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Walz prepped for debate in Harbor Springs, residents share expectations

Governor Tim Walz and Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris speaking at a campaign rally at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona.
Gage Skidmore via Flickr
Gov. Tim Walz and Vice President of the United States Kamala Harris speaking at a campaign rally at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona. (Photo: Gage Skidmore via Flickr)

All eyes are on New York tonight where vice presidential candidates will debate.

The Democrat in the running, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was in Harbor Springs this weekend to prepare. And last week, Republican candidate JD Vance made a campaign stop near Traverse City.

While the Harris/Walz campaign did not plan any public events in the area, some Harbor Springs residents were able to catch the could-be vice president grabbing food at a local restaurant or getting toured around Pond Hill Farm.

Both Walz and Vance hope to appeal to working-class voters in states like Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin this fall. For Harbor Springs voters, they say specifics will be key in Tuesday’s debate.

Shannon Cummings identifies as a Democrat. She works at a clothing store downtown and managed to meet Walz in a restaurant across the street.

She talked to him about her husband, who died of COVID-19, and of the struggle for some families to find child care in the region.

Cummings said both candidates have a chance to address pocketbook issues that would resonate with small-town voters like her.

“People are worried about economics,” she said. “Up here, people think there’s not a lot of poverty. We still have our poverty and lack of year-round jobs and health insurance for everybody.”

Just down the street, Republican Wendy Reeve said it's been hard to recruit workers for her interior design business. She said she’s concerned about students going to four-year colleges and graduating without marketable skills and debt.

“The youth are not interested in nine-to-five, meat and potatoes jobs,” she said “So we need skilled labor and we need unskilled labor.”

She wants candidates to understand that economic policy is not one-size-fits-all.

Reeve also happens to be a candidate for Harbor Springs City Council this year and said she’s been concerned about the future of zoning and development in the area.

Parker Fairbairn is another Republican running for office - Michigan’s 107th House District. He said he met JD Vance at his rally near Traverse City.

He said the people he's talked to are concerned about issues like the price of groceries.

“I've knocked on thousands of doors all over northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula over the last four months, and those are the core issues people care about. How can you put more money back into their pockets?”

Elizabeth Pollie volunteers with the Emmet County Democrats. While she wants to see issues like climate change, abortion and immigration acknowledged, she agrees economic issues will resonate with northern Michigan.

She said she at least wants policy to be at the forefront of all responses and laments that debates have become "this kind of attack dog approach to debates is in full force. I think it's unfortunate, because I think people could really learn a lot from debates.”

Michael Livingston covers the area around the Straits of Mackinac - including Cheboygan, Charlevoix, Emmet and Otsego counties as a Report for America corps member.