President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris launched their first campaign trip together on Monday, a public display of unity as the former president seeks to replace Biden as the nominee and revive Democratic reelection hopes.
Over the Labor Day holiday, the two were scheduled to travel to a key battleground state like Pennsylvania to attend an event with union members.
Biden, 81, dropped out of the presidential race in late July amid mounting pressure following his poor performance in a debate against Donald Trump.
His quick endorsement of Vice President Harris, 59, earned her the party’s endorsement and she formally became the Democratic nominee just weeks later.
Riding a wave of new enthusiasm, he held packed rallies in key states across the country and collected cash donations for the final two months of the campaign.
Polls show his entry has improved the party’s chances of defeating Republican Trump, but the contest remains evenly contested.
Before her event with Biden in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Harris addressed another union gathering in Detroit, Michigan, seeking to shore up support from working-class voters whom Trump describes as his base.
Harris, flanked by leaders of the national teachers and auto workers unions, told a crowd in Detroit that Trump “wants to take us backward, including back to a time when workers did not have the freedom to organize.”
“We’re not going back!” the crowd chanted, using his election slogan.
Trump took a break from campaigning over the weekend, and had no public events on Monday.
“Why would a candidate who claims to rally support from working class people find Donald Trump missing on Labor Day?” the Harris campaign said in a statement.
The Republican touted his first term’s economic record in a post on his Truthout social platform and accused Harris and Biden of “messing it all up.”
– Swing states –
Harris last appeared with Biden after his speech at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago two weeks ago.
In working to define his platform, the vice president has tried to promise change while avoiding criticism of Biden’s tenure.
He has closely aligned himself with Biden on the issue of organized labor.
“Under the leadership of President Biden and Vice President Harris, the most pro-labor administration in history, support for union membership has reached its highest level in half a century,” his campaign said in a statement.
Harris has faced scrutiny for shifting from moderate positions while competing against Biden for the Democratic nomination in 2020.
Harris previously promised to ban fracking – a major source of revenue in Pennsylvania – but has now ruled it out.
Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states that will decide the election, and is likely the one on which the outcome of the election will depend.
On Monday in Pittsburgh, Harris and Biden will speak at a union hall, where they will meet with local members.
Harris will say that Pittsburgh-based U.S. Steel — which Japan’s Nippon Steel is seeking to buy — should stay domestically owned, a campaign official said.
His joint appearance with Biden on Monday is also seen as the launch of a two-month race to the November vote, with Labor Day marking the traditional end of the US summer.
Earlier on Monday, Harris joined Biden at the White House for a briefing on hostages and ceasefire talks in the Israel-Hamas war.
Six hostages, including an American citizen, were killed in Gaza over the weekend.
Harris’s fellow candidate, 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.)
