PORTAGE, Mich. — "I like the work that she does, and I just wanted to come here and hear what she had to speak on today and to continue to support the campaign," Kalamazoo voter Shardae Chambers said Wednesday.
Chambers was one of more than 400 invited supporters who gathered in the Kalamazoo area as Vice President Kamala Harris touched down in West Michigan.
Harris headlined her speech and discussion with an issue top of mind for many Michiganders.
"One of the ideas and one of the principles that is at stake in this election is the issue of reproductive freedom," Harris said.
It's an issue that's been a rallying cry for Democratic messaging, galvanizing supporters to a degree few other issues have.
"I think that, first of all, on this issue, most people believe that one does not have to abandon their faith or deeply held beliefs to agree the government should not be telling her what to do with her body," Harris said just before she was met with resounding applause.
The Vice President also spoke on the issue of gun violence and the state of political discourse in America, following what officials are investigating as an assassination attempt against former President and current Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in Pennsylvania on Saturday.
"There must be unity around the idea that, while our nation's history has been scarred by political violence, violence is never acceptable," Harris said.
The event came at a key juncture - not only for the direction of the nation following the shooting - but also for Harris's campaign, as some within the party have called for her running mate, President Joe Biden, to step off the ticket.
"I voted for [Biden] in 2020, and I was proud to," Fenton voter Tom Moran told 13 ON YOUR SIDE outside Biden's rally last Friday in Detroit. "But he's supposed to be a bridge to the future. He needs to pass the torch, the nomination to someone younger with new ideas that can beat Trump, because my biggest fear is, if he stays at the top of the ballot, Elissa Slotkin's going to lose, it's going to be a wipeout."
But amid such calls and this week's Republican National Convention happening just across Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, Harris and her allies sought to draw contrast to the former president's campaign and that of his new running mate, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance.
The truth of the matter is J.D. Vance, and certainly Donald Trump, are wrong for America," said outgoing U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), whose own seat is up for grabs in November and highly coveted by both parties.
The Trump campaign responded to Harris's visit, agreeing that there would be a contrast between the vice presidential candidates, but for different reasons than many of those on the other side of the political aisle.
"Michiganders will see a sharp contrast between Vice President Harris and J.D. Vance this week quite clearly," Team Trump Michigan Communications Director Victoria LaCivita said. "Kamala Harris is an out of touch California elite who has wrecked everything she has touched during her tenure as Vice President. Her visit will highlight all the reasons why the Biden-Harris agenda is wrong for Michigan - open borders, skyrocketing inflation, and the destruction of our auto jobs."
Harris's visit also came just days before former President Trump and Senator Vance are set to visit to Grand Rapids on Saturday.