Chasing blue-collar voters, Harris brings Biden to Pittsburgh on Labor Day

WASHINGTON— Seeking to shore up her support from blue-collar voters, Vice President Kamala Harris is hitting the campaign trail with President Joe Biden and wading into a fight over the ownership of one of America’s largest steel producers.

Harris visited Detroit on Monday afternoon. She'll join Biden in Pittsburgh, home of the manufacturing company U.S. Steel, later in the day.

"We celebrate unions, because unions helped build America and unions helped build America's middle class," Harris said in a Detroit speech that was attended by national labor leaders.

In her Pittsburgh remarks, Harris will say that U.S. Steel, which made a deal last year to be acquired by Japanese-owned Nippon Steel Corporation, should remain domestically owned and operated, her campaign says. The proposed merger has not yet received U.S. regulatory approval and is opposed by the United Steelworkers, a labor union that has endorsed Harris.

Biden came out against the $14.9 billion deal in March.

Read more: Biden looks to union members, opposes sale of US Steel to Japanese company

The president enjoys strong support from labor that Harris seeks to capitalize on in Allegheny County, a populous area where it’s critical for her to drive up turnout to win Pennsylvania. It’s her second trip to the Pittsburgh area in roughly two weeks — a demonstration of just how critical her campaign believes western Pennsylvania is to winning the state.

Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz , is meeting with labor leaders from his state in St. Paul. Walz is also attending the Milwaukee Area Labor Council’s Labor Fest in Wisconsin on Monday. Biden intends to travel to Wisconsin this week on an official visit that the White House says will focus on his economic agenda.

Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania are toss-up states in the election, and both the Republican and Democratic parties have been heavily courting their voters.

Former President Donald Trump and Ohio. Sen. JD Vance held events in the trio of states last week. Trump has plans to return to Mosinee on Saturday.

Neither he nor Vance had Labor Day campaign events planned, essentially ceding the campaign trail to Biden and Harris.

Harris in Detroit said that the labor movement's approach is instructive for the country .

"While we are fighting so much nonsense that is about trying to divide our country, trying to pull us apart, look to what the history and the present of labor tells us about the power of the collective and unity, the spirit of that work, as much as the product of that work," Harris said in Detroit.

Harris immediately set to work on securing the support of the largest national labor unions after Biden quit the race in late July. She has received endorsements from the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, the United Steelworkers, the United Auto Workers, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees and many others.

Biden walked the UAW picket line in Michigan last fall.

Labor Day push: In battle between Trump and Harris, both campaigns target the Blue Wall

One endorsement that has eluded Harris so far is the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Teamsters’ president Sean O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention — an offer he said at the time that he made to both major political parties.

O’Brien said Sunday during an appearance on the CBS program “Face the Nation” that his union wants to meet with Harris before it determines which candidate to support. Half of the union’s 1.3 million members are Republicans and half are Democrats, he said.

“We want the opportunity to sit down with Vice President Harris,” he said. “You don’t hire someone unless you give them an interview.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chasing blue-collar voters, Harris brings Biden to Pittsburgh on Labor Day