To mark the Labor Day holiday, the couple was expected to attend an event with union members in Pennsylvania.
Washington:
President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris campaigned together for the first time on Monday, in a public show of unity after she replaced him as the candidate and revived Democratic hopes.
To mark the Labor Day holiday, the couple was expected to attend an event with union members in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania.
The 81-year-old Biden dropped out of the presidential race at the end of July under increasing pressure after his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.
His quick endorsement of 59-year-old Vice President Harris helped her strengthen the party’s support, and just weeks later she became the formal Democratic nominee.
Riding a wave of new enthusiasm, she has held packed rallies in key swing states across the country and raised cash donations for the final two months of the campaign.
Polls show her participation increases the party’s chances of defeating Republican Trump, but the race is still neck and neck.
Ahead of her event with Biden in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Harris spoke to another union audience in Detroit, Michigan, in an effort to boost support from working-class voters, who Trump claims as his base.
Flanked by leaders of the national teachers and auto workers unions, Harris told the crowd in Detroit that Trump “intends to take us back, including to a time before workers had the freedom to organize.”
“We’re not going back!” the crowd sang, using one of her campaign slogans.
Trump took the weekend off from campaigning and had no public events planned for Monday.
“Why is Donald Trump on Labor Day rooting for a candidate who claims to have the support of workers?” the Harris campaign provided a statement.
The Republican, in a post on his Truth Social platform, praised his economic record in his first term and accused Harris and Biden of “undoing all that.”
– Swing States –
Harris last appeared with Biden after his speech two weeks ago at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
As she works to define her platform, the vice president has sought to promise change while avoiding criticism of Biden’s tenure.
On the issue of organized labor, she has aligned herself closely with Biden.
“The most pro-labor administration in history, led by President Biden and Vice President Harris, has grown support for unionization to the highest level in half a century,” her campaign said in a statement.
Harris has come under scrutiny for turning away from the liberal positions she found herself in as she ran against Biden for the 2020 Democratic nomination.
Harris had previously promised to ban fracking – a major source of revenue in Pennsylvania – but has now ruled that out.
Pennsylvania is one of the few states that will decide the election, and may be seen as the state on which the outcome will depend.
On Monday, Harris and Biden will speak in Pittsburgh at a union hall where they will meet with local members.
Harris is expected to say that Pittsburgh-based US Steel — which wants to buy Japan’s Nippon Steel — should remain domestically owned, a campaign official said.
Monday’s joint appearance with Biden is also seen as the starting signal for the two-month sprint to the November election, with Labor Day marking the traditional end of the American summer.
Earlier Monday, Harris joined Biden at the White House for a briefing on hostages and ceasefire negotiations in the war between Israel and Hamas.
Six hostages, including an American citizen, were killed in Gaza this weekend.
Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, campaigned separately in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Monday.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
