Source: Bill Clinton will headline Labor Day parade
Former President Bill Clinton will campaign in Detroit on Labor Day for his wife and participate in organized labor’s festivities, according to a Democratic source familiar with Clinton’s plans.
The 42nd president will be in Detroit for the annual Labor Day parade two days after Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump makes a planned trip Saturday to an African-American church on the city’s west side.
The Clinton campaign announced late Tuesday that Hillary Clinton would speak at a Labor Day festival in Cleveland along with her running mate, Virginia U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, before jetting off to west-central Illinois for an event in Hamilton, Illinois. Kaine also is campaigning in Pittsburgh on Monday.
President Barack Obama will be China on Monday for a G20 summit, according to the White House.
Details of Bill Clinton’s trip to Detroit are expected to be announced Thursday, according to the source who is familiar with the former president’s travel plans.
Steve Hood, a Democratic political consultant from Detroit, said it would have been “better optics” if Hillary Clinton campaigned Monday in the city.
“She could have once again addressed her base, which is the unions, and she could have addressed the African-Americans in a non-scripted fashion,” said Hood, a talk radio host on Superstation 910AM. “Maybe she didn’t think she needed to come because she’s 10 points ahead (in Michigan polls) and Bill Clinton is loved around here.”
Clinton held a 9.4-percentage-point lead over Trump in a July 30-Aug. 1 statewide poll of 600 likely voters commissioned by The Detroit News and WDIV-TV.
RealClearPolitics.com’s average of all statewide polls conducted in the past month puts Clinton’s lead in Michigan at 8.2 percentage points.
Monday’s Labor Day parade begins at 9 a.m. at Michigan and Trumbull in Corktown and will proceed to Cobo Center, said Rick Blocker, president of the Metro Detroit AFL-CIO.
Blocker could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
Bill Clinton’s last known campaign trip to Michigan was in March when he campaigned for his wife ahead of the Democratic presidential primary, which she narrowly lost to Vermont U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders.
The former president rallied union members in Detroit on the Saturday before the March 8 primary, and the next day attended a grassroots organizing event with gay and lesbian supporters in Royal Oak and met with campaign supporters at a restaurant in Eastpointe.
Before that, Bill Clinton headlined fundraisers at the private homes of Hillary Clinton supporters in February in Grand Rapids and last October in Bingham Farms.
Hillary Clinton was last in Michigan on Aug. 11, when she delivered an economic and tax policy speech at an aerospace manufacturing facility in Warren.
Trump’s visit to Great Faith Ministries International church on Grand River will mark his third trip to Michigan and second to Detroit since formally becoming the Republican nominee for president at last month’s Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
clivengood@detroitnews.com
(517) 371-3661
Twitter: @ChadLivengood