The United Auto Workers (UAW) said on August 14 that it is mobilizing its one million active and retired workers across the United States to vote for Kamala Harris in the November 5 election, providing a potential boost to the Democratic candidate in key states, according to foreign media reports.UAW President Shawn Fain and his Executive Committee said in late July that they would support Harris, and Fain has been vocal in his opposition to Harris’s Republican rival, former President Donald Trump.The UAW’s influence and membership is centered in Michigan, where it is headquartered, as well as in key swing states that could sway the outcome of the election, such as Wisconsin, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
In 2020, the UAW said in a statement, its members accounted for 9.2 percent of President Joe Biden’s vote in Michigan alone. The union said its strategy in the election will include interacting with members online, at job sites and campaigning door-to-door.
The UAW declined to outline how much it will spend on the election campaign, but a person familiar with the plan said the union plans to spend millions of dollars on it.
Fain met with Harris and his vice presidential candidate, Tim Walz, at two campaign events near Detroit last week.
Pollster Edison Research says that in the last three U.S. presidential elections, Michigan households with union members were more likely to vote Democratic than households with union members nationwide. In Michigan, these households were more likely to vote for Democrats than non-union households.
On August 13, the UAW filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) against Trump and Tesla CEO Elon Musk for attempting to threaten and intimidate workers.
Trump and Musk spoke on social media platform X on the evening of Aug. 12, where Trump praised Musk’s ability to cut costs, saying he would not tolerate workers striking. Musk laughed but did not respond to Trump’s comments.
Since Biden dropped out of the presidential race last month, the addition of Harris has energized Democrats, and she now holds a small lead over Trump nationally, but polls show the race is still tight at this point.
Trump has received support in previous election cycles from some working-class as well as white voters who have traditionally been part of the Democratic base, and he has also won the backing of some UAW members who say the former president’s record on trade and tax issues has been more favorable to the auto industry than that of his Democratic opponent.
There are also unions, such as the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, that have yet to explicitly endorse any candidate. However, Teamsters President Sean O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention this past July.