- President Biden has decided not to seek reelection, leaving Kamala Harris as the likely Democratic candidate.
- The UAW seemed to signal their support for Harris as they noted she “walked the picket line with us in 2019.”
- Details about what a Harris Administration would look like are vague, but it’s believed she would favor unions and electric vehicles.
July has been a month of shocking political developments as Democrats turned their back on President Biden following a dismal debate performance, while former President Trump survived an assassination attempt. If that wasn’t enough, Biden recently decided to stop his reelection campaign.
In a social media post yesterday, Biden said “It has been the greatest honor of my life to serve as your President. And while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term.”
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The surprise announcement was quickly followed by a post supporting Vice President Kamala Harris as the new presidential candidate. This has suddenly thrown the 59-year-old into the national spotlight in a way we’ve never seen before.
However, she’s quickly picking up endorsements and the UAW was one of the first to signal their support. In a statement, the union thanked Biden for his “leadership” and “incredible term of service.” It went on to note Biden was the first president to join a picket line as he joined the strike against GM. The union then highlighted the fact that “Vice President Kamala Harris walked the picket line with us in 2019.”
The UAW statement slammed Donald Trump for “lies about rebuilding the auto industry.” The union then claimed that “while he was in office, autoworkers in Lordstown were left for dead by GM in 2019 while he said and did nothing.”
That’s clearly false as, in March of that year, Trump tweeted “Just spoke to Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors about the Lordstown Ohio plant. I am not happy that it is closed when everything else in our Country is BOOMING. I asked her to sell it or do something quickly. She blamed the UAW Union – I don’t care, I just want it open!” It’s also worth noting that Vice President Mike Pence attended the unveiling of the Lordstown Endurance, which was briefly built at the plant after GM exited.
Regardless, with Harris as the presumptive Democratic candidate, there are plenty of questions about what that could entail for the automotive industry if elected. The most likely answer would be a continuation of progressive policies that favor unions and EVs.
While that remains to be seen, Harris has previously taken part in an “Economic Opportunity Tour” where she visited Detroit to promote new funding and resources for small- and medium-sized auto manufacturers and autoworkers. This included up to $100 million in Department of Energy grants as well as an assortment of other initiatives.