Harris-Walz campaign readies Labor Day blitz, courting union votes alongside Biden

Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, disembark from their campaign bus in Savannah, Georgia, Aug. 28, 2024, as they travel across Georgia for a 2-day campaign bus tour. — Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

(DETROIT) — Vice President Kamala Harris, President Joe Biden and Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota will blitz the country on Labor Day, the Harris campaign said, as they make a concerted effort to court union workers ahead of the election.

Harris will kick off Labor Day in Detroit, Michigan, meeting with union members and delivering brief remarks, the campaign said. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist, Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Rep. Elissa Slotkin and Rep. Debbie Dingell will join Harris, the campaign said.

Labor groups and leaders, including UAW President Shawn Fain, AFT President Randi Weingarten, Teamsters, the AFL-CIO, Building Trades, IATSE and the SEIU, will also join, the campaign added.

Harris will then join Biden in Pittsburgh at a union hall for the pair’s first joint campaign event since Biden dropped his bid for reelection. They will both deliver informal remarks, the Harris campaign said. The United Steelworkers, AFSCME, and other unions will be in attendance, as well as Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. Bob Casey, Mayor Ed Gainey and Reps. Summer Lee, Madeleine Dean and Chris Deluzio.

Walz and his wife, Gwen, will start off the day meeting with laborers in St. Paul, Minnesota, before attending Laborfest in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In addition to prominent labor groups, including SEIU, Teamsters, and United Autoworkers, Gov. Tony Evers, Sen. Tammy Baldwin, Rep. Gwen Moore and Mayor Cavalier Johnson will be there, the campaign said.

Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff will be in Newport News, Virginia, to participate in Rep. Bobby Scott’s annual Labor Day Cookout to deliver remarks, the campaign said.

“Vice President Harris always put workers first and held powerful interests accountable. As California’s attorney general, she fought wage theft to make sure workers got the pay they earned. As senator, she fought tirelessly for the most vulnerable workers, walking the picket line with UAW and McDonald’s workers and introducing a domestic workers’ bill of rights,” the campaign said in a statement.

“Vice President Harris chairs The White House Task Force on Worker Organizing, which made it easier for working people to exercise their right to join a union,” the campaign continued.

“Meanwhile, Trump was one of the most anti-worker and anti-union presidents in history,” the Harris campaign later added, criticizing former President Donald Trump. “He stacked the National Labor Relations Board with anti-labor advocates. He hurt autoworkers, shipped jobs overseas, and lined the pockets of the super wealthy and big corporations at the expense of the middle class.”