Trump attends Al Smith dinner, Kamala campaigns in battleground state; both head to Michigan Friday

NEW YORK -- Election Day is just 18 days away.

Friday, former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are traveling to Michigan as they work to shore up support in that key battleground state.

But first, he was waking up in Trump Tower in New York City after attending the Al Smith charity dinner.

The former president laced into the vice president and other Democrats in a pointed speech as he headlined the annual event.Q

Trump, in remarks that often felt more like a rally performance than a comedy routine, repeatedly criticized Harris over her decision to skip the event in a break from presidential tradition as she campaigned in Wisconsin.

She recorded a video that was played onscreen, but Trump called the decision "deeply disrespectful."

"If you really wanted Vice President Harris to accept your invitation, I guess you should have told her the funds were going to bail out the looters and rioters in Minneapolis and she would have been here, guaranteed," said Trump, urging Catholics to vote for him in response.

"You better remember that I'm here and she's not," he said.
The white-tie dinner raises millions of dollars for Catholic charities and has traditionally offered candidates from both parties the chance to trade lighthearted barbs, poke fun at themselves, and show that they can get along - or at least pretend to - for one night in the election's final stretch.

It's often the last time the two nominees share a stage before Election Day.

Meantime, the candidates will both be scouring for votes in Michigan.

Harris is scheduled to begin her day in Grand Rapids before holding events in Lansing and Oakland County, which is northwest of Detroit.

Trump has his own event in Oakland County in the afternoon before holding a rally in Detroit in the evening.

Michigan is one of three "blue wall" states that, along with Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, will help decide the election.

Trump's event in Detroit will be his first one there since insulting the city last week. While warning what will happen if Harris is elected, he said that "our whole country will end up being like Detroit."
The city spent years hemorrhaging residents and businesses, plunging into deep financial problems, before rebounding in recent years.

One challenge for Harris in Michigan has been union support. Although traditionally a Democratic bloc, she's failed to win some key endorsements.

In addition, Arab American voters have been skeptical of Harris because of the White House's steadfast support for Israel's military operations in Gaza.

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a co-chair of Harris' campaign, said in an interview Thursday that the expectation was always that "it was going to be a close election."

"People are like, 'Oh it's so close.' And I'm like, have you not been listening for decades?" Whitmer said. "Michigan is a divided state. And that's why we don't write off the reddest of areas on a political map. We show up."

Kent County, where Harris will start her day Friday, leaned Republican for many years, and was won by Trump by 3% in 2016. But Biden won the county in 2020 and it has increasingly voted Democratic recently.

(Information from the Associated Press)