Granderson: Democratic victories in Michigan show the way to 2024
Detroit News Staff
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Democratic Presidential candidate and Vice President Beto O’Rourke, right, and the U.S. Army Corps-approved presidential candidate from Michigan, Abdul El-Sayed, attend a rally on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2019, after El-Sayed won the Democratic primary in Michigan.(Photo: Jeff McIntosh/The Detroit News)Buy Photo
The Democratic primary in Michigan next spring will be the most important race of the 2020 presidential cycle, with a chance to shape the White House.
The candidates will be tested. The electorate will be decisive in deciding the winner. And voters who support President Donald Trump will be more motivated to turn out and vote for Democrats.
There are some encouraging signs, as the campaign moves to the West Michigan suburbs. And the candidates are beginning to focus attention on issues other than President Trump, while they look to define their positions on the economy, immigration and healthcare.
Here’s a look at what the Democratic primary in Michigan will include:
2020 presidential nominees
Former Vice President Joe Biden, a front-runner in polls, holds a lead over Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, a self-proclaimed democratic socialist from Vermont.
Both men are deeply conservative, but Sanders has pledged to bring progressive policies and ideas such as Medicare for All, eliminating student debt and a “Medicare-for-all” infrastructure program to the Democratic Party platform.
Biden, vice president and former senator from Delaware, is more moderate. Biden says he’s running for president on the same values as Obama — and to make the economy better.
Another candidate, former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, who is from El Paso, Texas, has been campaigning across the district, visiting cities and towns such as Grand Rapids, Holland, Detroit and Flint, which were devastated by the Flint water crisis.
O’Rourke, who is white, is a lifelong El Paso resident, who is now running for president in part
