By Owen Klinsky
Pop singer Lizzo spoke at a campaign rally for Vice President Kamala Harris in Detroit, Michigan, Saturday, telling the audience that “if Kamala wins then the whole country will be like Detroit.”
Detroit was ranked the second most violent city in the U.S. in 2018, according to home security company Sirix Monitoring. 307 murders occurred in 2022 in Detroit, even though it has only about 600,000 people. So being murdered is a common way to die in Detroit. By comparison, El Paso, Texas — which has more people than Detroit — had only 23 homicides in 2022, less than a tenth as many murders as Detroit.
Detroit also had a poverty rate of 31.5% in 2022, nearly 3 times the 2022 national average of 12.5%. The property crime rate in Detroit in 2023 often exceeded 3,000 per 100,000 residents, over 50% higher than the national average of 2,000 per 100,000 residents.
Lizzo — who is a Detroit native — delivered the speech as part of an “early vote event” encouraging Michiganders to cast their ballots for Harris before Nov. 5. The rally came as polls showed former President Donald Trump closing the gap in the key swing state, with a 270 to Win poll Thursday showing Harris slipping from four percentage points ahead on Sep. 26 to tied. (RELATED: Harris Campaign To Hold Rally In Swing State, Invites Pop Star With Ties To Diddy)
“All the best things were made in Detroit: Coney dogs, Faygo and Lizzo,” the pop star told the audience. “You know, they say if Kamala wins then the whole country will be like Detroit.”
“I’m proud to say that I voted, I voted early and I voted for Kamala Harris,” Lizzo later said, shortly before breaking into song. “Turn me up. Turn up the music. Turn down the light. I got a feeling.”
Lizzo’s representatives and the Harris campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
