Talk about a no-show

| 7:29 pm EDT September 24, 2024
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It is now autumn, and with the 2024 presidential election quickly approaching, yet another sign has emerged that enthusiasm is firmly on Vice President Kamala Harris’s side, and not Donald Trump’s. In swing states like Michigan, the Harris campaign enjoys a strong presence, knocking on doors and rallying voters, while people are asking questions about Trump’s ground game.

Republican insiders in Michigan, which Trump narrowly lost to President Joe Biden in 2020 and beat Hillary Clinton in 2016 by only a sliver, are growing concerned. In areas like Oakland County, which includes key Detroit suburbs, local GOP officials have expressed confusion over the absence of canvassing, according to reporting from the Associated Press. Nate Wilkowski, the Republican field director for Oakland County, remarked about America PAC, the group funded by Elon Musk to handle Trump’s voter engagement, “I haven’t seen anybody… Nobody’s given me a heads-up that they’re around in Oakland County areas.”

Reports of spotting canvassers for America PAC at work in Michigan have been “rare.” Even though Michigan’s Republican chairman, Pete Hoekstra, said that canvassers started working in the state in late August, reports from the ground suggest their efforts have been inconsistent. Similar concerns are being raised in other battleground states. While America PAC claims to have canvassers on the ground in states like Arizona and Georgia, reports of low visibility have raised alarms. America PAC even recently had to replace its door-knocking company in Arizona and Nevada.

By contrast, the Democratic Party got its canvassing efforts going much earlier. In July, Michigan Democrats held 185 canvassing events in a single weekend, according to a CBS News report. Senator Gary Peters and Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel have been rallying volunteers, emphasizing how important Michigan is to winning the White House. At a canvassing event in Southfield, Peters declared, “You cannot be President of the United States if you don’t win Michigan.”

This is yet another sign that the enthusiasm is firmly behind the Harris-Walz campaign, which is likely to translate into higher voter turnout. Democrats have been working tirelessly on the ground for months, and that energy is building momentum. Meanwhile, Republicans who understand what it takes to win tight races are asking, Where’s Trump? Even if the Trump-Vance campaign steps up its efforts dramatically in Michigan this week, it may just be too little, too late.