Harris, Biden Team Up to Court Union Vote in Labor Day Blitz

Stephanie Lai and Jennifer Epstein
·6-min read

(Bloomberg) -- Vice President Kamala Harris held Labor Day campaign events with union chiefs in two critical swing states, including a joint appearance with President Joe Biden in Pennsylvania, as she seeks to strengthen her standing with blue-collar workers.

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Speaking at a union local in Pittsburgh, Harris came out against the planned sale of United States Steel Corp. to a Japanese buyer, an issue that’s aroused opposition among labor groups. She said the company should remain domestically owned, echoing Biden’s view.

At an earlier rally in Detroit, in the battleground state of Michigan, the vice president appeared onstage with several union leaders and vowed to “fight for a future where every worker has the freedom to organize.”

Michigan and Pennsylvania, along with Wisconsin, comprise the so-called Blue Wall of northern industrial states that Republican Donald Trump carried in 2016 and Biden flipped in 2020 — and which are again poised to play a key role in determining the winner of November’s general election.

Economic issues will be paramount in those states and Harris’ hopes of succeeding Biden in the White House hinge in part on her ability to draw support from White, working class voters — in particular union members — uneasy with the administration’s handling of the economy and drawn to Trump’s populist agenda. Trump didn’t hold any campaign events to mark Labor Day.

Harris has the support of prominent union leaders, such as United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, who joined her on the stage in Detroit. But Trump has made inroads with organized labor’s rank-and-file, capitalizing on the high inflation which has soured perceptions of the administration’s economic record.

The latest Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll released last week found a tight race in the states Harris is visiting — with the vice president leading Trump by three points in Michigan and four points in Pennsylvania. She leads by 2 percentage points among registered voters across seven swing states.

Pennsylvania Prize

Harris told supporters in Pittsburgh that she was proud to be part of “the most pro-union administration in the history of this country” — a claim Biden has often made about his presidency, and repeated today.

The president sought to draw a contrast with Trump’s approach to labor disputes. “In regards to picket lines, he’d rather cross one than walk one,” Biden said of the candidate he defeated in 2020. “But I have no problem walking a picket line.”

Harris is seeking to shore up support that Biden built in Pennsylvania, and especially in the western half of the state, with strong union roots and working-class communities where voters have drifted toward Trump. Monday’s visit marks Harris’ ninth trip to this year to Pennsylvania, highlighting how the campaigns are ramping up their efforts to win the most populous of the core battleground states with a prized 19 Electoral College votes.

Republican National Committee co-chair Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, acknowledged in a Bloomberg Television interview last week that the race had tightened in Pennsylvania, calling it a “must-win” and saying that the party would consider putting more money into the state.

Trump visited western Pennsylvania on Friday, with a rally in Johnstown, about a 70-mile drive east of Pittsburgh.

The planned purchase of US Steel by Nippon Steel Corp. has created a political firestorm in Pittsburgh. Biden reiterated on Monday that the company must stay American-owned, and Trump has also signaled he would block the deal, which was announced in December and hinges on the approval of federal regulators.

Alongside the steel industry’s future, fracking is another economic issues that is a potential flashpoint in Pennsylvania.

As the biggest city in the Marcellus shale formation, Pittsburgh is also ground zero for many of the debates about fracking, which has boosted the economy of Pennsylvania, the second-largest US producer of natural gas. In an interview with CNN last week, Harris said she wouldn’t halt fracking if elected, reversing her prior opposition to the technique.

EV Blues

In Michigan, there’s concern about the electoral impact of Biden’s push to transition the US to electric vehicles. A significant portion of the state’s population is employed in auto industry-related jobs, and some union workers fear the transition will result in lost employment and lower wages.

Speaking in a high school gym in Detroit, to a crowd mostly wearing union T-shirts, Harris didn’t directly address that issue, but she sought to highlight anti-labor measures that her rival supported when he was president.

“Donald Trump blocked overtime benefits from millions of workers, opposed efforts to raise the minimum wage,” she said. “He appointed union-busters to the National Labor Relations Board and he supported so-called right to work laws.” Harris also vowed to pass the PRO Act, a sweeping reform that would make it easier to organize, if she’s elected.

While Detroit is solidly blue turf and Harris is eager to boost turnout there, she faces a potentially tougher climb in nearby Macomb County. It’s a former stronghold of so-called Reagan Democrats, voters who defected from the party to back a Republican — a scenario the vice president will want to prevent in November.

Trump visited Michigan on Thursday, for an event focused on the economy, where he assailed Harris. “I’m here today with a simple message for the American auto worker and for the American worker: Your long economic nightmare will very soon be over,” the former president said.

Election Day Sprint

Labor Day traditionally marks the start of a more frenzied stage of the presidential race, with campaigns beginning a two-month sprint to Election Day. Harris’ Monday events kick off a week that will see the campaign visit multiple battlegrounds.

Harris has enjoyed a surge of fundraising and enthusiasm since entering the race in July and erased much of the lead Trump has held nationally and in key swing states. And she’s begun rolling out her policy agenda, with a focus on economic issues to counter voters’ concerns about high prices.

But that rollout has been short on details and seen her thread a potentially challenging path — defending the Biden administration’s record even as she urges voters to “turn the page” and move past the bitter politics of recent years.

Republicans have challenged Harris to detail how her presidency might differ from her current boss, Biden, and questioned why she did not do more to enact some of the policies she has espoused.

In her first interview as the Democratic presidential nominee, alongside Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, her running mate, Harris revealed little new detail on her policy positions while also avoiding any damaging missteps.

--With assistance from Josh Wingrove and Gregory Korte.

(Updates with Harris comments in Pittsburgh starting in second paragraph.)

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