Economics, abortion

At her campaign stops in Michigan, Harris questioned Trump's character while emphasizing abortion rights in the wake of the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court decision that struck down national protections.

Despite serving as vice president for the past four years, Harris has sought to portray herself as the candidate for change, ready to close the book on the Trump era of political discord. She received the support of some notable Michigan Republicans, including former U.S. Reps. Fred Upton and Dave Trott.

Trump, meanwhile, spent much time criticizing the economy among Democrats, including inflation, which spiked in 2021 and 2022 but has since eased.

He copied Ronald Reagan's 1980 campaign question – “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” – and portrayed the election as a referendum on Harris' work as vice president under Biden.

As in previous campaigns, Trump also railed against undocumented immigrants and argued that Democrats are not doing enough to protect Michigan's auto industry from foreign competition.

Trump's campaign has also taken a big gamble: shifting resources from traditional campaigning to a new “election integrity” program.

This was done primarily to reassure Trump's most loyal supporters that the election was worth participating, even as Trump continued to claim that the 2020 election was rigged against him.

The heavy focus on litigation meant that a significant amount of Republican ground work was outsourced to groups like the Elon Musk-funded America PAC and Turning Point Action.

A number of dark-money groups funded by Musk, the world's richest man, also funded advertising campaigns designed to damage Harris by touting her as pro-Israeli in Muslim areas of Michigan and as pro-Palestinian in Jewish areas of the state.

Reporters Nushrat Rahman, Mike Wilkinson and Robin Erb contributed