Harris, Biden and allies hit battlegrounds for Labor Day blitz

The Harris campaign is planning a Labor Day blitz of events on Monday in nearly every battleground state, including Vice President Kamala Harris’ first joint campaign appearance with President Joe Biden since the switch at the top of the ticket.

Harris will travel to Detroit on Monday, before joining Biden in Pittsburgh for a campaign event, a nod to the president’s union bonafides in states like Pennsylvania. Her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and first lady Gwen Walz will travel to Milwaukee as the city celebrates its annual Laborfest, while second gentlemen Doug Emhoff will attend a Labor Day event in Newport News, Virginia.

The campaign is also deploying surrogates including Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, Mitch Landrieu, Tom Perez and others to key battleground states like North Carolina, Nevada and Georgia.

The Labor Day travel barrage, coming at the unofficial start of campaign season when most Americans begin paying closer attention to the election, speaks to Harris’ efforts to consolidate the support of labor across battleground states. She is hoping to limit former President Donald Trump’s push for working-class voters who could swing the election. Harris has stressed to union leaders that she plans to forge ahead with Biden’s pro-union agenda, leaning on the administration’s record that has solidified the movement’s close working relationship with the White House that Biden helped build.

Biden’s Labor Day campaign stop reflects his targeted role on the campaign trail in the months ahead. The Harris campaign and his team will deploy him to states where he can tap into his strengths with older white voters in states he won in 2020, including Pennsylvania.

Walz, a former union member, was a favorite among labor leaders in the veepstakes and seen as an addition to the top of the ticket who could shore up support among white, working class voters.

Like Biden, he also joined striking auto workers on the picket line at the Stellantis parts distribution facility in Plymouth, Minnesota, last October and signed into law one of the most significant packages of worker-friendly policies in state history, increasing protections for workers to unionize.