The Battle for the Mitten State
Boots on the ground canvassing for Kamala in the Furniture City
Grand Rapids, Michigan, is one of those places coastal dwellers call “flyover country.” But as it turns out, the city is battle ground that could determine America’s future.
The city used to lean heavily red, but now it walks a tightrope between red and blue, thanks to Gretchen Whitmar’s policies, demographic shifts, a burgeoning healthcare industry and tax breaks luring tech companies to the “furniture city”.
Right now, however, it’s a toss-up in the presidential election. The numbers tell a story: In 2016, according to Brookings.edu, Trump won by 10,704 votes. Biden won in 2020 by 154,188. Michigan, like the race, embodies America’s political divide in miniature.
As a Gen Xer–part of the “slacker generation”–I’ve never been that political. Or at least fired up enough to do something outside of voting. But now, there’s just so much ridiculous drama, weird scenes, doom emanating from the news, rampant dishonesty, abject gaslighting, and democratic instability that it’s pushed me off the sidelines. I can’t give apathy control of my future–and my son’s.
So, I set out with my wife and 8-year-old from Chicago to my childhood hometown of Grand Rapids to canvass for the Harris/Walz ticket.
