(WXMI) — Michigan has a strong presence at the Democratic National Convention. Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist is in Chicago for the event, along with other Michigan delegates.
Gilchrist tells FOX 17 the excitement for the general election in November is building at the convention and back home in Lansing.
"Momentum is on our side. We've seen more than 60,000 new people register to vote since Vice President Harris has sent it to the top of our ticket,” says Gilchrist. “We think that as many as 300,000 more people are going to vote in this election who wouldn't have voted if the election was a rematch between Biden and Trump."
Competing rallies have been held across the Mitten State from both sides of the presidential ticket a handful of times this year.
Harris’s campaign held an event in Detroit earlier this month, and Trump visited Grand Rapids a week after the Republican National Convention to hold a rally at Van Andel Arena.
Both sides have touted their attendance numbers; however, Gilchrist does not view these events as a competition.
"There's Donald Trump really talking about artificial intelligence, which is just dumb, but I think it actually is illustrative of something important is that Donald Trump is incapable of seeing regular people,” says Gilchrist. “I saw those people. I spoke to that rally of 15,000 people in that airport hangar. What I saw was a group of people who were hungry for a bright future that's inclusive, and instead, we have Donald Trump, incapable of seeing them, incapable of seeing what their concerns are, and incapable of responding to them because he doesn't care about them. He only cares about himself."
President Biden is expected to deliver remarks at the DNC Monday night. Former President Barack Obama will make an appearance later in the week, as will vice presidential nominee Tim Walz. Presidential nominee Kamala Harris will speak Thursday.
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