BYRON CENTER, Mich. — Under a blazing summer sun, the only thing seemingly hotter on Wednesday afternoon as Republican vice presidential pick J.D. Vance rallied in Byron Center was the speed of the race for the White House and the stakes in this key region.
"It is great to be here in Michigan," Vance said as he walked onstage. "It's a little hot today, but it's a beautiful state."
The junior senator from Ohio centered his message on similar themes that West Michigan has seen from the Trump campaign in recent visits, honing in on issues like the economy.
"Democrats talk about the old economy versus the new economy," Vance said. "I like to talk about the real economy versus the fake economy. And the real economy is for the people who build things with their hands, who get it to our stores, who transport it from one place to another."
Vance spoke at Cordes Inc., a local trucking company where the emphasis on such issues, in the operators' view, was clear.
"We always buy American-made as much as we can," company President Steve Cordes said. "And it's getting harder, because they ship the jobs overseas."
Vance also focused on topics like illegal immigration.
"If you're in this country illegally, start packing your bags, because Donald Trump is going to send you home," Vance proclaimed. "And he's going to do it on day one."
And with Kent County in particular being coveted as a key battleground in the race for Michigan and the race for the White House, 13 ON YOUR SIDE asked Vance about what the resource strategy was for the Trump campaign in the county.
"We're going to work hard for every single vote all across the state of Michigan," Vance said. "I wouldn't say any one county is more or less important. The whole state is important because, look, there is no state that perfectly exemplifies what is broken about American policy in Washington."
"This was one of the wealthiest states in the entire country for pretty much the entirety of the post-World War II era," he continued. "This is a state that had a proud manufacturing tradition where, whether you went to college or graduated from high school or did something in the middle, you could build a middle class life, so long as you worked hard and played by the rules."
Surrounding Vance were not only his campaign's fervent supporters, but also a number of Republican candidates for high office riding on the heels of their recent victories in the state's primary elections last week.
One of those candidates, former Republican Congressman and U.S. Senate hopeful Mike Rogers, rode a similar message on the economy to a primary victory last Tuesday, honing in on the cost of gasoline and diesel among other elements.
"That hurts this business," Rogers told 13 ON YOUR SIDE immediately following Wednesday's rally. "And what that means—some of these guys aren't getting raises, right? Their family is not going to be able to cover the cost of increased groceries. That's what's churning underneath all of this."
Meanwhile, state Democrats moved to get ahead of Vance's visit in a state that has seen multiple polls suggest momentum for Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign following President Joe Biden's exit from the race.
At least one person on the Wednesday morning press call criticized what she felt were the Trump campaign's shortcomings in messaging toward labor workers as Vance visited Cordes.
"Just the other night, Donald Trump was openly laughing with Elon Musk about how he would fire workers who went on strike, and the [United Auto Workers] even filed federal labor charges against him for threatening and intimidating workers," outgoing Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) said on the call. "Bottom line: Donald Trump and JD Vance will never miss an opportunity to screw workers."
But aside from the messaging of the day, one thing that couldn't help but be noticed at Wednesday's rally: the security presence.
While a high security presence isn't out of the ordinary for high-profile visits, agents clad in tactical gear and snipers on the roofs of adjacent buildings all but refreshed in the mind the events of the last month in politics, in which the nation witnessed what officials have investigated as an assassination attempt against former President Trump and as multiple Michigan politicians—including Rogers—have said their homes fell victim to 'swatting' calls within the last week.
"We want to have that debate with the public, and then, if you don't like that, go at the ballot box," Rogers said. "Don't do these kinds of things. I mean, it introduces a level of political violence that we can never accept in this country."
But even with heightened perception of threat, voters like those at Vance's rally and those at recent rallies around Kent County have continued to turn out as campaigns on every level and of every stripe continue flocking to West Michigan to convince this key region of their message.