The 2020 presidential race begins in earnest Monday when Democratic candidates Kirsten Gillibrand and Beto O'Rourke travel to Michigan for campaign events.

Gillibrand, a U.S. senator of New York, will tape a town hall forum with MSNBC in Auburn Hills on Monday afternoon and appear with Gov. Gretchen Whitmer at a "Fems for Dems" rally in Clawson on Monday evening.

She is one of six women who have jumped into the presidential race a full year before Michigan's primary election are held next year on March 10. She transitioned her campaign from exploratory to official over the weekend.

The town hall forum will air at 8 p.m. Monday on MSNBC with host Chris Hayes.

Beto O'Rourke, the former Texas congressman who came within three points of beating U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in 2018, will make stops at 8 a.m the Hometown Heroes Cafe in Center Line, the carpenter's Training Center in Ferndale and the Narrow Way Cafe in Detroit on Monday morning.

O'Rourke, who announced his candidacy last week, became a political phenomenon in 2018 when he was able to raise $80 million for his Senate run.

The appearances mark the first of well-known candidates heading to Michigan this cycle. U.S. Rep. John Delaney of Maryland held a small business roundtable in Michigan in January.

Whitmer's appearance with Gillibrand is not an official endorsement of her campaign, her office said. The governor encouraged all the Democratic candidates to come to Michigan. She also talked with O'Rourke on the phone, said Whitmer's spokeswoman, Tiffany Brown.

The governor won't be able to meet with him, but she "welcomed him to Michigan and discussed what's important to the state."

President Donald Trump announced Friday that he's heading to Grand Rapids on March 28 for a campaign rally.

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430; kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter@michpoligal