GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Donald Trump is holding his first campaign rally since he survived an attempted assassination last week, returning to the battleground state of Michigan alongside his new running mate.
Exactly a week after the July 13 shooting in Pennsylvania that left Trump with a bloodied ear, killed one man in the crowd and left two others injured, he opened by offering a “very special thanks to Americans nationwide, including all of you here today for your extraordinary outpouring of love and support in the wake of the horrific last Saturday evening.”
The crowd responded by chanting, “Fight, fight, fight!” The gauze on his ear appeared to have been replaced by a skin-colored bandage.
Trump was joined by Ohio Sen. JD Vance at the pair’s first event together since they became the GOP’s nominees at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.
“I find it hard to believe that a week ago, an assassin tried to take Donald Trump’s life, and now we have got a hell of a crowd in Michigan to welcome him back on the campaign trail,” Vance said, speaking before Trump’s arrival.
“I chose him because he’s for the worker,” Trump said of Vance.
Hours before he took the stage, Trump’s supporters crowded the streets of downtown Grand Rapids in anticipation of the former president’s remarks. Supporters began lining up Friday morning, and by Saturday afternoon, the line stretched close to a mile from the venue’s entrance.
Close to an hour before he was set to take the stage, supporters had filled nearly every seat in the 12,000-person Van Andel Arena.
Many were seen wearing shirts featuring the image of Trump, on stage, after he was shot, pumping his fist in the air after surviving the shooting, along with the usual red “Make America Great Again” hats.
Mike Gaydos, who traveled from Indiana with his three sons to attend the rally, said he didn’t consider himself a “huge” Trump supporter in the past but wanted to show support for the former president following his attempted assassination.
“We can’t allow something like that to collar us,” he said. “Bravery is what I thought he showed that day and I want to show my sons about bravery as well.”
Numerous streets, closed as an additional security precaution, were dotted with vendors selling food and apparel. Among them was a vendor from North Carolina who said he had spent the night making shirts featuring “Trump Vance ’24.”
Downtown Grand Rapids also saw a significant police presence, with officers stationed on nearly every block, while others patrolled on horseback and bicycles. The heightened security outside the venue created a tense environment, with some attendees mentioning that drones overhead had made them nervous.
Attendees were required to pass through a metal detector upon entering the downtown Grand Rapids indoor arena, yet the presence of security inside appeared consistent with previous events.
“This is the tightest I’ve ever seen the security,” said Renee White, who said that she’s been to 33 of Trump’s rallies. “We usually can bring in some small bags but today I had to just leave stuff out there.”
White was seated behind the podium at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, where the gunman opened fire from a nearby rooftop. She described the shooting as “surreal” but said that it wouldn’t stop her from going to rallies.
“If I’m going to be taken out, at least I’m doing something I love to do, right?” said White.
She said she had become emotional when Trump, in his RNC speech to delegates, described the shooting in detail.
“I’m not supposed to be here tonight,” Trump told the packed convention hall. The crowd of thousands, which was listening in silence, shouted back, “Yes, you are.”
Michigan is one of the handful of crucial swing states expected to determine the outcome of November’s presidential election. Trump narrowly won the state by just over 10,000 votes in 2016, but Democrat Joe Biden flipped it back in 2020, winning by a margin of 154,000 votes on his way to the presidency.
Trump’s choice of Vance was seen as a move to gain support among so-called Rust Belt voters in places like Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Ohio who helped Trump notch his surprise 2016 victory. Vance specifically mentioned those places during his acceptance speech at the convention, stressing his roots growing up poor in small-town Ohio and pledging not to forget working-class people whose “jobs were sent overseas and children were sent to war.”
Democrats have dominated recent elections in Michigan, but Republicans now see an opening in the state as Democrats are increasingly divided about whether Biden should drop out of the race. Biden has insisted he is not quitting, and has attempted to turn the focus back towards Trump, saying Friday that Trump’s acceptance speech at the Republican convention showcased a “dark vision for the future.”
The 81-year-old Democratic incumbent, who appeared in Detroit this month, is currently isolating at his beach home in Delaware recovering from COVID-19.
Grand Rapids, the largest city in Kent County, was historically a Republican stronghold, but has trended increasingly blue. It was one of three Michigan counties that Trump won in 2016 but Biden flipped in 2020. It’s also an area where Republican Nikki Haley secured a substantial number of votes as she ran against Trump in the GOP primary, a group of voters that both presidential campaigns are now hoping to pick up. Haley urged her supporters to back Trump in a convention floor speech.
U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten, a Democrat representing Grand Rapids, is among the growing number of lawmakers calling on Biden to exit the race after last month’s disastrous debate performance.
___ Colvin reported from New York,