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Rep. Mary Waters addressing the Detroit crowd.
An upbeat crowd of 200-plus gathered at the Garden Theater on Woodward in Midtown Detroit Monday night to hear speakers including California Congresswoman Maxine Waters deliver enthusiastic messages at a rally to mobilze Black women for Kamala Harris.
"We know we got to work, we got to work very hard, but you got a candidate who's got everything," Waters said.
Echoing similar sentiments, Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton said:
"So many highly qualified Black women. It is so inspiring to see all of you coming together in unity and community to make it clear that we have one job, one job this November. And if we do our one job, in January we will finally, finally get to speak the words we whispered since 2016, 'Madam President."
The message Monday night was clear: Black women could ultimately be the difference in Michigan in an election where Harris is showing momentum, but is still locked in a tight race with Republican Donald Trump. A New York Times/Siena College poll shows Harris leading Trump by 4 percentage points in Michigan, with an error of margin of minus or plus 4.8 points.
In 2016, Trump beat Hillary Clinton by 10,704 votes in Michigan. Joe Biden beat Trump in 2020 by more than 150,000 votes.
Other speakers included Detroit City Council President Mary Sheffield and local politicians.
Some of the women interviewed by Deadline Detroit at the rally said they had supported President Biden, but became particularly enthusiastic when Harris suddenly headed the ticket.
Attorney Erin Keith
"I’m actually a graduate of Howard University which is also where our future president Kamala Harris went to undergraduate school," said one attendee, attorney Erin Keith, who is the great niece of the late federal Judge Damon Keith. "So that invigorated me in its own right. I think she’s a dynamic Black woman, she’s fearless, she’s what our country needs."
Asked if it bothered her when Trump questioned whether Harris is Black, she said:
"That's just noise. We're used to Trump just saying things to get a rise out of people that have no basis in facts. So, f anything it just made me roll my eyes. I was not fazed by it in any way. I think we're used to him spewing hate and spewing disdain for people who are different, who have diverse backgrounds."
