What Went Down In Michigan, Washington And Other Democratic Primaries
Biden’s Former Rivals Make The Case For Him In Michigan
Last night, while I was waiting for a Biden rally at a high school outside Detroit to start, I thought back to another Biden event at another brightly lit public school gym almost a month ago. I was then in New Hampshire, where Biden’s campaign seemed like it might be in a precarious position after a disappointing fourth-place finish in Iowa, and the energy in the room was low. Biden gave a long, rambling speech and afterward, I talked to a voter who was so upset by his seemingly poor prospects that she started crying a little.
It was hard to believe only a month had passed. The Detroit rally almost felt like a party, with a high school marching band perched in the bleachers, cheerleaders in sparkly gold uniforms performing on the balcony and voters who were eager to tell me why they had come out to support Biden. Several people told me they were happy that the party finally seemed to be coalescing around a candidate — even if Biden wasn’t their first choice. “It seems like everything has come together after so much chaos,” said Susan Groenenboom, 65, who previously supported Warren. “I feel hopeful for the first time in many, many months that Trump will not have four more years as president.”
Some voters were also excited to see Biden’s former rivals, Sens. Cory Booker and Kamala Harris, who recently endorsed Biden and introduced him at the rally. Their endorsements seemed to shore up voters who were mostly supporting Biden for pragmatic reasons. Maureen Klein, 50, was standing by the bleachers wearing a “Harris for the People” t-shirt. She said Biden was her fourth choice, after Harris, Booker and Warren. “Look, I didn’t want it to come down to the two oldest white men,” Klein said. “I want to see a female president in my lifetime. But this is where we are, and Biden’s got the support of all these people I admire, and I think we just need to fall in line and beat Trump.”
More Michigan: Decision Desk HQ has Kalamazoo County in southwestern Michigan roughly tied. It went for Bernie by 24 points in 2016 so that isn’t such a strong result for him.
Probably also a lot of anti-Clinton Sanders voters there in 2016, right? (Maybe extrapolate that out to the whole state.)