Major Unions Quickly Endorse Kamala Harris To Replace Biden

The AFL-CIO and several of the largest labor unions in the country threw their backing behind Vice President Kamala Harris for president within a day of President Joe Biden dropping out of the race.

Their fast endorsements reflect the urgency within much of organized labor to rally around a single candidate to take on former President Donald Trump — and avoid a messy nomination process with less than four months to go until the presidential election.

The American Federation of Teachers said its executive board endorsed Harris for president on Sunday, while the Service Employees International Union announced that it was “all in” on Harris’ candidacy. 

Then on Monday, the United Food and Commercial Workers, the Communications Workers of America and the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees all said their boards had endorsed Harris as well. 

Together, those five unions represent several million workers, and they had all backed Biden — whom many in labor consider the most pro-union president ever — before his withdrawal from he race Sunday afternoon. 

Late in the day, the AFL-CIO labor federation, which includes 60 unions, announced it was endorsing Harris following a meeting of its executive board. In a statement, Liz Shuler, the federation’s president, called Harris “a true partner in leading the most pro-labor administration in history.”

Randi Weingarten, the president of the AFT, said in an interview that the union’s executive board held a discussion on Saturday about what to do if Biden pulled out. After his withdrawal on Sunday, the board met and agreed unanimously to get behind Harris. The union was holding its annual convention in Houston this week, so the convention delegates met on Monday and ratified the board’s endorsement, with about 95% in favor, she said.

“[We] said, ’Let’s move quickly,” Weingarten explained. “‘If we’re going to do this, why wait for other people? If we believe this is right and we have to beat Donald Trump, and Kamala Harris is a fantastic candidate to do it… let’s go now.’”

She added, “It felt like there was a real sense of passing the torch, and there was lots of excitement about Kamala Harris.”

Harris also picked up the support of the United Farm Workers and the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades. 

Meanwhile, the executive board of the United Auto Workers union was scheduling a meeting to discuss next steps, according to a UAW source. The UAW had endorsed Biden for reelection earlier this year, with its president, Shawn Fain, emphatically calling Trump a “scab.”

Harris had walked a UAW picket line during the auto workers strike against General Motors in 2019, which bodes well for the vice president getting the union’s backing to square off with Trump.  

Organized labor is an important ally of the Democratic Party, helping drive voter turnout in key battleground states like Michigan, Nevada and Pennsylvania. The vast majority of major labor groups have come out against Trump, given the deeply anti-union record of his first term.

The Democratic Party will hold its convention next month in Chicago, where delegates are expected to formally nominate their candidate.

This story has been updated to include the AFL-CIO’s endorsement.