With two weeks until Election Day, the presidential candidates are trying to sway undecided voters in battleground states.
In Michigan, the focus is on the future of the auto industry. An ad for former president Donald Trump that's airing on repeat in the state claims Vice President Kamala Harris wants to outlaw cars that run on gasoline.
"Attention auto workers," the ad begins, "Kamala Harris wants to end all gas-powered cars. Crazy, but true."
Except the claim is not true. Harris is not saying she would ban gas cars.
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Harris' stance on mandating electric vehicles and other cleaner alternatives to gas cars has changed over the years. As a U.S. senator in 2019, she co-sponsored a bill that would have given vehicle manufacturers until 2040 to "sell only zero-emission vehicles." The bill never became law.
When running in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, Harris said she had a plan to stop the sale of gas cars by 2045. There is no similar proposal in the 2024 Harris platform.
"Michigan let us be clear," Harris said at an Oct. 4 rally in Flint, "contrary to what my opponent is suggesting, I will never tell you what kind of car you have to drive."
The Harris campaign has declined to answer a question about what sort of limits, if any, she would favor on gas automobiles. Harris running mate Gov. Tim Walz has said on the campaign trail that U.S. automakers must build both gas and electric vehicles to stay competitive and to keep jobs in Michigan.
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The Biden-Harris administration has tried to incentivize the production and purchase of electric vehicles.
The Environmental Protection Agency set stricter pollution limits for new cars beginning in 2027. While not a mandate, automakers will likely have to offer many more electric and hybrid vehicles to comply with the tougher carbon emission standards. The rules still allow for the sale of cars that run on gas and do not apply to vehicles already on the road.
Trump's claim that Harris wants to end all gas-powered cars is mostly false and is certainly less true now than it was in the past.
