On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will be in the Detroit area for a joint campaign rally with the United Auto Workers. In many ways this event sums up why Walz emerged the winner in the Harris ticket sweepstakes.
She needs union support to win. Unions want someone who will support them too.
Opinion Columnist
LZ Granderson
LZ Granderson writes about culture, politics, sports and navigating life in America.
Last fall, President Biden became the first sitting president to walk a picket line, in solidarity with UAW workers. That strike was one of 33 major work stoppages across the country last year. After the pandemic brought record profits to Wall Street, employees took to the streets to demand their fair share.
Last year also brought the industry-shaking strikes by actors and writers and the largest healthcare strike in the country’s history. To say unions have shaped the Biden administration would be an understatement. There wouldn’t be a Biden administration if unions hadn’t rallied around his candidacy.
And less than a week ago, UAW President Shawn Fain voiced concerns about two names that were circulating as possible running mates for Harris: Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona because of his lukewarm support of Protecting the Right to Organize Act and Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania because he backed school vouchers.
Under normal circumstances, perhaps there would be time for Democrats to debate the merits of their positions and what each could do for the ticket: Both come from battleground states, and either’s inclusion could have swayed Republicans who don’t want to vote for former President Trump. But for Harris, the union’s concerns outweighed those factors. This shows she is not placing all her hopes on wooing pseudo-Republicans; she’s using this crucial moment to shore up the Democratic base.
Fain did say the UAW would endorse whomever Harris selected. However, he clearly preferred someone who he could assume would walk the picket line with them.
Walz, a former high school social studies teacher and football coach, fits the bill. His support of unions is not just talk; it’s backed up by progressive policies he’s enacted as governor to support the middle class.
When Trump learned of the selection, he told supporters via email that Walz will “unleash HELL ON EARTH.” Trump, a convicted felon, also warned that Walz, a 20-year military veteran, would “open our borders to the worst criminals imaginable.”
For the record, the “hell” that Walz unleashed in Minnesota includes tax credits for families with children, universal free school breakfasts and lunches for every student regardless of income, a paid family and medical leave program and easier ways to vote. In 2018, after he was elected governor, Walz looked into the merits of legalizing recreational marijuana as a revenue source. Today, it is not only legal in Minnesota but also is accompanied by a social equity program similar to the one California enacted.
The reality is, for all of the focus placed on Harris’ need to win Pennsylvania or perhaps remove Arizona from the GOP’s list of targets, she ultimately went with the competent blue-state executive with a long, successful track record. Walz has accomplished as much as any governor in the country. And in picking him, Harris showed us a great deal about how she will approach the remaining months of the campaign.
Instead of simply chasing moderate Republicans who may ultimately still vote for Trump, her pick signals she is doubling down on growing the progressive base. Perhaps the electoral college math stresses the need for Democratic turnout in the Midwest. It’s also likely the recent election results in states where reproductive rights were on the ballot suggest that particular issue — and not her vice presidential pick — is the best way to appeal to moderates come November.
The “K-Hive” of her new and longtime fans, who jump-started her campaign with a record-shattering $310-million haul in just a few days of July, also gave Harris a lot of momentum. As qualified as Shapiro and Kelly may be, it would be hard to keep that momentum if she had chosen a running mate whom the party’s base merely tolerates.
Don’t take my word for it. Just look at what JD Vance did to Trump.