Harris, Walz Begin Attacking Trump Over Manufacturing to Gain Support from Working-Class Voters
In the initial weeks of her campaign, Vice President Kamala Harris largely refrained from discussing industrial policy. However, as polls in the Midwest become more competitive, her campaign is increasingly highlighting this topic.
TroibNews 
Kamala Harris initially did not emphasize manufacturing or blue-collar jobs when she became the Democratic presidential nominee, but her campaign is now working to address that oversight.
During a recent event in Warren, Michigan, vice presidential candidate Tim Walz issued a strong critique of former President Donald Trump, highlighting factory closures that took place during Trump’s administration. He cautioned that Trump’s intention to repeal the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act would jeopardize hundreds of billions of dollars allocated for clean energy manufacturing in Michigan and other Rust Belt states. Following Trump’s description of Detroit as a “mess” in a speech at the Detroit Economic Club, Walz defended the city, stating, “But if the guy were to ever spend any time in the Midwest, like all of us know, [he'd] know Detroit's experiencing an American comeback and renaissance. City’s growing. Crime is down. Factories are opening up. But those guys, all they know about manufacturing is manufacturing bullshit.”
This marks the latest in a series of escalating attacks from both Walz and Harris on Trump’s record regarding manufacturing, a key focus of the Republican's campaign. New polls indicate that Trump is gaining ground in Michigan, a vital segment of the Democrats' “Blue Wall” in the upper Midwest. The situation is similarly close in Pennsylvania, another Rust Belt swing state, where Harris is trailing Trump among lower-middle and middle-class voters, as well as manual laborers. This raises concerns that Harris’ inability to connect with blue-collar workers could hurt her prospects in the upcoming election.
To combat these worries, the campaign has shifted its messaging. After concentrating on issues such as cost of living in the initial weeks, the vice president and her surrogates are now focusing on the manufacturing achievements made under President Joe Biden while attacking Trump's perceived strengths in this area.
“He promised to fight for union workers — repeatedly turned [his] back on them,” Walz remarked. “He even encouraged automakers to move manufacturing out of Michigan and go to anti-union states so they could pay their workers less,” citing comments from Trump made to The Detroit News in 2015.
Walz remarked that Trump “was asleep at the wheel [to] China's advantage” during his presidency and claimed that Trump is suggesting that the U.S. should allow China to dominate the auto industry.
Last weekend, the campaign tapped into support from populist Sen. Bernie Sanders and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, whose union has endorsed Harris, criticizing Trump for his plans to diminish a $500 million investment in an electric vehicle plant near Lansing funded by the IRA. Harris echoed this sentiment in Flint last Friday, underscoring the loss of manufacturing jobs during Trump’s tenure, including the closures of auto plants in Michigan. She has also made overtures to blue-collar workers and unions in a significant address last month at the Economic Club of Pittsburgh.
“She ripped him hard [in Pennsylvania], and she ripped him hard in Flint” regarding manufacturing, said Gene Sperling, Harris campaign economics adviser. “You’re seeing it, and you’re going to see more.”
Given Walz’s roots and connections to unions, the campaign has relied on him to engage blue-collar workers in the area. However, he faces some challenges concerning industrial policy that complicate his approach in must-win Michigan. As a moderate House Democrat in 2008, he opposed the UAW-backed auto industry bailout that is credited with preserving 1.5 million jobs. This placed him at odds with many party members, especially in 2012 when Democrats, led by then-Vice President Joe Biden, celebrated the rescue of the U.S. auto industry and criticized Republicans who opposed the bailout.
The Harris campaign has characterized the increased focus on manufacturing as “broadening the message” on economic issues from her earlier concentration on child tax credits, housing, and inflation. A campaign staff member pointed to past appearances at union halls and labor-focused events since Harris became the lead of the ticket in late July, along with her experience combating corporate abuses while serving as California's attorney general, as indicators of her populist credentials.
Nonetheless, some in the party believe more needs to be done. Former Ohio Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan, who lost to Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, in the 2022 Ohio Senate race, remarked that Harris is striking the “right chord” by emphasizing manufacturing recently and urged her to delve deeper into the issue in the campaign's closing weeks.
“You can’t hit those manufacturing, industrialization messages hard enough,” Ryan stated, emphasizing that Harris' struggles with working-class voters reflect a longer “downward trend” for Democrats with this demographic that can only be remedied by addressing their tangible interests.
“The Democrats have a brand problem with working-class, non-college voters. It started with white workers and then it turned into black workers and Latino workers,” Ryan noted, reflecting on his own electoral outperformance among working-class voters in Ohio. “We have got to rehabilitate our brand with those voters, and that's gonna take some work.”
The Harris campaign aims to draw a contrast between Trump’s manufacturing promises, which they view as hollow, and the achievements of the Biden administration, particularly the Inflation Reduction Act and its substantial manufacturing incentives. They also caution that Trump's presidency would threaten the crucial funding, should he win in November.
“There's the reason that the UAW members endorsed Kamala Harris, and your president, and many of your members, called him exactly what he was: A scab,” Walz accused, referring to Trump.
Trump has vowed to cancel all “unspent” funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, the majority of which has yet to be allocated to factories. Recently, JD Vance hesitated to guarantee that Michigan’s industrial investments funded by that act, like the $500 million for the Lansing EV plant, would remain intact.
In the last week, Democrats have heavily criticized Republicans in Michigan on this issue. During a debate, Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, remarked that her GOP opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers, is “happy to let [China] eat our lunch” in the electric vehicle market.
These attacks appear to have put Republicans on the defensive. On Tuesday in Michigan, Vance attempted to soften his and Trump’s previous comments regarding the Inflation Reduction Act, saying, “neither me nor President Trump has ever said that we want to take any money that’s going to Michigan auto workers,” but then shifted to argue that IRA funding is “table scraps” compared to the costs the auto industry will incur to switch to electric vehicles — many of which the funding targets.
Walz highlighted these statements on Friday, recalling that Harris cast the tie-breaking vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, while criticizing Vance’s claim about “table scraps.”
“Table scraps. Tell that to 650 families who feed their families with those table scrap jobs,” Walz remarked. “Look, we got to talk to our neighbors. These guys couldn't give a damn about Michigan workers.”
This is precisely the type of discourse Harris' allies in the labor movement wish to see more frequently.
“The one thing I would say that the Biden and Kamala Harris team hasn't done enough of, in my opinion, is talk about the great work they've done,” UAW President Shawn Fain stated during a virtual press conference prior to Trump’s campaign stops in Walker and Warren, Michigan. He condemned Trump’s efforts to win over working-class voters as “criminal,” given his labor track record.
Labor advocates believe that Harris and fellow Democrats must intensify their outreach in the campaign’s final days or risk alienating their party's historic base — and jeopardize the election.
“They’re getting the memo,” said Maurice Mitchell, head of the Working Families Party, which typically supports Democrats and has conducted research on engaging working-class voters. “I’m confident that they are seeing the same data that we're seeing: that the path to victory in this race is through the working class.”
Brittany Gibson contributed to this report.
Alejandro Jose Martinez for TROIB News
During a recent event in Warren, Michigan, vice presidential candidate Tim Walz issued a strong critique of former President Donald Trump, highlighting factory closures that took place during Trump’s administration. He cautioned that Trump’s intention to repeal the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act would jeopardize hundreds of billions of dollars allocated for clean energy manufacturing in Michigan and other Rust Belt states. Following Trump’s description of Detroit as a “mess” in a speech at the Detroit Economic Club, Walz defended the city, stating, “But if the guy were to ever spend any time in the Midwest, like all of us know, [he'd] know Detroit's experiencing an American comeback and renaissance. City’s growing. Crime is down. Factories are opening up. But those guys, all they know about manufacturing is manufacturing bullshit.”
This marks the latest in a series of escalating attacks from both Walz and Harris on Trump’s record regarding manufacturing, a key focus of the Republican's campaign. New polls indicate that Trump is gaining ground in Michigan, a vital segment of the Democrats' “Blue Wall” in the upper Midwest. The situation is similarly close in Pennsylvania, another Rust Belt swing state, where Harris is trailing Trump among lower-middle and middle-class voters, as well as manual laborers. This raises concerns that Harris’ inability to connect with blue-collar workers could hurt her prospects in the upcoming election.
To combat these worries, the campaign has shifted its messaging. After concentrating on issues such as cost of living in the initial weeks, the vice president and her surrogates are now focusing on the manufacturing achievements made under President Joe Biden while attacking Trump's perceived strengths in this area.
“He promised to fight for union workers — repeatedly turned [his] back on them,” Walz remarked. “He even encouraged automakers to move manufacturing out of Michigan and go to anti-union states so they could pay their workers less,” citing comments from Trump made to The Detroit News in 2015.
Walz remarked that Trump “was asleep at the wheel [to] China's advantage” during his presidency and claimed that Trump is suggesting that the U.S. should allow China to dominate the auto industry.
Last weekend, the campaign tapped into support from populist Sen. Bernie Sanders and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain, whose union has endorsed Harris, criticizing Trump for his plans to diminish a $500 million investment in an electric vehicle plant near Lansing funded by the IRA. Harris echoed this sentiment in Flint last Friday, underscoring the loss of manufacturing jobs during Trump’s tenure, including the closures of auto plants in Michigan. She has also made overtures to blue-collar workers and unions in a significant address last month at the Economic Club of Pittsburgh.
“She ripped him hard [in Pennsylvania], and she ripped him hard in Flint” regarding manufacturing, said Gene Sperling, Harris campaign economics adviser. “You’re seeing it, and you’re going to see more.”
Given Walz’s roots and connections to unions, the campaign has relied on him to engage blue-collar workers in the area. However, he faces some challenges concerning industrial policy that complicate his approach in must-win Michigan. As a moderate House Democrat in 2008, he opposed the UAW-backed auto industry bailout that is credited with preserving 1.5 million jobs. This placed him at odds with many party members, especially in 2012 when Democrats, led by then-Vice President Joe Biden, celebrated the rescue of the U.S. auto industry and criticized Republicans who opposed the bailout.
The Harris campaign has characterized the increased focus on manufacturing as “broadening the message” on economic issues from her earlier concentration on child tax credits, housing, and inflation. A campaign staff member pointed to past appearances at union halls and labor-focused events since Harris became the lead of the ticket in late July, along with her experience combating corporate abuses while serving as California's attorney general, as indicators of her populist credentials.
Nonetheless, some in the party believe more needs to be done. Former Ohio Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan, who lost to Trump’s running mate, JD Vance, in the 2022 Ohio Senate race, remarked that Harris is striking the “right chord” by emphasizing manufacturing recently and urged her to delve deeper into the issue in the campaign's closing weeks.
“You can’t hit those manufacturing, industrialization messages hard enough,” Ryan stated, emphasizing that Harris' struggles with working-class voters reflect a longer “downward trend” for Democrats with this demographic that can only be remedied by addressing their tangible interests.
“The Democrats have a brand problem with working-class, non-college voters. It started with white workers and then it turned into black workers and Latino workers,” Ryan noted, reflecting on his own electoral outperformance among working-class voters in Ohio. “We have got to rehabilitate our brand with those voters, and that's gonna take some work.”
The Harris campaign aims to draw a contrast between Trump’s manufacturing promises, which they view as hollow, and the achievements of the Biden administration, particularly the Inflation Reduction Act and its substantial manufacturing incentives. They also caution that Trump's presidency would threaten the crucial funding, should he win in November.
“There's the reason that the UAW members endorsed Kamala Harris, and your president, and many of your members, called him exactly what he was: A scab,” Walz accused, referring to Trump.
Trump has vowed to cancel all “unspent” funds from the Inflation Reduction Act, the majority of which has yet to be allocated to factories. Recently, JD Vance hesitated to guarantee that Michigan’s industrial investments funded by that act, like the $500 million for the Lansing EV plant, would remain intact.
In the last week, Democrats have heavily criticized Republicans in Michigan on this issue. During a debate, Rep. Elissa Slotkin, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, remarked that her GOP opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers, is “happy to let [China] eat our lunch” in the electric vehicle market.
These attacks appear to have put Republicans on the defensive. On Tuesday in Michigan, Vance attempted to soften his and Trump’s previous comments regarding the Inflation Reduction Act, saying, “neither me nor President Trump has ever said that we want to take any money that’s going to Michigan auto workers,” but then shifted to argue that IRA funding is “table scraps” compared to the costs the auto industry will incur to switch to electric vehicles — many of which the funding targets.
Walz highlighted these statements on Friday, recalling that Harris cast the tie-breaking vote for the Inflation Reduction Act, while criticizing Vance’s claim about “table scraps.”
“Table scraps. Tell that to 650 families who feed their families with those table scrap jobs,” Walz remarked. “Look, we got to talk to our neighbors. These guys couldn't give a damn about Michigan workers.”
This is precisely the type of discourse Harris' allies in the labor movement wish to see more frequently.
“The one thing I would say that the Biden and Kamala Harris team hasn't done enough of, in my opinion, is talk about the great work they've done,” UAW President Shawn Fain stated during a virtual press conference prior to Trump’s campaign stops in Walker and Warren, Michigan. He condemned Trump’s efforts to win over working-class voters as “criminal,” given his labor track record.
Labor advocates believe that Harris and fellow Democrats must intensify their outreach in the campaign’s final days or risk alienating their party's historic base — and jeopardize the election.
“They’re getting the memo,” said Maurice Mitchell, head of the Working Families Party, which typically supports Democrats and has conducted research on engaging working-class voters. “I’m confident that they are seeing the same data that we're seeing: that the path to victory in this race is through the working class.”
Brittany Gibson contributed to this report.
Alejandro Jose Martinez for TROIB News
