Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is not holding back as Election Day approaches—and we are here for it.
The vice president’s campaign released a blistering ad in response to her opponent Donald Trump’s Thursday appearance at the Detroit Economic Club, where he proceeded to insult the city.
“The whole country is going to be like—you want to know the truth? It'll be like Detroit,” Trump said. “Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she's your president. You're going to have a mess on your hands.”
Harris’ new ad, titled “Like Detroit,” was released on Friday and spotlights the Motor City’s grit—something Trump knows nothing about.
“They thought our best days were behind us. That living here was like ‘living in hell,’ but you know what we said? We said f-ck that,” narrates actor Courtney B. Vance, a Detroit native.
This is a sharp shift in tone from former first lady Michelle Obama’s “When they go low, we go high” directive. But that was 2016, and this is 2024. With just 24 days to go before the election, the Harris-Walz campaign is fighting fire with fire.
Detroit is the largest city in Michigan, and a Democratic stronghold. It is known as Motor City because it’s the birthplace of the automotive industry that housed Ford and General Motors. It’s also the birthplace of the legendary Motown Records, and the city houses a museum dedicated to the soulful rhythm and blues music that changed American culture. The city has seen decades of economic decline due to the exodus of the automotive industry, leading to waves of labor rights struggles and a shrinking population.
But as the ad notes, the Motor City is seeing a rebirth.
“We rebuilt ourselves. We look out for each other. We got our hands dirty. Put in the hard work,” narrator Vance intones, before cutting to an image of Trump golfing. “And this guy: He don’t know anything about that.”
The ad concludes with, “What Donald Trump doesn’t understand or care to learn is that when he says ‘Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president,’ that he should be so goddamn lucky.”
The spot will air during Saturday’s Detroit Tigers vs. Cleveland Guardians playoff game and Sunday’s Detroit Lions matchup against the Dallas Cowboys.
