MUSKEGON HEIGHTS, Mich. — On the banks of mighty Lake Michigan, the sometimes fearsome waves couldn't possibly match the ferocity of the race for the White House.
Where Muskegon County on the lakeshore may have a reputation as having voted for a Democrat for president in every election in the last 20 years, that reputation now hangs by a thread.
"Muskegon is so important," local resident Wesli Dillahunt told 13 ON YOUR SIDE on Wednesday. "That's why everybody comes here."
Where margins of victory in the presidential election were once in the thousands of votes, Muskegon has quickly transformed into its own battleground.
In 2020, President Joe Biden carried the county by just 510 votes out of over 90,000 that were cast.
Now, to shore up support on the lakeshore, Democrats called in one of their party's biggest names.
Former President Bill Clinton spoke to a crowd in Muskegon Heights on Wednesday morning.
"Go out there and win this election," Clinton said. "I'm telling you - you will be proud of yourself for the rest of your days if we win this election and Michigan leads away."
Clinton attempted to appeal to voters on a number of fronts - from human rights, to an appeal to common decency and what he feels would be a concerning, ultimate requirement of loyalty inside a second administration of former President Donald Trump.
"We need other people who have different life experiences, who have different, you know, areas of knowledge," Clinton said. "We need that."
But some in the GOP weren't buying it.
"Calling in the big dogs, the old guard, Bill Clinton, to come stump for her - it's definitely clear that, that that the Harris campaign believes that they have a problem here in Michigan," State Rep. Bryan Posthumus (R-Cannon Twp.) said. "And they'd be right."
For Dillahunt, however, the state of the country and politics were concerning to her.
"There's a lot of racism," Dillahunt said. "There's a lot of lack of inclusion."
"Democrats are all about inclusion," she later continued. "We want to encompass everyone."
Dillahunt's comments came the same week as the Trump campaign has faced scrutiny following his rally in New York on Sunday, where one speaker, a comedian, seemingly compared Puerto Rico to "a floating island of garbage."
It was one of multiple other comments made during the rally that many have labeled as overtly racist.
The apparent division in America was something Clinton addressed in his remarks to the crowd.
"I don't like it when we don't get along," Clinton said. "And I don't like it when we are supposed to be mad at our neighbors. And I know a lot of people who are Trump supporters."
"The ones I know of, they're good people," he later said. "If you were living next door to them and your house caught on fire, they'd come over and put the fire out and help you get the kids out and do whatever."
Conversely, however, President Biden has since also drawn heat for seemingly referring to Trump's supporters as garbage.
The White House has since sought to clarify what was said.
"Earlier today I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump's supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage—which is the only word I can think of to describe it," Biden posted on social media platform X. "His demonization of Latinos is unconscionable. That's all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don't reflect who we are as a nation."
Speaking with 13 ON YOUR SIDE from the campaign trail, Posthumus said he agrees a toning down in rhetoric and a renewed emphasis on civility is a must.
"I am a huge proponent of dialing down the rhetoric, bringing back this concept of statesmanship and diplomacy," Posthumus said. "Frankly, I agree with President Clinton that, that we need, we need to be nice and, you know, love thy neighbor."
But, he said, it's a toning down that must take place on both sides.
"Trump is getting the blame for all of the rhetoric," he said. "But the reality is, the rhetoric on the left has led to two assassination attempts."
And the overarching problem for the Harris campaign, he feels, comes down to universal, tabletop issues that, perhaps, even the presence of a former president on the trail for Democrats may not overcoat.
"When you look at the cost of everything that it takes to live - cost of food, cost groceries, energy bills, housing bills, energy, everything - the costs are skyrocketing," Posthumus said. "And that's causing a major problem for them here in Michigan."