Trump abandons flailing Michigan Republicans to campaign elsewhere

Trump has campaign stops scheduled in Ohio and Indiana, but will not step foot in Michigan before the Nov. 6 midterms.

“Trump is scheduled to barnstorm the country in the coming days to boost Republican candidates in various states,” reports the Detroit News, but Michigan has fallen by the wayside.

Republicans up and down the ballot, weighed down by ties to an unpopular Trump, are struggling in Michigan.

At the local level, Democratic candidates like Mari Manoogian, a former State Department employee who moved back to her hometown to run for state office, are looking to flip state House districts from red to blue.

Manoogian is running in an open seat in the traditionally conservative Oakland County against David Wolkinson, a Trump-supporting Republican who has failed in his numerous previous bids for state office.

Manoogian, a rising star in Democratic circles, garnered the endorsements of President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and a host of local organizations, including more than a dozen unions.

As the daughter of a former union president, Manoogian will fight for workers, an issue even her opponent concedes.

Trump’s abandonment of Michigan should not come as a huge shock, as he is hugely unpopular in the state. His poll numbers hover in the mid-30s, and one pollster quipped that Trump’s unpopularity “is what’s driving voters in every single race right now.”

Democrats are working to flip nine state House seats from red to blue in order to regain control of that chamber, and they are being aided by weak Republicans at the top of the ticket who are struggling against strong Democratic women.

Gretchen Whitmer holds a strong lead in the race to be governor, as does Sen. Debbie Stabenow.

Their strength is scaring Trump away, and their coattails could help paint the whole state blue.