Vance won't commit to $500M federal grant for building EVs at Michigan auto plant

Every time we look up we see EVs in the spotlight during the home stretch of the campaign.

But this developing story really caught our attention, and is yet another data point for how the divide on this issue could cost American industry and workers.

Detroit News is reporting that “Republican vice presidential hopeful JD Vance would not commit a second Trump administration to honoring the Biden administration’s $500 million federal grant to General Motors Co. to convert a Cadillac sedan assembly plant in Michigan into a future electric vehicle plant.”

This is a plan that would save an estimated 650 jobs and create 50 new ones, so it seems strange to campaign against those in a critical swing state. We’ll just say that our research doesn’t tell us that’s a winning strategy…

Update here: it looks like the Harris campaign saw similar numbers based on her retort to Senator Vance’s comments. “Two days ago, Donald Trump’s running mate suggested that if Trump wins, he might let the Grand River Assembly in Lansing close down,” Harris said. “That same plant our administration helped save earlier this year, along with 650 union jobs.”

“I will make sure America, not China, wins the competition for the 21st century,” Harris said in Flint, a city with the nickname “Vehicle City” from its heyday as a GM company town.