Trump flips Michigan, clinching key battleground state

President-elect Trump is projected to beat Vice President Harris in battleground Michigan, according to Decision Desk HQ, extending his Electoral College lead after clinching the presidency early Wednesday morning. 

It’s a major swing-state win for Trump in “blue wall” territory, moving Michigan’s 15 electoral votes into the GOP column. Heading into Election Day, Decision Desk HQ polling averages showed Harris with a razor-thin Michigan lead of less than a percentage point.  

Trump narrowly won Michigan by a fraction of a point in 2016, and President Biden flipped it back with a 2.8-point margin in 2020, the slimmest edge for a Democrat in the state since 1960. 

Michigan is among a handful of critical battlegrounds that are set to determine who wins the White House. Along with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, it’s part of the “blue wall” of Midwestern states that flipped to Trump in 2016 and back to Democrats in 2020. Trump’s Michigan win now cuts into an important potential path to victory for Harris in this year’s tight national race. 

Both campaigns have been crisscrossing the state with campaign stops in the homestretch. At one event in Detroit just a few weeks ahead of the election, Trump controversially called the city a “mess” and warned that “our whole country will end up being like Detroit” if Harris wins the White House.  

Back in 2020, Trump and his allies claimed without evidence that there was widespread voter fraud in Detroit, which went overwhelmingly to Biden. 

Down the ballot, Michigan is also the site of key congressional races that could help decide which party wins control of the House and Senate. 

Michigan Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D) is up against former Rep. Mike Rogers (R) for retiring Sen. Debbie Stabenow’s (D) seat in the Senate, one of just three upper chamber races rated “toss ups” by the Cook Political Report.

The Great Lakes State also boasts two House race toss-ups, according to Cook’s ratings. Slotkin’s run for the Senate leaves her seat in the 7th Congressional District up for grabs, and Rep. Dan Kildee’s (D-Mich.) retirement opened up his 8th Congressional District slot.