Kamala Harris, Joe Biden make first joint campaign appearance
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris attend an event in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, with the President repeatedly praising his vice president.
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US President Joe Biden and Kamala Harris campaigned together for the first time Monday, in a public display of teamwork after she replaced him as candidate and revived Democratic election hopes.
Seeking to attract voters in the key battleground state of Pennsylvania, the pair met union members in Pittsburg before standing side-by-side to speak to about 600 supporters.
Biden repeatedly name-checked Vice President Harris, who is in a close race to beat Donald Trump to the White House on November 5.
“We have made a lot of progress, and Kamala and I are going to build on that progress, and she’s going to build on it,” Mr Biden said.
“I’ll be on the sidelines, but I’ll do everything I can to help.”
The Labor Day event at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers union underlined how Mr Biden will play a role in the campaign in the final months before the vote.
Mr Biden, 81, initially resisted bowing out of the presidential race after his disastrous debate performance against Trump, but he has since swung behind Ms Harris, 59.
“There’s only one person you have a rational choice with this time -- that’s Kamala Harris,” he said to cheers.
“I know her. I trust her,” he added. “She has a backbone like a ramrod, and the compass of a saint.
“This woman knows what she’s doing. I promise you, if you elect Kamala Harris as president, it will be the best decision you will have ever made.”
Ms Harris called for the Pittsburgh-headquartered US Steel – which Japan’s Nippon Steel is seeking to buy – to remain domestically owned. “US Steel is a historic American company and it is vital for our nation to maintain strong American steel companies,” she said.
Riding a wave of fresh enthusiasm, Ms Harris has held packed rallies in key swing states across the country and raked in cash donations for the final two-month stretch of the campaign.
Polls show her entry improving the party’s chances at defeating Republican Trump, but with the race still neck and neck.
Before her event with Biden in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Harris spoke to another union crowd in Detroit, Michigan, seeking to boost support from working-class voters that Trump claims as his base.
Flanked by leaders of the national teachers and autoworkers unions, Harris told the Detroit crowd that Trump “intends to pull us back, including back to a time before workers had the freedom to organise.” “We’re not going back!” the crowd chanted, using one of her campaign slogans. Trump took the weekend off from campaigning, and did not have public events scheduled Monday.
“For a candidate that claims to be rallying the support of workers, why is Donald Trump M.I.A. on Labour Day?” the Harris campaign needled in a statement.
The Republican, in a post on his Truth Social platform, touted his first term economic record and accused Harris and Biden of having “undone all of that.”
– Swing states –
Harris last appeared with Biden after his speech two weeks ago at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
As she works to define her platform, the vice president has sought to promise change, while avoiding criticism of Biden’s tenure.
On the issue of organised labour, she has tied herself closely to Biden. “The most pro-labour administration in history, under President Biden and Vice President Harris’ leadership, support for union membership has grown to its highest level in half a century,” her campaign said in a statement.
Harris has faced scrutiny for pivoting from liberal positions she ran on when competing against Biden for the Democratic nomination in 2020.
Harris had previously pledged to ban fracking – a major source of income in Pennsylvania – but now has ruled that out.
Pennsylvania is one of a handful of states that will decide the election, and is viewed as possibly the one on which the outcome will hinge.
Monday’s joint appearance with Biden is also seen as launching the two-month sprint to the November vote, with Labour Day marking the traditional end to the US summer.
Earlier Monday, Harris joined Biden at the White House for a briefing on hostages and ceasefire negotiations in the Israel-Hamas war.
Six hostages were killed in Gaza over the weekend, including a US citizen. Harris’s running mate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, separately campaigned in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Monday.
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