UAW endorses Harris, giving her blue-collar firepower in industrial states

DETROIT (AP) — The United Auto Workers on Wednesday endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president, giving her union firepower for the likely contest this November against Republican Donald Trump.

UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement that the union’s “job” in this year’s election was to defeat Trump. The union has more than a million active and retired members with a strong base in what the Democrats call the “blue wall” states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

“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,” Fain said.

There was never any doubt that the UAW would endorse Harris after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race. Biden won the UAW’s backing in January, and accepted it with a speech at a union political convention in Washington. The AFL-CIO, the umbrella labor organization that includes the UAW, had already endorsed the vice president.

Fain needed to wait for the union’s executive board to give the nod to Harris, but has repeatedly attacked Trump ahead of the endorsement.

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