Former President Barack Obama.(Photo: Matt Rourke / AP, file)

Detroit — Former President Barack Obama is set to rally with Democrats on Friday evening at Cbad Tech High School in Detroit, where turnout in the Nov. 6 mid-term election could be a critical factor for candidates like gubernatorial nominee Gretchen Whitmer.

Michigan Democrats traditionally struggle to turn out voters in non-presidential election years, particularly in urban areas like Detroit. Beyond Whitmer’s running mate Garlin Gilchrist II, Democrats are offering a predominately white statewide ticket to voters in the majority African-American city. 

Obama, the nation’s first black president, is “going to add some energy in this last week of the campaign,” said Jonathan Kinloch, chairman of the 13th Congressional District Democratic Party.  “He has definitely shown in his elections that he can get voters in Detroit excited and the vote turned out.  I think it’s going to make a substantial difference, him coming.”

Obama is set to rally with Whitmer, Gilchrist, U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow and other Democrats up and down the ticket, including congressional candidates Haley Stevens, Elissa Slotkin, Matt Longjohn and Gretchen Driskell. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder is also expected to attend.  

Just 31 percent of Detroit voters cast ballots in 2014, compared with 43 percent statewide, when Republican Gov. Rick Snyder won re-election over Democratic challenger Mark Schauer by roughly four percentage points.

About 48.6 percent of Detroit voters cast ballots in 2016, when statewide turnout topped 64 percent and Republican President Donald Trump  beat Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton by less than one point.

Detroit elections officials are projecting that 41 percent to 46 percent of the city’s 470,000 registered voters will cast ballots on Election Day based on the primary turnout in the city and statewide. In 2016, City Clerk Janice Winfrey expected a voter turnout of 45 percent to 50 percent.

But Republican U.S. Senate challenger John James on Friday launched a new a commercial that argued black voters shouldn’t be captives of the Democratic Party.

“So Joe Biden has said that he believes that Republicans don’t want black people to vote. Well, I’m a Republican. I want black people to vote. In fact, I want everyone to vote who is eligible to vote,” James says in the one-minute ad.

“…The Democratic Party leadership cares more about the black vote than the black people, and it’s time to wake up. It doesn’t have to be this way. We can have a seat at both tables, and we can elevate our people together.”

Absentee ballot requests and early returns have fueled predictions of record mid-term turnout on Nov. 6, and Democrats are hoping Obama will motivate voters frustrated with Republican leadership at the state and federal levels. 

“He’s popular not only with base Democrats, but I think increasingly with independents and anybody who is fed up with the nonsense going on in the White House currently,” said Michigan Democratic Party Chairman Brandon Dillon.

Republicans have a high-profile surrogate of their own coming Monday to fire up the base. Vice President Mike Pence is expected to visit Oakland County and Grand Rapids, where he’ll attend a GOP dinner with gubernatorial nominee Bill Schuette, U.S. Senate challenger John James and other Republicans. 

Schuette said this week he also expects President Donald Trump to campaign in Michigan before Nov. 6.

“Michigan is on Trump’s mind,” the Republican attorney general said, noting recent visits by Lara Trump and Donald Trump Jr., who rallied with James and Kid Rock. “I expect the president to come in, and I look forward to that.”

The Michigan Republican Party on Friday bashed Democrats for welcoming Obama, arguing his eight years as president “were an unmitigated disaster” despite his role in a government bailout that helped Detroit automakers avoid financial ruin.

“Obama’s policies of high taxes, more regulation and fewer jobs were the perfect book end to Jennifer Granholm’s Lost Decade,” said Michigan GOP spokeswoman Sarah Anderson. “Republicans have the momentum, and just like in 2016, last minute fly-ins will not slow that momentum down.”

Obama came to Michigan to stump for Clinton a day before the 2016  election. But logistical difficulties with the last-minute visit, including a Detroit police funeral, prevented him from finding a large enough venue in Detroit. Instead he ended up in Ann Arbor. 

With Wayne State University and the Cobo Center booked this week, Democrats will host Obama in the Cbad Tech gymnasium, a smaller venue but one with historical significance in the city. 

Demand for tickets “was amazing,” Kinloch said, and “of course the Cbad Tech alumni are going crazy over this.”

Democrats distributed free tickets on Wednesday at field offices across the state. Doors to the rally are expected to open at 5 p.m. at 2501 2nd Ave in Detroit.

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