Trump treks north to Traverse City for late-night campaign rally

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — Former President Donald Trump arrived more than two hours late on Friday night for a rally at an airplane hangar at Cherry Capital Airport, the first of two campaign rallies in Michigan this weekend.

The Republican presidential candidate's stop in Michigan's cherry capital marks the furthest north he has trekked in the state for the 2024 election cycle. He visited the city the day before the 2020 election but failed to secure Michigan in his bid for the presidency that year.

Trump was initially scheduled to take the stage around 7:30 p.m., but an engagement in Texas ran late and, according to press pool reports, Trump didn't leave Texas until around the time he was supposed to take the stage in Traverse City. His plane landed just after 10 p.m.

Trump sent a video message from his plane that was played for the crowd, where he apologized for the delay and promised an "extra special job."

"I said, 'Will they understand it in Traverse City? Otherwise, I will be very upset with myself," Trump said of the delay in the video. "And I think that you will."

During the delay, crowds dwindled in an airplane hangar being used for overflow from the main staging and seating area outdoors. But the main outdoor area remained full.

Friday marked Sherri Robinson's second Trump rally. The Bellaire resident attended Trump's last Traverse City rally on the eve of the November 2020 election, which Trump lost to Democrat Joe Biden by about 154,000 votes.

Robinson voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, but the issues driving the election this time around seem to have changed since then, with border security and increasing daily costs driving the most concern, she said.

"I'd like to see grocery prices go down, gas prices go down," Robinson said. "I think the last three and a half years have been difficult on people because of the inflation.

"I'm just hoping that his message resonates with people and that there's a good turnout," she added.

Jim Wilk, a Ludington resident who transplanted from Chicago three years ago to "leave the Dems," said he's voting for Trump for much the same reasons Robinson voiced: border security and inflation.

"He showed me, personally, that government's kind of useless because he's done things in two years that they couldn't for 50 years," Wilk said.

The Michigan Democratic Party warned Michigan voters not to trust the former president, arguing he's failed to live up to the auto and manufacturing promises in the auto heavy state.

"The bottom line is, Donald Trump can say whatever he wants today, but Michiganders know that Kamala Harris is the only candidate who will protect our jobs and our economy," Michigan Democratic Party Chairwoman Lavora Barnes said in a statement.

Trump also is expected to rally supporters Saturday in Novi, while his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, is planning a rally in Kalamazoo the same day with former first lady Michelle Obama.

Grand Traverse County has become a battleground in recent years in Michigan, with one of its House seats flipped to Democratic state Rep. Betsy Coffia in 2022. Coffia is the first Democrat to be elected to the state House from Grand Traverse County.

Trump won Grand Traverse County by 12 percentage points in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton and by about 3 percentage points over Biden in 2020. But in 2022, Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer carried the county 52%-46% over Republican Tudor Dixon.

An early October poll of 600 likely voters commissioned by The Detroit News and WDIV-TV found Harris was up about 2.6 percentage points, but the lead fell within the margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.

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