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Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz visited the Harris-Walz campaign’s Ann Arbor field office Tuesday afternoon to speak with volunteers and supporters on behalf of the ticket. Gwen Walz highlighted the campaign’s policy plans and the importance of local canvassing efforts as the November election draws closer.
Tuesday’s visit was Gwen Walz’s second campaign trip to Michigan since Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was announced as the vice presidential nominee. Earlier this month, she traveled to Grand Rapids to speak to Michigan educators about the campaign’s plans for education reform.
Gwen Walz is a former public school teacher and administrator. As first lady of Minnesota, she has advocated for educational equity, criminal justice reform and LGBTQ+ rights.
Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor opened the event by outlining the choice he believes voters face in the upcoming election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
“With Vice President Harris, we have her vision for the new way forward, which is to uplift the middle class and make sure that everyone has the opportunity to succeed,” Taylor said. “Donald Trump, as we all know, is looking to drag us backwards — backwards to a time where Americans did not have the rights and freedoms that we now take for granted, that we simply cannot take for granted.”
Gwen Walz began her remarks by emphasizing the importance of campaign volunteers in increasing voter turnout.
“I know that we can win because we have a secret weapon, which is all of you, and that’s what it’s going to take,” Walz said. “You’re knocking doors, you’re making calls, you’re registering voters and you’re winning votes, one neighbor at a time.”
Trump narrowly won Michigan in 2016 by roughly 10,700 votes before losing the state to Biden in 2020 by more than 150,000 votes. The 10,000-vote margin in 2016 breaks down to roughly two votes per precinct. Harris-Walz campaign volunteers noted that the thin margins in 2016 indicate the importance of door-knocking, canvassing and having one-on-one conversations with family, friends and neighbors leading up to Election Day.
Ann Arbor resident Catie Nations has been volunteering with the Harris-Walz campaign for the last two months. Nations said in an interview with The Michigan Daily that her two children, whom she brought to Tuesday’s event, are her motivation for volunteering.
“I can’t go to bed at night if I haven’t done everything I could to make sure that we secure democracy and the future for my kids,” Nations said.
During her remarks, Gwen Walz said that before her husband was chosen as Harris’ vice presidential pick, she was already campaigning in Minnesota. Now, she has expanded her canvassing to a national scale.
“It wasn’t very many weeks ago when I was in Minnesota knocking doors and making phone calls in my home state,” Walz said. “That’s what I do during election season. And then, Tim got a call that was just a little bit different, but that was from Vice President Harris. And so my door knocking has been adjusted, and so has my phone calling.”
In her remarks, she said the Harris-Walz campaign is committed to advancing equity for all Americans, regardless of their political beliefs.
“That message that Vice President Harris and my husband Tim have about a vision for our country where everyone is included is really resonating,” Walz said. “I’m an English teacher. … We all know that words matter. So when we say everyone, we don’t mean some of us, right? That’s a clarification and a distinction. We don’t mean even only those who vote for us — we mean all of us, and that is ultimately what this election is about.”
Gwen Walz also warned volunteers about the threat of Project 2025, a comprehensive plan for a second Trump term written by the Heritage Foundation. She specifically highlighted Project 2025 proposals to reduce Social Security benefits, cut funding for public education and restrict access to in vitro fertilization, while emphasizing the Trump-Vance campaign’s connections to the plan.
“They aren’t fighting for us, they are only fighting for themselves and their rich donors and their extreme allies,” Walz said. “I’m not making that up just because they’re on the other side. They put that out there, plain and simple. They put out their Project 2025, and that’s what it’s telling us.”
Trump has repeatedly denied any connection to Project 2025. However, multiple members of the Republican National Convention Platform Committee, which wrote the party’s official platform for the presidential race, authored parts of the plan. Stephen Miller and John McEntee, former senior advisors in Trump’s administration, were also involved with the proposal and JD Vance has praised the previous work of Kevin Roberts, a Project 2025 leader, in the foreword of Roberts’ book.
After her stop in Ann Arbor, Gwen Walz traveled to Lansing with the Harris-Walz campaign’s Fighting for Reproductive Freedom Bus Tour, which plans to visit all 50 states in the weeks leading up to the election. The tour made a stop in Ann Arbor yesterday, featuring “Parks and Recreation” actor Adam Scott and Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II.
Recent polls show Harris slightly ahead of Trump in Michigan, with many results still within the margin of error. Michigan is one of seven swing states — along with Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia — expected to decide the presidential race. Both Harris and Trump have campaigned heavily in the state, each hoping to secure its 15 electoral votes this November.
In an interview with The Daily after the event, state Sen. Sue Shink, D-Ann Arbor, said she encourages Michiganders to vote for the change they want to see. .
“Voting is one thing that everybody can do to protect our freedom,” Shink said. “It’s really true that Kamala Harris will protect our freedoms, and there is almost nothing more important than that right now.”
Co-Editor in Chief Samantha Rich and Daily News Editor Mary Corey can be reached at sammrich@umich.edu and mcorey@umich.edu.
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