HOUSTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is pushing her presidential bid by speaking Thursday to the American Federation of Teachers, the first union to formally endorse her candidacy.
Having emerged as the likely Democratic nominee following the departure of President Joe Biden, Harris intends to travel aggressively to spread her message and mobilize voters. The outreach comes as the former and realigned Biden team, now under Harris’ control, maps out its strategy to boost voter turnout and maximize her time in a 100-plus-day sprint to the November election against Republican Donald Trump.
But in Trump, Harris is dealing with a recent assassination survivor whose supporters have joined millions of followers in wanting to put him back in the Oval Office. Harris is trying to draw a contrast with Trump, and he is trying to do the same with her.
Trump went on the offensive at a rally in North Carolina on Wednesday, calling Harris a “real liberal” who is “way worse” than Biden. The former president claimed without evidence that Harris misled voters about the 81-year-old Biden’s health and his ability to run for president.
Harris’ appearance at the teachers union’s biannual convention in Houston follows a rally Tuesday in the Milwaukee area and a speech Wednesday at a gathering of the historically black Zeta Phi Beta fraternity in Indianapolis.
“We know that when we organize, we move mountains,” she told the sisterhood members. “When we mobilize, nations change. And when we vote, we make history.”
Her campaign is capitalizing on the growing pop culture hype surrounding her candidacy, releasing a video set to Beyonce’s “Freedom” on Thursday. The video, designed for consumption on social media, underscores a core message of Harris’ campaign – freedom in abortion rights, freedom from gun violence and freedom “to not just get by, but to get ahead.”
The 1.8 million-member AFT supports Harris and her pro-union agenda, arguing that a second Trump term could lead to restrictions on unions and a possible loss of funding for education.
Randi Weingarten, the union’s president, posted on social media: “We are fully committed to this fight: united, mobilized and ready to vote in this year’s election.”
The American Federation of Labor (AFL-CIO), which represents 60 unions including the AFT, is backing Harris. However, the vice president still needs to get the support of the United Auto Workers, whose president Shawn Fain told CNBC this week that the union’s executive committee would make that decision.
Fain spoke at the AFT conference on Wednesday and sharply criticized Trump. The former president has relied on working-class voters in national political contests but failed to win a majority of union households in 2020, losing to Biden, according to AP VoteCast.
“It is absolutely clear that a White House under Donald Trump would be a disaster for the working class,” Fain said. “Donald Trump is a strikebreaker. He stands for everything we are against as a union and in the labor movement.”
Later Thursday, Harris will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington.
