In Flint, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz predicts women will send a message to Donald Trump on Tuesday

FLINT – Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz directly appealed to men to support Vice President Kamala Harris at a campaign event in Flint Friday, but said he believes women’s support will get her campaign across the finish line push and make her the next President of the United States. .

Polls show a huge and possibly widening gender gap in Tuesday’s presidential election, with Republican Donald Trump leading by 6 percentage points or more among male voters, but trailing by double digits among female voters.

“Think of the women you love,” Walz, who is running for vice president, told men who were among about 250 supporters gathered in a hangar at Flint’s Bishop International Airport. Now that Trump’s appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court has overturned the Roe v. Wade precedent that guaranteed abortion rights for decades and several states are now imposing strict abortion bans, “their lives are literally at stake as this election unfolds.” “

With four days to go until Election Day, “Kamala Harris and I feel that women in this country, of any age, of any party, are going to send a loud and clear message to Donald Trump,” Walz said.

Walz, a former congressman, has been governor of Minnesota since 2019. The military veteran and former high school teacher and assistant football coach started his Michigan day in Detroit and spoke for about 20 minutes in Flint before heading to a final Friday event in Traverse. City.

Trump campaign spokeswoman Victoria LaCivita said Walz thinks women and other voters are stupid if he believes they will support four more years of a Biden-Harris administration marked by high inflation and large numbers of undocumented migrants crossing the border between Mexico and the Crossing USA.

“That is why Michiganders will be putting aside both Walz and Kamala on November 5 if they re-elect President Donald J. Trump,” LaCivita said in an emailed statement.

Colleen Joseph of Flint, a retired nurse, said she agrees with the policy Observers think polls underestimate Harris’ support among women.

Some Harris voters may be shy to admit it, but if they “get behind that screen, they’re going to vote for Kamala Harris,” Joseph said as she waited in line for the Walz event in Flint, adding that she is confident of a Democratic victory on Tuesday.

Flint resident Sharlette Kate said she attended the Harris meeting at Flint’s Dort Financial Center on Oct. 4, but was excited to see Walz Friday for the first time.

Kate, who has already voted, said she feels confident but is knocking on doors and “calling everyone I know to make sure the vote happens.” She said she thinks “the ground game is going to be very, very, very important.”

Earlier Friday in Detroit, Walz opened a roundtable discussion with black business leaders at the Westin Book Cadillac downtown by offering praise for Michigan’s largest city.

He said he went to Belle Isle in the morning, called it “beautiful” and then said that Minnesota Vikings fans are “fine with the Lions’ success.”

Walz used the conversation as a kind of campaign temperature check for those on the ground before heading to the UAW Region 1A union hall in Taylor, where he riled up a small crowd of supporters affiliated with unions that have backed Harris.

“Momentum is on our side. We have four days left. We take nothing for granted,” he said. “This match is a draw. There’s two minutes left, folks. The good news is: we have the ball.” And he called Harris “the best quarterback in the league” while her Republican rival, Walz said, was fumbling.

‘And look, you saw it. You saw it and today it happened again. Donald Trump continues to get into a hateful, divisive place that we don’t want to go to,” Walz said.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: In Flint, Walz predicts women will send a message to Donald Trump on Tuesday