PITTSBURGH – President Joe Biden spoke to members of the Laborers International Union of North America on Oct. 26 during a visit to downtown Pittsburgh, one of the last of many high-profile visits by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign.
He honored the audience of union members, adding that his father used to preach about the importance of work.
“My dad used to say, ‘Joey, there’s more to a job than just a paycheck. This is about your dignity. It’s about respect. It’s about your place in the community. It’s about how people treat you and look at you,” President Biden said.
Last year, President Biden made headlines becoming the first sitting president to appear on the picket line in Michigan when he joined workers in the United Auto Workers strike against General Motors, Ford and Chrysler maker Stellantis.
“When unions do better, what does that mean for the rest of the economy? Everyone is doing better,” he told the Pittsburgh audience.
He emphasized the impact workers had on America.
“Wall Street didn’t build America, the middle class built America,” he said. “And you built the middle class.”
LIUNA General President Brent Booker introduced President Biden, pointing to President Biden’s appearance on the picket line as a manifestation of a pro-union agenda and describing himself as “Democrat Joe Biden.”
“I never knew that this was how I would define myself and my politics because I couldn’t imagine any president doing what this one did,” Booker said. “Let me tell you, Joe Biden is a blue-collar man. He is one of us.”
Biden has attacked Trump at times, calling him a “loser as a candidate” and “a loser as a man” and saying Trump has “no character.”
“He doesn’t care about union workers or any workers,” Biden said. “It is in the Labor Party’s interests to defeat Donald Trump more than in any other race you have been in since any of you have been alive.”
Trump campaign spokesman Kush Desai responded to President Biden’s statement, pointing to Trump’s high support among members of the Teamsters union. According to recent surveys, approx 65% of Teamsters members in Pennsylvania said the union should support Trump.
“Rank-and-file union members throughout Pennsylvania, including most Teamsters“They support President Trump because they know full well which candidate in this race brought peace, prosperity and stability to the American worker, and which candidate left him at the mercy of historic inflation and unlimited illegal immigration,” Desai said.
Both Harris and former President Trump’s campaigns made efforts to woo voters in Pittsburgh; President Biden last visited Pittsburgh in September at Labor Day rally alongside Harrisformer president Barack Obama gathered voters for Harris on October 10 and former President Donald Trump attended a Steelers game October 20.
Biden said he chose Harris because she had “a spine like a ramrod,” and praised American women and his sister Valerie Biden Owens: who played an influential role in his numerous political campaigns, including managing his Senate campaign and his first two presidential bids.
“They can do anything any human being can do, including being president of the United States of America,” he said.
Biden urged the audience to call their undecided friends and encourage them to vote for Harris. As he finished his speech, the crowd chanted “Vote.”
When Air Force One landed in Pittsburgh, President Biden was greeted by U.S. Senator John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania), who pulled him into the group photo with former Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and others.
He visited the field office to talk to volunteer bankers on the phone from the Allegheny County Joint Apprentice Training Committee, bringing them pizzas from Fiori’s Pizzaria.
“We’re going to win Pennsylvania,” he told them, then raised his fist in the air.
Pennsylvania is a key battleground state in this election, with 19 electoral votes up for grabs. Latest polls shows Harris with a slight lead in the state but running neck-and-neck with Trump nationwide.
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