President Joe Biden used a story about his great-grandfather and striking coal miners in 19th-century Pennsylvania to argue that Kamala Harris is the new champion of workers’ rights in a speech to union members on Labor Day.
The 81-year-old commander in chief constantly joked about his age when he first campaigned with the vice president who replaced him on the Democratic ticket.
He referred to a long-ago relative who, in 1906, was the second Catholic elected in the Keystone State and how he was accused of being a “Molly Maguire.”
Biden said members of a secret society of Irish immigrants in the 1840s murdered coal mine foremen who abused workers and dumped their bodies on their families’ doorsteps.
“They’re accusing my great-grandfather of being a Molly, when he wasn’t, and we’re so incredibly disappointed,” Biden said, before adding, “That’s a joke.”
Kamala Harris and Joe Biden made their first campaign appearance together in Pittsburgh, where they mobilized union members
The duo made their campaign debut in Pittsburgh, where they mobilized union members in the crucial state where the fight for freedom was underway.
The packed crowd – which was loud and boisterous – had a rainbow of expressions of support: the unions seen on the crowd’s T-shirts were the IBEW in green T-shirts, the Iron Workers (blue), the SEIU (purple) and the United Steelworkers (gray).
And, in a sign that the torch has truly been passed, Biden spoke first, introducing his former running mate who is now the star attraction. The two even showed up in matching outfits: navy suits with light blue shirts.
Biden, 81, praised her extensively, describing her as someone with “the backbone of a stick and the moral compass of a saint.”
He also called her a “true friend” of the unions and then bragged about the number of jobs his administration had created before taking aim at Trump.
“Do you think this guy cares about your pensions,” he said to cheers from the crowd. “I mean it. Do you think he’ll even lose sleep over it? Or does he think he cares about all the work you do every day.”
And then he said about Trump and the picket line, “He’d rather cross one than walk one, whereas I have no problem walking the picket line.”
The president concluded his speech with a strong endorsement of Harris, saying, “I know she’ll be a great president,” and stating that she knows what she’s doing.
President Joe Biden kisses Kamala Harris on the forehead
“I promise you, if you elect Kamala Harris as president, it will be the best decision you have ever made,” he told the crowd.
He held her hand as he spoke. When he finished, they embraced. Biden kissed her on the forehead.
Harris was effusive in her praise of Biden. “Thank you, Joe,” she said when he introduced her.
She then paid tribute to the labor movement, saying, “When unions are strong, America is strong.”
“We fight for workers. We fight for families,” she said to loud applause.
She also pledged to “always stand with American steelworkers” and called for the company to remain American-owned, in response to an attempt by a Japanese company to buy it.
The mood was festive. Union members were seen with plastic cups of beer. There were sheet cakes.
The crowd chanted “thank you, Joe” during Biden’s first joint appearance on the campaign trail with Vice President Harris after replacing him as nominee
Before their remarks, Harris and Biden held a small meet-and-greet with union members and their families before addressing the larger crowd. There were lots of smiles, hugs and selfies as Harris and Biden, who remained close together, played to the room.
The date and the fact that they are campaigning together for the first time are telling: the campaign takes place on Labor Day in a must-win state.
But their journey is overshadowed by the war in the Middle East.
Before Harris left to campaign, he went to the Situation Room with Biden to talk to the US hostage deal negotiating team about efforts to free the remaining hostages.
Israel said Sunday morning it had recovered the bodies of six hostages, including Israeli-American Hersh Goldberg-Polin. The deaths sparked thousands of protests on the streets of Israel.
Harris has endorsed Biden’s efforts to arm Israel and broker a hostage deal and ceasefire. She has also raised concerns about the treatment of civilians in Gaza.
She then traveled to Detroit, where she met with union members before continuing on to Pennsylvania.
She spent most of her speech praising the unions and the work they do.
“On Labor Day and every day, we celebrate the dignity of work. We celebrate unions, because unions helped build America,” she said.
She noted that unions were demanding fair wages, better benefits and safer working conditions.
“Everyone in our country has benefited from that work. You may not be a union member, but you should thank a union member,” she said.
“When unions are strong, America is strong.”
Both Michigan and Pennsylvania form the Democrats’ “blue wall,” a string of Midwestern states considered must-win to retain the White House. Biden won both states in the 2020 election, but Donald Trump won them in the 2016 election.
The two were joined in Pittsburgh by Governor Josh Shapiro, who was in the running to be Harris’ running mate.
Harris and her campaign have been cautious about where they deploy Biden. The president dropped out of the ticket in July when Democrats worried he would lose to Trump and drag them down with him.
But he could still be an effective surrogate among older voters, white men and in Pennsylvania, the state where he was born and which he considers his second home.
He’ll be going solo for the rest of the week: On Thursday, the president will be in Wisconsin (another “blue wall” state) to promote his administration’s investment in communities there. On Friday, he’ll head to Michigan to do the same.
Kamala Harris poses for a photo with the daughters of a union member while campaigning with President Joe Biden at the union hall of IBEW Local Union #5 in Pittsburgh
Vice President Kamala Harris greets Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis and his daughter Harper upon arrival in Pittsburgh
Harris poses for a selfie with a union worker
Biden and Harris appeared together on Aug. 15 in Largo, Maryland, at an event touting the administration’s work to lower prescription drug prices. But the visit was an official White House visit, not a campaign stop.
They also stood together on stage after Biden spoke on the first day of the Democratic National Convention.
Labor Day traditionally marks the start of the fall election season, when millions of voters tune in to the race.
Harris and her surrogates are busy on Labor Day with a blitzkrieg: running mate Tim Walz and his wife Gwen Walz will be in Milwaukee, and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff will be in Newport News, Virginia.
With less than three months to go until the election, Harris’ campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon claims Harris and Walz are the “clear underdogs” in the race.
“Donald Trump has a motivated base of support, with higher levels of support and popularity than he has had at any time since 2020,” she wrote in a campaign memo, adding that “the race will remain incredibly close, and the voters who will decide this election will have an extraordinary amount of work to do to convince them. But we have the candidate, the message, and the operation that will bring Americans together to chart a new path forward so we can defeat Donald Trump again.”
Both parties worry about complacency: that their voters will simply stay home on Election Day.
Unions are a key Democratic fixture and can help turn voters away. Biden became the first sitting president to join a picket line when he marched with striking auto workers in Michigan.
Harris is backed by the United Auto Workers union, which has a strong presence in Michigan, and the United Steelworkers, which has a dominant position in western Pennsylvania, including Pittsburgh.
The biggest labor representative missing from Harris’ campaign is the Teamsters, which have so far held off on endorsing either Harris or Trump.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris greet union members
Kamala Harris speaks at a Labor Day event at Northwestern High School in Detroit, Michigan
According to Harris’ campaign, support for union membership has risen to its highest level in half a century under the administration.
The administration also expanded overtime protections for workers and helped create millions of union jobs through the Infrastructure Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.
The Pittsburgh stop marks Harris’ ninth trip to Pennsylvania this year, while the Detroit visit marks her sixth visit to Michigan in 2024.
Polls in Michigan and Pennsylvania show a neck-and-neck race between Harris and Trump.
Trump’s campaign had no publicly announced events for the Labor Day weekend.
The former president will participate in a FOX town hall hosted by Sean Hannity on Wednesday. Later this week, he will address the Fraternal Order of Police at their fall meeting in Charlotte, North Carolina. He will also hold a rally in Wisconsin.