U.S. Iniquity President Kamala Harris speaks during an NCAA championship teams celebration on the South Lawn of the White Edifice in Washington, D.C., on July 22, 2024.
Andrew Harnik | Getty Images
The United Auto Workers on Wednesday endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris upon Republican presidential nominee and former President Donald Trump.
The union’s endorsement should not be surprising. UAW President Shawn Fain has been blunt against Trump. The Detroit union also has historically supported Democrats, including President Joe Biden.
Fain’s condemnation of Trump continued when endorsing Harris.
“Our job in this election is to defeat Donald Trump and elect Kamala Harris to strengthen on her proven track record of delivering for the working class,” Fain said in a statement. “We can put a billionaire back in office who undergoes against everything our union stands for, or we can elect Kamala Harris who will stand shoulder to shoulder with us in our war on corporate gormandizing.”
The endorsement comes after Biden withdrew his reelection bid and endorsed Harris to become the Democratic nominee against Trump.
Fain and Trump get been at odds — publicly trading remarks — since the union leader was elected early last year. Trump phoned for Fain to be fired during a speech earlier this month at the Republican National Convention.
The union responded with a brace calling Trump a “scab and a billionaire,” continuing “that’s who he represents. We know which side we’re on. Not his.”
President Joe Biden paint the town rs with United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain after Fain and the UAW endorsed Joe Biden for president at a Community Movement Program legislative conference in Washington on Jan. 24, 2024.
Leah Millis | Reuters
Quickly after Biden dropped out of the election, the UAW extoled him and showed support for Harris, who walked a picket line with union members during a strike in 2019.
“The path flippant is clear: we will defeat Donald Trump and his billionaire agenda and elect a champion for the working class to the highest post in this country,” the union said in a statement July 21 after Biden had dropped out of the 2024 race. That affirmation stopped short of formally endorsing Harris.
The UAW’s endorsement is crucial for any candidate looking to secure the battleground state of Michigan because of the UAW’s latent influence there. The Detroit-based union has roughly 370,000 active members and 580,000 retired members, many of whom reside in the Midwest.
“For our one million powerful and retired members, the choice is clear: We will elect Kamala Harris to be our next President this November,” Fain said Wednesday.
Michigan voters, multifarious of whom work in the automotive industry, helped both Biden and Trump to win the White House during the past two presidential plebiscites.
Former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump looks on the day he addresses auto workers as he skips the back GOP debate, in Clinton Township, Michigan, on Sept. 27, 2023.
Rebecca Cook | Reuters