Harris Begins Rallies for Presidential Bid, Gains Key Labor Union Support

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. Credit | REUTERS

United States: Vice President Kamala Harris is pushing for her presidency while speaking to the American Federation of Teachers, the first labor union, where she formally endorsed her candidacy on Thursday.

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Recently, having emerged as a likely nominee from the Democratic party when President Joe Biden announced his exit from the election race, Harris is planning to travel extensively to rally voters and spread her message.

The outreach program is seen as the former and retooled Biden campaign, which is now under the control of Kamala Harris, who would fix its strategy for generating turnout and maximizing her time in a 100-plus day sprint to the November election against the former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump.

Trump calls Harris “much worse”

In a recent rally held in North Carolina on Wednesday, Trump called Harris a “real liberal” who is “much worse” than Biden.

According to the Ex-President, Harris misled voters regarding the health of the 81-year-old Biden and his ability to run for the presidency without evidence, as AP News reported.

Back to Back Rallies by Harris

Harris’s appearance at the teachers’ union’s biennial convention in Houston follows a rally in the Milwaukee area on Tuesday and a speech on Wednesday addressing the historically Black sorority Zeta Phi Beta in Indianapolis.

She told the sorority members, “We know when we organize, mountains move,” and “When we mobilize, nations change. And when we vote, we make history.”

Moreover, as per the reports, her campaign is surrounded by the growing pop culture frenzy surrounding her candidacy. For example, a Thursday-released video was set to Beyonce’s “Freedom.”

Additionally, the video was designed to attract social media attention, underlining a core message of Harris’s campaign: freedom on abortion rights, freedom from gun violence, and freedom “not just to get by, but to get ahead.”

According to Randi Weingarten, the union’s president, as posted on social media, We are fully committed to this fight: united, mobilized, and ready to vote in this year’s election.”

Harris also has backing from the AFL-CIO, representing 60 labor unions, including the AFT.

However, the vice president is yet to receive the endorsement of the United Auto Workers, whose president, Shawn Fain, said that the union’s executive board will make that decision this week, as CNBC reported.

In a statement by Fain at the AFT conference held on Wednesday, “It’s very clear a Donald Trump White House would be a disaster for the working class,” and, “Donald Trump is a scab. He stands for everything that we as union and in the labor movement stand against.”