FLINT, Mich. — Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance rallied hundreds of supporters in Flint on Monday afternoon, saying the state of Michigan "is going to take out the trash in Washington D.C." in Tuesday's election ― a reference to Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Tomorrow, we’re going to say to Kamala Harris, you are fired. Go back to San Francisco where you belong," Vance told a crowd of about 600 supporters at Flint's historic FIM Capitol Theatre. "We don’t need you in the White House.”

Trump and Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, are locked in a tight race for Michigan's 15 electoral votes. The state is one of seven battlegrounds that are expected to decide the presidential race this week. Democrat Joe Biden won Michigan by 3 percentage points, 51%-48%, against Trump in 2020.

"Here's our simple message to Kamala Harris: No, our fellow citizens are not garbage for thinking that you're doing a terrible job," Vance said, a reference to remarks last week by President Joe Biden. "But tomorrow, the state of Michigan is going to take out the trash in Washington, D.C."

The U.S. senator from Ohio came to Flint from Wisconsin, saying he was hitting four states total on Monday, with two more stops in Georgia and Pennsylvania. Monday was his first time in Flint, which Vance compared to his hometown of Middletown, Ohio.

"For too long, a generation of American leaders has failed to do their job for communities like Flint, Michigan. For too long, we have been left behind. We have been ignored. We have been neglected. We have had a generation of American leaders who have shipped American jobs overseas and brought in millions upon millions of illegal aliens," Vance said.

"Well, tomorrow that is going to stop, because when we bring Donald J. Trump back to the White House, we're going to put our citizens first."

Vance's return to Michigan follows a day-long swing across Michigan by Harris on Sunday, ending with a message of optimism during a rally at Michigan State University among college students that could give her campaign a boost Tuesday if they turn out in large numbers to vote.

"We have momentum,” Harris told the crowd in East Lansing. “It is on our side. Can you feel it? And we have the momentum because our campaign is tapping into the ambitions, the aspirations and the dreams of the American people.

"Because we are optimistic and excited about what we can do together, and because we know that it is time for a new generation of leadership in America."

Ahead of Vance's appearance in Flint, Democratic U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee of Flint Township told reporters Monday that Harris wants to continue building on the progress the country has build over the last four years under Biden.

Kildee said Trump is wrapping up his campaign with an angry, "venomous" approach to politics, promising to go after the "enemies within" ― his political opponents.

Trump's violent politics should scare people, Kildee said.

"He's trying to divide us against one another. He's done that for almost a decade now and, of course, his main agenda is to seek revenge against his political rivals," Kildee said. "Of course, Kamala Harris, she doesn't have an enemies list. She has a to-do list."

Harris has pledged to appoint a Republican to her cabinet, so that "even people who disagree with her will have a seat at the table," Kildee said.

“There's a huge difference between what a Kamala Harris presidency will mean ― hope, optimism, rolling up our sleeves and getting the work of the American people done ― versus what a Donald Trump presidency will look like: Anger, venom, a dark, dystopian view of what America should be," Kildee said. "We don't want to go back."

Vance on Monday spoke for over 30 minutes, portraying Trump as the candidate of change on issues from inflation to the Southern border to domestic energy production, saying the country is "on the cusp of the golden age of American prosperity."

"This election is fundamentally about whether the American Dream is going to be affordable for our fellow citizens, and I think that we have got to do better. There are so many people out there that are struggling," Vance said.

"I know in the city of Flint and all over this great state, there are a lot of people who are working hard and they're playing by the rules and they're falling further behind instead of getting further ahead."

He returned to the "garbage" comment by Biden last week. The president was reportedly responding to a comic's remark at a Trump rally calling Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.” Biden said on a Latino voter outreach call that, "the only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters."

"We don't need to attack our fellow citizens just because they have the wrong politics," Vance said.

"Even if people vote the wrong way, you know what, they're still our fellow citizens, and we're still going to fight for them anyway. Because we love this country, and that means loving everybody," the Ohio senator added.

Retired music teacher Linda Stevens, 63, of Grand Blanc Township came out for the Vance rally Monday because she wanted to see the man I voted for.” She’s in the middle of reading Vance’s memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”

“I saw the movie of his life, and I was just very impressed with how somebody can start with such a difficult life and a meager upbringing and turn that around and do something great,” she said.

Stevens was at first nervous about how Trump would govern because he’s not polished or experienced, she said, but she appreciated his “simplistic” solutions for problems.

“Trump wasn't going to be held back by circumstance or by history. He just went in and he'd pick up the phone and make a contact with world leaders,” Steven said. “And we saw improvement so quickly. Things started turning around, prices started coming down, and I just felt like we're on the right track.”

Tom Burtell, 53, an electrician from Saline, said after the rally that he’s voting for Trump because he’s more likely to bring peace to conflicts in the Middle East and will end U.S. aid for Ukraine.

“I've seen too many videos of what the war is really like, and it disgusts me. I know that Kamala Harris is unlikely to stop that,” Burtell said of Ukraine.

“Trump is somewhat of a bully in a good way, where he can match foreign leaders one on one.”

Single mom Carol Opalewski, 25, of Mt. Morris brought her 2-month-old baby and 5-year-old son to the rally on Monday, saying she hopes Trump will win so that household costs aren’t so expensive, she said.

“Under the Biden administration, I can't afford really a lot, especially being one income,” she said.

“I will always support Trump because my oldest, he was born under the Trump administration, and everything was better. Everything was more affordable.”

Harris' running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is expected to headline a campaign rally in Detroit on Monday evening with performances by the Detroit Youth Choir, Jon Bon Jovi and The War and Treaty.

Trump last visited Michigan on Friday, making a stop in Dearborn and holding a rally at Macomb Community College in Warren. He's scheduled hold his final rally of the campaign season in Grand Rapids very late Monday night, making it the third straight presidential election that he's done so.

A late October poll of 600 likely Michigan voters, commissioned by The Detroit News and WDIV-TV (Channel 4), found Harris was beating Trump by 3 percentage points, 46.7%-43.7%, with 7.3% of the participants saying they planned to vote for a third-party candidate. Another 2.1% said they were undecided.

The survey had a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

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(Staff writer Craig Mauger contributed.)

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