President Joe Biden is coming to Howell on Tuesday, which makes him the first-ever sitting U.S. president to visit Livingston County. While he is expected to discuss his “Build Back Better” legislation, currently being wrangled in Congress, other details of his visit are not yet known.
Livingston County has had some high-powered politicos make stops here in the past.
On Wednesday, July 17, 1992, Second Lady Marilyn Quayle spent an hour visiting Brighton while en route from Farmington Hills to Lansing. Here, Quayle congratulates graduates of the Brighton Safety Town program.
On Friday, Nov. 1, 1996, Republican presidential nominee Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kansas, wrapped up a campaign swing through Michigan at a rally at Brighton High School. Even though it was nearly midnight when Dole arrived, an estimated 5,000 people gave him a rousing welcome. Dole went on to lose the election on Nov. 5 to incumbent President Bill Clinton.
In 2000, George W. Bush, R-Texas, became the first winning presidential candidate ever to campaign in Livingston County. On Monday, Feb. 21, 2000, he made a surprise campaign stop in Brighton, visiting with patrons at the Brighton Big Boy before stopping by Hornung Elementary School. Barbara and Laura Bush attended a rally in downtown Brighton.
Vice President Dick Cheney was in Livingston County on Monday, June 18, 2001, to help raise funds for the re-election of U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers. Pictured here at the fund-raising rally is Rogers, standing at the podium, with Michigan Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus on his left, and Cheney on his right. In all, the event raised $300,000 for Rogers’ campaign.
President George W. Bush’s daughters, Jenna and Barbara, visited Republican volunteers at the Brighton Victory Center on Sept. 16, 2004, before a campaign stop in East Lansing.
In April 2007, presidential hopeful Mitt Romney spoke at the Livingston County Republican Party’s Lincoln Day Dinner.
Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., made a campaign stop on Sunday, Jan. 13, 2008, during the GOP primary season for a town-hall meeting at Crystal Gardens in Genoa Township. An enthusiastic, packed house greeted McCain, who went on to win the Republican nomination, but lost to Democrat Barack Obama, then the junior senator from Illinois. Obama grabbed 42 percent of the vote in Livingston County, faring better than any other Democrat since 1964.
