Democrats fear Harris is failing to reach the working class - and it could cost her victory

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Democratic lawmakers are worried Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign is not resonating with crucial working-class voters, especially in Michigan where the race is neck-and-neck.

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has reportedly urged the Harris–Walz campaign to spend more time in her state, touting the VP’s economic policies and emphasizing the Biden–Harris administration’s work that appeals directly to auto and blue-collar workers, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Swing state Michigan is part of the “blue wall” – the 18 states Democrats have historically won in past presidential elections. However, Trump carried it in 2016.

Currently, Harris holds an extremely narrow lead over Trump in Michigan but Democrats fear that could easily change with less than 30 days until election day.

Whitmer’s reported push is part of Democrats’ greater effort to appeal to working-class voters who Trump has already attracted with vague, blanket policies that promise more jobs, lower taxes and higher wages.

At a Get Out the Vote event in Flint over the weekend, Whitmer opened her speech with a direct appeal to her constituents: “Jobs, jobs and jobs.”

“[Trump] said he would save all the jobs and bring back manufacturing but Donald Trump was all talk,” Whitmer said. “It was the Biden–Harris administration that took action to save union jobs.”

Shawn Fain, president of the Detroit-based United Auto Workers Union, told WSJ that the Harris campaign needs to be “more vocal” about the Biden–Harris administration’s work, particularly through the Inflation Reduction Act.

The act helped establish 13 million jobs in the wake of the pandemic and created tax incentives for paying prevailing wages and using qualified apprentices from registered apprenticeship programs. Those policies appeal directly to union workers.

There are more than 560,000 union workers in Michigan.

Former Michigan Governor James Blanchard echoed some of Fain’s feedback, telling WSJ that Harris needs to show more of herself because “people don’t know her” but she is “a perfect candidate” for Michiganders.

Others, like progressive Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, have pitched Michiganders a message denouncing the power billionaires and wealthy corporations hold.

“What democracy is not supposed to be about is billionaires in both parties through their Super PACS buying elections and having undue influence in the political process,” Sanders told voters in East Lansing over the weekend.

Harris is, seemingly, taking those suggestions into account. During her speech in Flint, she praised the UAW and promised to bring more jobs to Flint and other areas impacted over the last 10 years by economic downturn.