Rep. Debbie Dingell believes her state will remain competitive until the final vote is counted Election Day.
“I don’t know who’s going to win Michigan,” the Michigan Democrat told Washington chief correspondent Major Garrett on “The Takeout” podcast.
Dingell said in 2016, he had a taste Donald Trump will win his country, but that is not small this year.
“I don’t think one of the candidates has won Michigan not yet,” said Dingell. He noted that during his first term as president, Trump was connected to auto workers and union workers.
“He understood the fear and anxiety that jobs had been sent overseas,” he recalls. “Our supply chain has been sent overseas.”
As in 2016, “this election is going to be about the economy,” Dingell said. He added that the issues people discuss around the kitchen table — such as grocery prices, mortgage and rent payments, and college costs — “are all issues…
Dingell has some advice for Vice President Kamala Harris on how to win over Michiganders.
“Let him alone. Get out there,” Dingell said. “Go out to the union hall. Talk to someone.” Dingell added that while he has such a strong relationship with the Clintons, he didn’t take their advice in 2016. “I love Bill and Hillary. You know. They’re friends,” he said. “They said they would have to listen to me later,” especially when talking to union members.
This was not the case with the Harris campaign. “He listened to me,” Dingell said, noting that Harris traveled to Michigan on Labor Day.
While the congresswoman feels Michigan could be one way in the presidential race, she predicts Democrats will win the House back from Republicans in November.
“There were a lot of close seats, but I think we did a really good job of figuring out what was at stake,” Dingell said. “I think it’s going to be close…But frankly, the inability of the Republicans to get a lot of work done over the last two years has a lot of people willing to look at it and say what’s at stake.”
Dingell told Garrett that Harris has come to him regularly to hear about the concerns of his constituents, not only since Harris became a candidate, but he also sought Dingell out when he was a senator. “They want to understand the auto industry. They want to understand union workers. And frankly, one of the other subjects they often talk to me about … is the different ethnic backgrounds, the cultural issues of a state like Michigan, which has such a rich cultural diversity .”
One of the most pressing issues for Dingell is the Middle East conflict. He said the communities in his district and country have a large Jewish and Muslim population, especially those of Palestinian and Lebanese descent. Dearborn, Michiganto become the first Arab majority city in the United States by 2023.
“We need peace,” Dingell said. “And we’re seeing an escalation. It’s getting worse. The Jewish community is worried about anti-Semitism and hate, but so is the Muslim community about (Islamophobia). It’s real for both of them.”
Dingell said she has had many conversations with Presidents Biden and Harris about what people in her community who have lost family members and loved ones are saying about the conflict in the Middle East, and the need for a ceasefire.
“People need to understand how it hurts people, how this is war in the Middle Eastwhich has existed for centuries, is very real in our own community,” said Dingell. “We need peace. We need a truce. We don’t need anyone else to die. And somehow, as elected officials, we have to find a way to bring people together, not continue to burn kerosene that is so dangerous to world peace.”
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Producers: Jamie Benson, Jacob Rosen, Sara Cook and Eleanor Watson
CBSN production: Eric Soussanin
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