UAW votes to endorse Kamala Harris for president
FOX 2 (WJBK) - The United Auto Workers Internation Executive Board voted to endorse the presumptive Democrat candidate for president, Kamala Harris, on Wednesday.
Vice President Harris received the endorsement following President Joe Biden's recent pulling out of the 2024 race. Biden received the endorsement previously.
One of the reasons the UAW said, was due to the Biden-Harris administration's track record of supporting the UAW, including the recent strike in 2023.
"Years before the Stand Up Strike, Kamala Harris walked the picket line with striking autoworkers in 2019, has taken on corporate price-gouging and profiteering, and has spoken out and voted against unfair trade deals that hurt the American worker like NAFTA and NAFTA 2.0, the USMCA," said the UAW in a statement.
Harris is coming to Detroit for a campaign stop on Wednesday, August 7. The Harris for President campaign will come to Detroit to rally with UAW members and Michigan voters.
UAW President Shawn Fain released a statement about the race and his trust in Harris.
United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain gestures in solidarity with striking workers during a rally at UAW Local 551 on Saturday, Oct. 7, 2023, in Chicago. (John J. Kim/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
"Our job in this election is to defeat Donald Trump and elect Kamala Harris to build on her proven track record of delivering for the working class," said UAW President Shawn Fain. "We stand at a crossroads in this country.
"We can put a billionaire back in office who stands 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 greed.
"This campaign is bringing together people from all walks of life, building a movement that can defeat Donald Trump at the ballot box. For our one million active and retired members, the choice is clear: We will elect Kamala Harris to be our next President this November."
Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers (UAW), center, walks with demonstrators during a United Auto Workers (UAW) practice picket outside the Stellantis Mack Assembly Plant in Detroit, Michigan, US, on Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. The union is
But the Trump campaign is pushing back.
"Union workers and all the nation's working families are paying the price for dangerously liberal Kamala Harris' failed economic policies," a statement from Trump's campaign read, in part. "Kamala Harris' radical electric vehicle mandate will destroy the livelihoods of countless U.S. autoworkers while sending the U.S. auto industry to China. President Trump will reverse Harris' extreme electric vehicle mandate on Day One and save the U.S. auto industry for generations to come."
Despite the UAW endorsement, many say it’s way too early to tell if Harris will take Michigan, and the White House, after November.
"She has a lot of people backing her up," one voter said. "We’ll just have to see how this pans out."