DETROIT (WXYZ) — During Wednesday night's debate in the Motor City, the Democratic candidates spoke about their plans to win over Michigan voters.
Democrats lost Michigan during the last presidential election in 2016.
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Joe Biden is reminding a Detroit debate audience that he helped implement bills during the Great Recession that helped bail out General Motors.
Sen. Cory Booker says Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin were lost because of Russian meddling and Republican suppression of black votes, and Booker says he'd prioritize nonwhite voters to flip those states.
"We lost the state of Michigan because everybody from Republicans to Russians were targeting the suppression of African American voters," Booker said.
Cory Booker: "We lost the state of Michigan because everybody from Republicans to Russians were targeting the suppression of African American voters" #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/Zq86pSiZ5q
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) August 1, 2019
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand notes her electoral success in upstate New York to prove she can reach swing voters.
Andrew Yang says winning requires making a case to Midwesterners that the growing economy "has left them behind."
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Yang also touched on the need for jobs in Michigan. Just this week, General Motors announced it will be closing its Warren transmission plant.
"If you go to a factory here in Michigan, you will not find wall-to-wall immigrants, you will find wall-to-wall robots and machines," Yang said. "Immigrants are being scapegoated for issues they have nothing to do with in our economy."
