Five states went from red to blue in 2020. My home state, Michigan, is one of them. Wisconsin, Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania are the others.

Within that fantastic five, only eight counties that voted for Donald Trump in 2016 have elected President Biden in 2020. One of those counties is Saginaw, an urban area in Michigan with a population of about 200,000. So if you’re wondering why Biden made two campaign stops here in the rain last week, that’s part of the answer.

In the past four decades, only two Republicans have managed to win Saginaw in the general election, Ronald Reagan and Trump. It was no surprise that Reagan turned it around. His opponent, Walter Mondale, only managed to win his own state in Minnesota in 1984 and, to be honest, he barely succeeded.

However, Trump’s 2016 victory was so shocking to Democrats that

to write

her memoir What Happened, Hillary Clinton wrote: And I suppose it’s possible that a few more trips to Saginaw or a few more ads in Waukesha here and there could have netted a few thousand votes.

Trump defeated Clinton here by 1,073 votes.

Biden turned it back only 303 blue.

Overall, Saginaw represented less than 2% of the statewide turnout in 2020. If turnout drops further, Biden could be in real trouble, and that’s concerning in light of the more than 100,000 voters in the Designated state Democratic primaries as uncommitted. in protest against the Biden

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administrative handling of the war in Gaza.

Saginaw is the only county in Michigan that voted for Obama/Biden twice and was able to take Biden/Harris from Trump. All other provinces remained red. So to secure a victory in Michigan in November, he’ll have to follow Clinton’s advice and make a few more trips to Saginaw.

His first stop was at the home of Saginaw school board member Kevin Rooker and Bill Ostash, who in 2018 became the city’s first gay council member. Congressman Dan Kildee was also among the estimated group of 50 supporters, volunteers and community leaders in attendance.

The second was at Pleasant View Golf Course. I was the only journalist allowed to be there for a conversation Biden had with Hurley Coleman III and his 13-year-old son, Hurley Coleman IV. The family comes from a long line of preachers. A politician going through a campaign season for the black church is a

family

scene. However, Biden and the Colemans sitting in the clubhouse, the outdoor performance was canceled because rain was not the usual fare. The campaign is integrating more of these kitchen table conversations to give Biden the opportunity to listen more than he speaks.

It’s no secret that Biden relies heavily on both the Black and LGBTQ+ communities for support. However, there has not been much talk about Biden losing the latter’s support. It is the reported erosion of black support that has both dominated headlines and been reflected in the primaries.

In his conversation with the family, Biden mentioned his long history of fighting racial injustice. Afterward, I asked the president what it was like to hear media reports about the idea of ​​eliminating black support. He said it was quite fascinating considering his record, adding that the black community, he said, is the reason I was elected senator for the first time in 1972 and why I represent more than 85% of African -received American votes.

As that old expression goes, the president continued, the black community brought me to the dance and so it has always been where my interest and my heart has been. And if you notice, I have more African Americans in my cabinet than anyone else. I have mentioned more [Black] circuit court judges than any other president in American history. I named the first

black black

woman on the Supreme Court, the first black woman as vice president.

There are black voters who are disappointed that Congress is not enacting comprehensive criminal justice reform or voting rights protections, or who do not feel like they are sharing in the gains from the soaring stock market under this administration. Biden hopes these intimate conversations will help him make his case to potentially disaffected voters strong enough to boost turnout.

As a young African

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Working-class American man, faith in my life has been an important part, the elder Coleman told me after his conversation with Biden. I’ve seen it work in my grandparents’ lives, in my father’s life, and now we’re bringing it into my son’s life. So to know that our leader of the free world, our president, believes in faith and that his core belief is embedded in faith, the decisions he makes, the responsibility to delegate and lead this entire country, he supports and is depending on God and his faith to make the decisions that are necessary and I think if our president has a core belief in faith, that faith will take this country where it needs to go.

@LZGranderson