Promising to bring back jobs, Republican Donald Trump on Sunday made a late-hour appeal here in this industrial Midwestern state, one of several Democratic strongholds he is trying to wrest away from Hillary Clinton.
“We’re going to stop the jobs from going to Mexico, China and all over the world,” Trump said at the third of five planned rallies Sunday. “The economic policies of Bill and Hillary Clinton have bled Michigan dry, almost more than any other place.”
The GOP nominee’s appearance came hours after news broke that, after an expedited review of newly discovered Clinton emails, FBI Director James B. Comey had affirmed his decision that she should not face charges related to her use of a personal server as secretary of state.
During his rally here — in a state a Republican presidential candidate last carried in 1988 — Trump said Clinton was “being protected by a rigged system, it’s a totally rigged system.”
“Hillary Clinton is guilty,” Trump said. “She’s knows it. The FBI knows it. The people know it. Now it’s up to the American people to deliver justice at the ballot box on November 8th.”
Comey’s announcement on Oct. 28 that the FBI was scrutinizing newly discovered email reinvigorated Trump’s campaign in the closing stretch of the race, and polls in multiple battleground states have tightened since then.
Clinton is using the closing days of the race to try to both shore up support in states like Michigan where she has been leading and to tip the balance in other swing states. She currently has a lead in the national polls and has several more paths available to win in the electoral college on Tuesday.
Clinton appeared Sunday night in New Hampshire, where the race is very tight.
“This election is a moment of reckoning,” Clinton told her crowd in Manchester. “It a choice between division and unity. … What’s really on the ballot is what kind of country we want for our children and grandchildren.”
Clinton was introduced at the rally by Khizr Khan, the Gold Star father of slain U.S. Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who died while serving in the 2004 Iraq War.
Khan, who spoke at the Democratic National Convention and was later criticized by Trump, posed a pointed set of questions to Trump about whether his son, a Muslim, and other minorities would have a place in his America.
“Would anyone who isn’t like you have a place in your America, Mr. Trump?” Khan said. “On Tuesday, we’re going to prove America belongs to all of us.”
Clinton said that Khan’s family “exemplify the values that make America great.”
Folk singer James Taylor performed at the rally ahead of Clinton’s appearance.
Both candidates were scrambling Sunday to gain advantage in some newly competitive battleground states as well as lock down others where they’ve held leads.
In attempt to cobble together the 270 electoral votes needed to win, Trump has new targets in his sights in historically Democratic states including Michigan, Minnesota and New Mexico.
Clinton began her day Sunday by campaigning in Philadelphia after attending a get-out-the-vote concert in the city on Saturday night. And she will return to the state for two rallies on the eve of Election Day, a sign that the Keystone State is among the battlegrounds where her lead over Trump has dwindled in recent days.
Her campaign announced that rock star Bruce Springsteen would join her at a Philadelphia rally that will also include President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama.
When Trump took the stage, he ticked off a series of trade deals that he said had devastated the state. He falsely claimed that Clinton is supporting the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a pending deal supported by Obama.
Clinton previously backed the deal while secretary of state but has since come out against it.
Meanwhile, the Clinton campaign continues to use its huge financial advantage over Trump to press its case to swing voters on the airwaves.