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Beto O'Rourke, Kristen Gillibrand Campaign In Michigan

/ CBS Detroit

CENTER LINE (AP) — Two Democratic presidential candidates are campaigning in Michigan a year before the state's primary.

Beto O'Rourke, a former Texas congressman, made three stops in the Detroit area Monday. U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York scheduled events later in the day.

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Democrats are emphasizing Michigan early after Donald Trump in 2016 became the first Republican to win the state in decades.

At a stop in Macomb County, a man asked O'Rourke how Democrats can win back blue-collar white workers who supported Trump. O'Rourke said Trump has successfully "exacerbated the divisions" among Americans, but Democrats must "transcend that" and "be above it" while still confronting economic inequalities and the "hard truths" of slavery and segregation.

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O'Rourke also visited a carpentry training school in Oakland County and a Detroit coffee shop.

© 2019 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

First published on March 18, 2019 / 1:21 PM EDT

© 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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