GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Former President Donald Trump made his last campaign appearance of the election cycle with a two-hour rally in Grand Rapids that lasted into the early hours of Election Day.
Trump hosted a rally at Van Andel Arena downtown Monday night. Doors opened at 6:30 p.m. and Trump took the stage around 12:15 a.m. after flying in from a rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
“Doing four of these in one day is a little difficult but not really because the love at every one of them has been like this, it makes it a lot easier,” Trump said as he took the stage at Van Andel.
He harkened back to visiting Grand Rapids the night before Election Day in 2016, when he won the White House.

It is Trump’s habit to hold his final rally before Election Day in metro Grand Rapids. In 2016, his last one was at DeVos Place and in 2020, it was at Gerald R. Ford International Airport. Trump won Michigan in 2016. President Joe Biden won it in 2020.
During his speech, he urged supporters to vote on Election Day.
“If we win Michigan, we win the whole thing,” Trump said.
Michigan is a key battleground state in this presidential election, among seven expected to decide who next sits in the Oval Office. A poll by Emerson College Polling, The Hill and WOOD TV8 released Monday shows that 50% of Michigan respondents said they intended to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris in the election and 48% for Trump. Because the margin of error is plus or minus 3.4%, that’s a statistical tie.
“The ball’s in our hand, all we have to do is get out the vote tomorrow. You get out the vote, they can’t do anything about it, we win,” Trump said. “This will be the single greatest victory, politically speaking, in the history of our country.”
He said he would strengthen the U.S. border and the military and “restore peace in the world,” as well as “rescue the American dream” and “launch the most extraordinary economic boom the world has ever seen.”
The former president said he plans to end inflation by increasing the country’s energy production.
“Drilling and drilling, and drill, drill, drill. Energy is going to bring (inflation) down,” Trump said.
He promised to cut energy prices in half within a year, a move he said will lower the cost of other items like groceries.
Trump said his economic plan will “massively” cut taxes for workers and small businesses.
“We will have no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax for our great seniors on Social Security benefits,” he said.
Trump said if elected, he would help boost the auto industry. He said he would cancel what he called “the Electric Vehicle mandate,” instead making interest on car loans fully tax-deductible. While not a mandate, the Biden administration finalized an Environmental Protection Agency rule in March that required 56% of the new vehicles on the market in 2032 to be battery electric and 13% plug-in hybrids.
Before Trump spoke, Republican candidate for Michigan’s U.S. Senate seat Mike Rogers took the stage as well as United States Rep. Bill Huizenga, R-Zeeland, chairman of the Michigan Republican Party Pete Hoekstra, and North Dakota Governor Republican Doug Burgum.
Trump was last in West Michigan when he spoke at a rally in Walker on Sept. 27. He was last at Van Andel Arena on July 20, hosting his first rally following the Republican National Convention and after the assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in which he was injured.
Harris made her final push in Michigan on Sunday, making a few stops before finishing up the day with a rally at Michigan State University in East Lansing. Gwen Walz, wife of Harris’ running mate Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, visited Grand Rapids Sunday, which was the last day of early in-person voting statewide.
The Associated Press has been tracking campaign visits in each state and says that combined, the campaigns have held more than 60 events in Michigan since March.
State data shows that as of Monday morning, more than 1.2 million people had voted early in person and more than 1.9 million absentee ballots had been cast statewide. Election Day voting runs from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Absentee ballots must be returned to your clerk by 8 p.m. Tuesday to be counted (with an exception for military and overseas ballots).