FILLMORE TOWNSHIP, Mich. — A week ahead of Election Day, the Trump campaign visited its base in Michigan as GOP vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance spoke at HES Equipment, a heavy-equipment dealer in Allegan County.
The campaign stop, Vance’s fifth in West Michigan, marked the first time any of the nominees on the presidential ticket have held events in the traditionally Republican county this election cycle.
In a warehouse adorned with flowing American flags and a Trump-themed excavator, Vance spoke to a crowd of supporters sitting on folding chairs. Hundreds more stood and watched, spilling into an overflow room.
“Our strategy is to get as many votes as possible from wherever we can get them. It's simple, really,” said Vance, responding to FOX 17’s question on whether his campaign was targeting its base in the final days before the election.
During the 2020 presidential election, 61% of votes in Allegan County went to former President Donald Trump and his then-running mate, Mike Pence, while 36% went to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Prior to Tuesday’s rally, Vance most recently spoke at the Berlin Raceway in Marne, another Republican hotbed.
For nearly a full hour, the vice presidential nominee spoke mostly about the current vice president, Kamala Harris. While Vance said he had the “easiest job in American politics” because of his running mate, he claimed the Democratic nominee for vice president, Tim Walz, had the “hardest” because of Harris.
“She's trying to pretend that she's the ‘change’ candidate, even though we know she's the candidate of more of the same broken policies,” Vance said. “Kamala Harris is not so much a candidate as representative of a broken machine in American life.”
In addition, Vance talked about the current state of the American economy and Southern border, saying that, in both cases, “Kamala Harris broke it; Donald Trump will fix it.”
“How dare she call her citizens, her fellow citizens, racists for wanting to secure the Southern border,” Vance said. “How dare she call us fascists for wanting more affordable groceries for our children.”
Reps. Bill Huizenga (R-MI) and Brian Mast (R-FL) also spoke at the rally, as well as Pete Hoekstra, chair of the Michigan GOP.
Hoekstra addressed the crowd with confidence, predicting they would be “winners” in a week’s time. He also told attendees to download 10XVotes, an app that allows users to look up registered voters, ideally, he said, so they can be persuaded to vote red.
A red voter himself, Andrew Geurink, the vice president of HES Equipment, said he contacted the Trump campaign around a month ago, asking if his business could host an event. He was put on a list. Last Thursday, the campaign called him back. Vance’s appearance was confirmed on Saturday, three days ahead of the rally.
A person who’s “always been involved in the political realm,” Geurink says he holds close the values of “faith, family, freedom” and believes in Trump’s “on-the-job experience.”
After the rally in Allegan Township, Vance traveled to Cornerstone University in Kent County, a swing county, for a town hall.
The Michigan Democratic Coordinated Campaign released the following statement in response to Vance's campaign event:
“Every time JD Vance comes to Michigan it’s a reminder that the Trump-Vance Project 2025 agenda would raise costs, ban abortion nationwide, and ship good-paying Michigan jobs to China. Meanwhile, Vice President Kamala Harris is rallying thousands of Michiganders, highlighting her fight for a new way forward that will cut taxes for the middle class and protect our fundamental freedoms. Michiganders are ready to turn the page on an increasingly unhinged and unstable Donald Trump, and they’re going to continue casting their ballots early to keep him out of the Oval Office.”
