United Auto Workers union endorses Kamala Harris for president

July 31 (UPI) -- The United Auto Workers union announced Wednesday it is endorsing Kamala Harris for president "to build on the Biden-Harris administration's proven track record of standing with the UAW and delivering major gains for the working class."

The UAW International Executive Board announced its vote and endorsement one week before Harris is scheduled to hold a rally with UAW members in Detroit.

"We stand at a crossroads in this country. We can put a billionaire back in office who stands against everything our union stands for, or we can elect Kamala Harris who will stand shoulder to shoulder with us in our war on corporate greed," UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement.

"Vice President Harris is honored to receive the endorsement of the United Auto Workers and knows it comes with the responsibility to fight for unions and working families as she's done her whole career," Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Harris campaign manager, responded in a statement Wednesday.

The Trump campaign also responded to the UAW's endorsement of Harris by attacking her economic record.

"Union workers and all the nation's working families are paying the price for dangerously liberal Kamala Harris' failed economic policies," Karoline Leavitt, a national spokesperson for the Trump campaign, replied in a statement .

"Kamala Harris' radical electric vehicle mandate will destroy the livelihoods of countless U.S. autoworkers while sending the U.S. auto industry to China."

The UAW's announcement comes 10 days after President Joe Biden announced he was leaving the presidential race. The union had endorsed Biden for president in January with a unanimous vote.

"If our endorsements must be earned, Joe Biden has earned it," Fain said in January, after Biden joined UAW members on the picket line last year.

"I'm proud that you have my back. Let me just say I'm honored to have your back and you have mine. That's the deal," Biden told UAW members earlier this year. "I was so damn proud to stand on that picket line with you."