UAW Leadership Considers Backing Harris as Biden Bows Out

With President Joe Biden withdrawing from the 2024 presidential campaign, UAW leadership is quickly shifting gears to consider backing Vice President Kamala Harris in the contest with former President Donald Trump.

“Vice President Kamala Harris walked the picket line with us in 2019, and along with President Biden has brought work and jobs back to communities like Lordstown, Ohio, and Belvidere, Illinois,” the union says in a statement released shortly after Biden withdrew his candidacy Sunday.

“That’s the legacy President Biden leaves, and that’s the work we will continue to build on as a union,” the statement adds. “While Donald Trump lies about rebuilding the auto industry, the fact is that while he was in office, autoworkers in Lordstown were left for dead by GM in 2019 while he said and did nothing.”

UAW President Shawn Fain, however, says in a television interview the union has not officially endorsed Harris for president. The union will follow an endorsement process before announcing its decision, says Fain.

The union recalls Harris’s participation in a picket line at General Motors parts depot outside Reno, NV, during the UAW’s 2019 strike against GM. At the time, Harris was a U.S. senator from neighboring California and a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination eventually won by Biden.

“Joe Biden made history by joining us on our picket line last September and has stood shoulder to shoulder with the working class throughout his term in office,” the UAW statement says.

Biden participated in a UAW picket line at a GM warehouse outside Belleville, MI, during the union’s “Stand-up Strike” against the Detroit Three automakers last fall. Biden also is supporting the UAW’s efforts to recruit new members at nonunion auto plants in the South and West.

However, Trump is reaching out to the union rank and file, and Brian Rothenberg, former UAW communications director, says the union membership has always been divided politically with some members preferring more conservative candidates.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump looks on as UAW member addresses Trump rally in Grand Rapids, MI, on July 20.

Trump is attacking Fain over Chinese plans to build auto plants in Mexico, which under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada (USMCA) trade agreement negotiated during the former president’s term in office would be allowed to export inexpensive electric vehicles into the U.S. tariff-free.

“The United Auto Workers ought to be ashamed for allowing this to happen and the leader of the United Auto Workers should be fired immediately and every single auto worker, union and nonunion, should be voting for Donald Trump because we’re going to bring back car manufacturing and we’re going to bring it back fast,” Trump said last week during his speech accepting the Republican presidential nomination. He did not elaborate on what the UAW should or could do about China's presence in Mexico.

Trump also proposes ending what he describes as the Biden Admin.’s “EV mandate.” There is no requirement that Americans buy an EV now or in the future, but the administration is tightening fuel-economy and emissions regulations, forcing automakers to include at least some EVs in their fleets.

President Biden and UAW President Fain address striking union members at General Motors parts warehouse in Belleville, MI, in September 2023.

According to the White House, the Biden Admin. has approved a 100% tariff on any EV made in China. However, under the existing terms of the USMCA new tariffs on any Chinese EV built in Mexico would require cooperation from the Mexican government.

“Last night, Donald Trump once again attacked our union on a national stage,” Fain says in a statement issued Friday, the night after Trump accepted the GOP nomination. “That should tell you everything you need to know about the man, and the candidate. As we’ve said for many months, he stands for everything we (stand) against. He doesn’t want to protect American auto workers. He wants to pad the pockets of the ludicrously wealthy auto executives. He wants to cut the corporate tax rates of his golfing buddies and keep the stock buybacks and Wall Street manipulation going.”

Using some of the same populist language it deployed during last fall’s strikes, the UAW now says, “The path forward is clear: We will defeat Donald Trump and his billionaire agenda and elect a champion for the working class to the highest office in this country. We will stand up for our members and the whole working class in the fight for economic and social justice on and off the job.”