Vice President Kamala Harris focused on union laborers’ role in building the country’s economy in a visit to Madison Wednesday, highlighting the administration’s goal of bolstering Democrats’ blue-collar support in the battleground state.
Speaking at a federally funded Madison construction site that will hold the city’s electric buses, Harris announced that President Joe Biden intended to sign an executive order to expand apprenticeship opportunities and encourage federal agencies to provide more contracts to companies with apprentices. The Biden administration has spent over $440 million to expand apprenticeships, according to the White House.
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“The work that is happening here really is a wonderful example of so many of our administration’s priorities, including the important collaboration between the federal level and leaders at the local level,” said Harris, who was joined by Madison Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway, Labor Secretary Julie Su and several union workers.
It’s part of an effort by Democrats to win back the support of blue-collar workers, who have shifted more Republican since 2010 — many drawn by the populist appeal of former President Donald Trump.
But that effort faces clear headwinds. That was exemplified, in part, by a union member working just outside of the site where Harris spoke, who was standing next to her SUV festooned with Trump flags on both sides.
The union member, who asked not to be named because of possible repercussions from her employer, said her co-workers likely lean more conservative than liberal, and that many are frustrated with the current administration.
“Something’s got to change,” she said. “Any Democrat, any liberal, any Republican, anybody can see that. This is not doing well. Our borders are terrible. I have nothing against anybody coming in and wanting the American dream and working for a living and paying taxes. But not the way it’s happening now. It’s not fair to rest of us.”
Speaking with reporters in a Zoom meeting after Harris’ visit, Brian Schimming, chair of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, summed up the vice president’s visit to the Democratic stronghold as “a rescue mission” to counter polling that has shown lagging voter enthusiasm among liberals heading into the 2024 presidential election.
“Biden is in big trouble in Wisconsin and the ticket knows it,” Schimming said. “That’s why she is here in the base of Democratic voters trying to get them reengaged in this ticket.”
The visit was Harris’ sixth to Wisconsin since she was sworn in and the second in two months. In late January she visited suburban Waukesha County for a speech focused on abortion rights. Wisconsin is one of just a handful of swing states likely to decide the election in November.
Unions have taken a hard hit in Wisconsin since former Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s 2011 Act 10, which effectively ended collective bargaining for most public employees. Just 8.4% of workers in Wisconsin are represented by a union, according to federal labor statistics, just above an all-time low. In 1989, over 20% of Wisconsin workers belonged to a union.
Wisconsin’s unemployment rate was 3.4% as of December, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and employers statewide have been struggling to find workers. And there will be 130,000 fewer working Wisconsinites by 2030 if recent migration patterns continue, according to the Wisconsin Counties Association’s nonpartisan research arm Forward Analytics.
Dead heat
The visit comes one day after Super Tuesday, which solidified Biden’s and Trump’s standing as their parties’ likely nominees, and the same day Republican challenger Nikki Haley announced she was suspending her campaign. Biden and Trump remain deadlocked in Wisconsin, according to a Marquette Law School Poll released in February, although the poll was taken when Haley was still a candidate for the Republican nomination.
The poll found both Trump and Biden receiving support from 49% of registered voters, with 2% saying they had not yet decided. The results mark a slight shift from Marquette’s November poll, which found Biden holding 50% support among registered Wisconsin voters to Trump’s 48%, well within that poll’s margin of error.
Of respondents who are very enthusiastic to vote, Trump holds a 19-point lead over Biden. However, Biden has more support among respondents who said they were somewhat enthusiastic, as well as those who are not very and not at all enthusiastic to vote.
State Journal reporter Mitchell Schmidt contributed to this report.