(Bloomberg) -- US Vice President Kamala Harris has accepted an invitation from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters leadership to take part in a roundtable discussion, according to her campaign.
Harris plans “to discuss her record of fighting for Teamsters and their families and to highlight her vision for the future,” Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for the Harris-Walz campaign, said in a statement Friday evening. “The campaign looks forward to scheduling the roundtable in the near future.”
Democrats have long regarded the Teamsters, whose 1.3 million members make it one of the largest labor organizations in the world, and other unions as essential allies in winning elections.
But the party can no longer take that alliance for granted. Former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Senator JD Vance, have actively sought the support of union members, and Teamsters President Sean O’Brien spoke at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last month. His appearance drew criticism from within the union, which endorsed Joe Biden in 2020.
“We look forward to Vice President Harris joining a roundtable of rank-and-file Teamsters to discuss the issues of importance to workers,” a Teamsters spokesperson said by email. The meeting was reported earlier by the Washington Post.
In a July speech to the American Federation of Teachers, one of the first unions to endorse her candidacy, Harris pledged to bolster workers’ organizing rights.
The pending session with the Teamsters is an indication of just how vital Harris and her campaign see union voters in their strategy for victory in the November election.
Earlier Friday in Raleigh, North Carolina, Harris vowed to build “an opportunity economy” as she unveiled an economic agenda seeking to tackle the burden of inflation with sweeping new subsidies and tax benefits for poor and middle class Americans.
The plan represented the first major policy rollout of Harris’ nascent campaign, and looked to attack one of her greatest liabilities – frustration voiced by voters over spiking post-pandemic prices.
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