s “one of the most beautiful states in the entire United States of America.”

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Both candidates say they’ll have the auto industry’s back if they’re elected. But that’s about where the similarities end.

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