Harris criticizes Trump, Vance in Michigan speech for risking EV auto jobs

FLINT, Mich. – Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris leaned into the political battle over the future of the automotive industry during a campaign speech in one of Michigan’s auto towns, accusing Republican nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, JD Vance, of putting hundreds of auto jobs at risk.

During a campaign speech in Flint, home of a General Motors truck plant, Harris highlighted comments Vance made in Michigan on Wednesday, when he didn’t directly say whether a Trump administration would commit to honoring a $500 million grant going to GM to subsidize the conversion of a Lansing assembly plant into an electric vehicle plant.

“Two days ago, Donald Trump’s running mate suggested that if Trump wins, he might let the Grand River Assembly in Lansing close down,” Harris said. “That same plant our administration helped save earlier this year, along with 650 union jobs.”

Harris, a former senator from California, vowed Friday to invest federal tax dollars into boosting the steel and automotive industries to ensure “the next breakthroughs” in electric vehicles and advanced batteries are built in the United States by unionized workers.

Earlier in the day, Harris spoke inside a Redford Township fire station Friday afternoon for 18 minutes before rallying supporters inside Flint’s Dort Financial Center in the evening.

“I want to make sure America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century,” Harris told a crowd of about 100 people.

In Auburn Hills on Wednesday, Vance, a senator from Ohio, said any subsidy of the EV industry should benefit an American supply chain of companies and workers.

“I think there’s certainly a role – and I believe this and I know Donald Trump believes this – in encouraging innovation,” Vance said. “But there’s a difference between promoting innovations and sending hundreds of billions of dollars to favored industries that make their products in China. These are two very, very different things.”

At another event in Ottawa County Wednesday, a Detroit News reporter asked a more specific question about the grant to convert GM’s Lansing Grand River Plant and Vance was noncommittal on whether a second Trump administration would honor or cancel the $500 million grant.

“First of all, the $500 million grant came along with some really ridiculous strings and no protections for American jobs not getting shipped to foreign countries because a lot of not just the cars themselves, but the battery components, the minerals, this stuff is all produced in China, and so when we write massive checks on American taxpayer expense to these companies, a lot of times what we’re doing is selling American middle class jobs to the Communist Chinese, and we ought to be doing exactly the opposite,” said Vance, a U.S. senator from Ohio.

“We ought to be rebuilding the American middle class and investing in our own workers, not shipping our tax dollars off to electric vehicles made in China.”

Harris criticized Vance’s response, arguing workers “deserve a president” who won’t put those jobs at risk. She also slammed Trump’s failure to fight against the offshoring of manufacturing to China, including EV innovation and manufacturing.

“Donald Trump sat on the sidelines and let China dominate,” Harris said. “And then he talks down to American workers, saying we can’t compete with Chinese workers.”

On Sept. 17, in the same Flint event center Harris spoke in Friday, Trump railed against government efforts to promote or invest in electric vehicles, contending that China is positioned to “dominate” EVs.

China will take over “all of your business” because of electric vehicles, Trump told a crowd in the Dort Financial Center. Trump argued the U.S. has gasoline, while China has the materials needed for EVs.

Democratic President Joe Biden’s administration has said the conversion of GM’s Lansing Grand River Plant to assembling EVs would save 650 jobs and create 50 new positions. The grant was announced in July.

The Detroit automaker has signaled the assembled battery packs for the Lansing plant would come from the new battery plant it is constructing in nearby Delta Township, west of Lansing.

“President Trump has been clear that he’ll support the auto industry, allowing space for both gas powered cars and electric vehicles,” said Victoria LaCivita, the Trump campaign’s spokeswoman in Michigan. “There’s only one candidate who wants to tell you what type of car Michiganders can drive, build and sell – and that’s Kamala Harris.”

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, speaking before Harris at the rally in Flint, criticized Trump’s record on manufacturing as well as Vance’s failure to pledge the Trump administration would continue federal funding for the Lansing GM plant.

“The Trump-Vance ticket is giving the middle finger to workers here in Michigan,” Whitmer said.

At a news conference Friday morning at the United Auto Workers Local 652 in Lansing, Democratic Lansing Mayor Andy Schor said he was “angry” and “pissed off” after hearing of Vance’s comments about the Lansing GM plant, arguing the lack of commitment from the GOP vice presidential nominee threatened 650 local, union jobs.

“In one fell swoop, JD Vance put that all at risk,” Schor said. “He showed that a second Trump term would be a disaster for Lansing, for Michigan and for our country.”

Former state Sen. Curtis Hertel, an East Lansing Democrat who is running in the 7th Congressional District, criticized his Republican opponent, former state Sen. Tom Barrett of Charlotte, for his silence on the issue. Hertel argued the grant is key to centering the future of the EV industry in the U.S. and not in China while the U.S. still has the opportunity to do so.

“I don’t care what kind of car you drive,” Hertel said. “I care that it’s made here in Michigan.”

UAW International Vice President Mike Booth said the inclination to change paths on the federal investment is “poor policy.”

“United Auto Workers will not support a candidate who will not support good, union paying jobs,” Booth said.

Melissa Bowen, a UAW Local 598 member who works at GM’s Flint Assembly, said projects like the one meant to convert the Lansing assembly plant into an electric vehicle plant are crucial for local workers and the economy. Bowen arrived hours early Friday for Harris’ Flint rally at Dort Financial Center to support the Democratic candidate, whom she described as a “pro-labor” leader.

“It should go towards the EV plants,” Bowen said of the federal funding. “Especially, because with a lot of them we have the prior commitment that they will be union EV shops. That is just so important to our local economy to have good union-paying jobs.”

April Kelley, another UAW Local 598 employee at GM’s Flint plant who attended Harris’ Flint rally, said the types of federal investments being made in Lansing reflect a commitment by the Biden administration to the “middle class” and keeping jobs in the U.S.

“EV is the thing of the future,” Kelly said. “We have to move forward. And if we have a president who’s investing in our future, it’s a win for us.”

Friday’s rally in Flint came about a week after election administrators started sending out 1.8 million absentee ballots to voters across Michigan. Statewide early in-person voting begins Oct. 26.

“Folks, the election is here and we need to energize, organize and mobilize,” Harris said.

NBA legend Magic Johnson urged Black men to vote during his remarks ahead of Harris taking the stage inside Flint’s Dort Financial Center, arguing the Black community did not fare well under the Trump administration.

“Kamala’s opponent promised a lot of things to the Black community that he did not deliver on,” Johnson said.