Shawn Fain criticizes Donald Trump’s lack of support for auto workers and praises Kamala Harris
Trump “doesn’t give a damn about the working class in this country,” Fain said at a Kamala Harris campaign rally.
Vice President Kamala Harris has visited Michigan many times, but before Wednesday she was never the first African-American and South Asian woman to run as a major party presidential candidate.
But apparently no one had ever come to the state under such circumstances.
Harris’ campaign, riding high in the two and a half weeks since President Joe Biden stepped down as the Democratic nominee and endorsed her, held a heated, boisterous rally in a hangar at Detroit Metro Airport on Wednesday night to introduce her vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, striking a very different tone than other recent campaigns.
Here are five takeaways from the event:
With Walz on the ticket there are strong Midwest vibes
Of course, everyone knows how difficult it is for a presidential candidate – no matter which one – to win the White House without winning in the states that were once uncharitably referred to as the “Rust Belt”, which mainly include Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
That’s why the Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump, who has visited the state five times this year, has chosen a Midwesterner – U.S. Senator JD Vance of Ohio – as his running mate and has made many references to the University of Michigan/Ohio State. Harris noted Wednesday night that the path to victory leads directly through the Wolverine State.
But Walz is really a Midwestern dad, with a down-to-earth demeanor, who calls oddities—especially those he spots on the Republican ticket—”weird.” He hunts, he fishes. He coached high school football. People joke that he changes his own flat tires, and a 2020 photo on X shows him and his daughter Hope looking through vinyl records and stumbling upon (!) A BOB SEGER ALBUM.
This is not a “against the wind” run.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer was happy to engage in the Midwestern theme, as befits an officeholder with two schools in the Big Ten, saying she has long had a friendly rivalry with Walz over policy accomplishments. She also said, “He’s the only governor I know who swears more than I do.” But as a former football coach, she added, “Maybe he should help the Vikings after we (the Lions) beat them twice last year.”
Yes.
On a more serious note, Whitmer pointed out that Minnesota, which like Michigan has a three-way Democratic vote because the party controls the governorship and both houses of the state legislature in the 2022 midterm elections, has passed measures to lift abortion restrictions, limit no-knock search warrants and establish paid family and medical leave for workers. And Walz praised Whitmer’s leadership, saying the Midwestern states have a natural connection as stewards of the Great Lakes. He also pointed to the strong union tradition.
“We have many common values in this space,” Walz said.
Noticeable anticipation of the change
When Harris mentioned President Joe Biden, the crowd cheered, even chanted, but it was clear from the start that Harris was the star of the show.
Let us recap: It was already clear before.
An exact estimate of the size of the crowd was not available, but Walz said the crowd – on a hot, humid night during which several people required medical attention for the heat – was the largest Democratic campaign rally of the year.
Since the rally was announced last week as part of a cross-state tour, Democratic supporters have been desperately trying to get in. The Harris team has not publicly commented on how to get in, but there was apparently a link on the website www.mobilize.us for a while until capacity was reached.
This speaks to the enormous energy Harris has put into the campaign. Younger voters and progressive voters are unsure whether Biden will re-enter the electorate, and the enthusiasm gap with Republicans is shrinking. And although polls are close nationally and in swing states, Harris is within striking distance of Trump in many political polls, if not just ahead.
At the rally on Wednesday, supporters waved signs and chanted “KAM-A-LA.” Some danced, some sang.
Harris called the Democrats who were determined to win “happy warriors,” and this phrase seemed to fit.
As Walz took the stage, Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run” blared from the speakers and the night was accompanied by party music.
He told an excited crowd: “Our next president brings joy.”
Michigan officials support Harris with all their might
At the very least, Wednesday’s rally showed just how much Michigan Democrats are behind Harris and Walz. They lined up to give speeches welcoming Harris to the state, and their effusive praise and support were by no means muted.
Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist II. Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan. U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Flint Township), U.S. Rep. Hillary Scholten (D-Grand Rapids), U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-Holly), who won Tuesday night’s primary to become the Democratic nominee to replace U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow. Stabenow. And more.
U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Ann Arbor), a close friend of Biden, recalled how she was one of the few people to warn Democrats about Trump’s strength in Michigan in 2016 before he won the state en route to the White House. “I feel much better now than I did in 2016. Donald Trump is not going to win Michigan,” Dingell said. “Michigan is not going to let them win. We’re going to hold them accountable.”
There have been only a few notable exceptions: U.S. Senator Gary Peters (D-Michigan), who – in his defense – always takes a motorcycle tour of the state during the August recess (and now appears to be doing so on social media), who supports Harris, and U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-Detroit), the only Palestinian-American in Congress, who has sharply criticized the Biden administration for not calling for an Israeli ceasefire in Gaza.
But Whitmer summed up the mood.
“We can kick out Donald Trump once again, and Michigan will do it,” she said. “We need a strong woman in the White House, and it’s about time.”
UAW and unions are part of Harris’ Michigan strategy
Biden has always touted himself as the strongest union activist of all time. And he has some evidence of that. Last September, for example, he became the first sitting president to participate in a picket line outside an auto plant in Belleville when he joined the UAW strike outside an auto plant in Belleville.
However, Biden’s withdrawal from the race does not mean that he is withdrawing his support from the working class. Quite the opposite.
Last week, the UAW international executive board endorsed Harris, and this visit to Michigan — both Wednesday’s rally and an event on Thursday that was not publicized — had, or was intended to have, strong union overtones. Walz’s selection as Harris’s running mate was widely seen as a nod to union influence; listeners chanted “UAW” at one point during his speech. Speakers pointed to the importance of unions in securing benefits and middle-class wages for workers.
UAW President Shawn Fain, a favorite target of Trump, launched a vitriolic attack on the former president, detailing how Harris, as U.S. Senator for California, walked on picket lines when the union went on strike at GM in 2019 and how Trump – in Fain’s estimation – allowed factories to close in Michigan and elsewhere during his presidency.
Trump knows nothing about the auto industry, he said, but Harris is “a tough woman.” (That was meant as a compliment.)
Harris reveled in it, mentioning Fain by name, saying the UAW knows what it is fighting for “and knows how to win.”
It’s worth noting that Michigan has a higher percentage of union membership than the national average, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: 12%, compared to 10% nationally in 2023.
“Children of the middle class” are courting middle-class voters
Towards the end of her speech, Harris spoke about the “promise of America,” saying that it was this that made it possible for her and Walz to be on stage.
“Think about it. Two middle-class kids,” Harris said, referring to her childhood in California with a working mother and Walz’s childhood on a farm in Nebraska.
She also addressed an issue that is being discussed at dinner tables and on supermarket shelves across the country: inflation. Prices are too high, she said, acknowledging the main attack Republicans have against her.
“When I was attorney general (of California), I took action against price fixing. And when I’m president, fighting for lower prices will be my top priority,” Harris said. She will do this by taking action against companies that impose extortionate prices and seek rent increases by corporate owners.
Can she get that message across to the people of Michigan and others feeling the effects of inflation in the post-pandemic world? We’ll have to wait and see.
Contact Todd Spangler: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter@tsspangler.
