Harris, Biden court union workers in battleground Pennsylvania with Labor Day rally

Vice President Harris and President Biden rallied with union workers on Labor Day in Pennsylvania, a critical battleground state, as they look to shore up her campaign’s blue-collar support ahead of the November election.

“I will continue to count on the strength, the determination, and the hard work of the leaders in this room to knock on doors, to get folks to the polls and, bluntly put … to help us win Pennsylvania,” Harris said to cheers. 

The Pittsburgh event marked Harris and Biden’s first joint appearance on the campaign trail since Harris replaced her boss at the top of the Democratic presidential ticket.  

Biden, who has touted himself as the “most pro-union president” in American history, took Harris’s hand as he closed his own remarks. 

“I trust her,” the president said. He withdrew from the race in late July following a disastrous debate performance, and Harris took over as the Democrats’ official nominee last month. He was met at the Pittsburgh event with chants of “thank you, Joe.” 

Harris voiced opposition to the sale of U.S. Steel on Monday, in line with Biden’s stance against plans for Japan’s Nippon Steel to buy the company for roughly $14 billion.

“U.S. Steel is a historic American company,” she said. “U.S. Steel should remain American-owned and American-operated.”

Harris has indicated she plans to follow in Biden’s pro-union footsteps, and she’s drawn in support from several major organized labor groups, including the AFL-CIO and the United Auto Workers, which could help her build support among working-class voters in critical swing states.

The campaign argued in a memo released last month that union workers would help drive the Democratic ticket’s success in November. 

Both Harris and Biden took swings during the rally at former President Trump, who now trails Harris by a few points nationally, according to the latest polling averages from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ.

“As we fight to move forward, Donald Trump is trying to pull us backward, including back to a time before workers had the freedom to organize,” Harris said at the rally. 

The president promised Harris could “make “Donald Trump a loser again.”

The averages notably put Harris ahead by less than a point over Trump in Pennsylvania, which went to the Republican in 2016 and then to Biden in 2020.

“We know this is going to be a tight race to the very end. So let’s not pay too much attention to those polls, because as unions and labor knows best, we know what it’s like to be the underdog,” Harris said.

The vice president stopped earlier Monday in Detroit, where she also addressed a crowd of union members. Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), met with union workers in Minnesota and then stopped in Wisconsin.