Beto O'Rourke, Kristen Gillibrand Campaign In Michigan

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.

DUBUQUE, IOWA - MARCH 16: Democratic presidential candidate Beto O'Rourke addresses a packed St. Patrick's Day party at the home of County Recorder John Murphy March 16, 2019 in Dubuque, Iowa. After losing a long-shot race for U.S. Senate to Ted Cruz (R-TX), the 46-year-old O'Rourke is making his first campaign swing through Iowa after jumping into a crowded Democratic field this week. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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.

NEW YORK, NY - OCTOBER 01: United States Senator Kristen Gillibrand speaks at the TIME and Real Simple's Women & Success event at the Park Hyatt on October 1, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Time Inc.)

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