This Labor Day, the campaign of presidential candidate Kamala Harris and vice presidential candidate Tim Walz are touring to highlight workers, but with a focus on Latinos.
“Since she announced her candidacy, there has been a huge groundswell of support from unions and Latino leaders to elect Vice President Kamala Harris as president,” the campaign said of the reason for focusing part of the tour on this population. “Educators, healthcare professionals, farmworkers, construction workers, civil rights leaders, like Dolores Huerta, and more, join a growing list of dozens of unions, almost all of them organized labor, that support the vice president.”
They add that the support of unions and other groups that mobilize Latino workers is echoed in the Harris-Walz ticket’s commitment to keep labor rights at the forefront by creating “millions of well-paying union jobs.”
The campaign said Democratic candidate Harris will tour the country, starting in Detroit and Pittsburgh, where she will be with President Joe Biden.
Meanwhile, Governor Walz will be in Milwaukee, and the second gentleman, Douglas Emhoff, will be in Newport News, Virginia.
“Harris-Walz campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez will lead a virtual labor call with UFW’s Teresa Romero and numerous Latino labor leaders,” it said.
Unions have been key to electing Democrats in the so-called Blue Wall states, but they are not the only entities that the Harris-Walz ticket is focusing on, as they will also highlight the importance of the Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and the Bartenders Union Local 165, among others.
The workers’ vote
A campaign report highlights Vice President Kamala Harris’s actions in favor of workers, but also the importance of this population’s vote.
“Throughout her career in public service, Vice President Harris has stood with unions, and this November, unions will stand with her,” it states. “There are 2.7 million union members in the battleground states. That’s roughly 45,000 votes in key states that decided the election four years ago.”
The unions’ support for Harris includes millions of dollars in investments in bilingual voter registration, education and mobilization programs.
It was recalled, for example, that in 2022, the AFL-CIO organized more than 100,000 volunteers to reach at least 7.7 million workers, a plan that would be the basis for 2024.
“Workers and union organizers, who are no strangers to mobilizing around causes and political change, will be out knocking on doors, campaigning, and mobilizing communities in support of Vice President Harris and Governor Walz,” it said.