WASHINGTON >> The United Auto Workers is mounting a major operation to elect Vice President Kamala Harris as president of the United States, the union said Wednesday.
The influential labor group’s International Executive Board also has voted to contribute $1.5 million to the Democratic National Committee ahead of the party’s national convention next week in Chicago, according to two sources familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss it publicly.
The UAW, which has thrust itself forward as a main player in Democratic party politics under the leadership of union President Shawn Fain, said in a press release that it is “building a movement to win against the billionaire class in November and beyond.”
The Detroit-based union has long supported Democrats over Republicans, though Fain has significantly raised the UAW’s profile and changed its public demeanor since winning election in March 2023. The new effort in support of Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, is the latest show of the union’s national ambitions to promote labor organizing and cast Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump as an enemy of the working class.
“We’re proud to have the support of Michigan’s largest union as they mobilize to elect Vice President Harris and Governor Walz, who have been champions for organized labor and working people,” Ed Duggan, the Harris campaign’s Michigan state director, said in a statement to The Detroit News.
“The truth is Donald Trump is a direct threat to Michigan workers, having rolled back labor protections and overseeing the loss of more than 280,000 Michigan jobs as president, and his Project 2025 agenda would make it harder to organize and raise costs on our families,” added Duggan, son of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. “So the stakes are high this election, and we’re proud to stand in this fight with the UAW to stand up for workers and send Vice President Harris to the Oval Office this November.”
The Trump campaign, meanwhile, bashed the new effort.
“President Trump did more for the auto industry in four years than any President in history and is running again to fix the economic disaster caused by the failed policies of the Harris-Biden Administration,” said Karoline Leavitt, national press secretary for the Trump campaign, in a statement.