In a unanimous vote on Monday, AFSCME’s International Executive Board endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris for president of the United States, after President Joe Biden withdrew his candidacy for president on Sunday.
“Vice President Harris is seasoned, tough and tenacious,” said AFSCME President Lee Saunders in a statement following the endorsement. “She is a dynamic leader who has been a pro-worker champion throughout her years in elected office. She understands that unions and the working class are the engines of our economy. And she has a deep respect and appreciation for the work AFSCME members do to strengthen our communities.”
In her words from earlier this year, Harris said AFSCME members “do some of the most noble and selfless work that anyone can do.”
Saunders also applauded Harris’ record of accomplishments over the past 3½ years. That includes casting the deciding vote to pass the American Rescue Plan and the Inflation Reduction Act.
“From the American Rescue Plan, which brought the economy back from the brink, to student debt forgiveness, to reining in health care costs and so much more, she has fought for us time and time and time again. As the chair of the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment, she developed key policy recommendations to give working people a stronger voice and a more prominent seat at the table.”
Harris, a former U. S. senator and California attorney general has met with AFSCME members several times throughout her term as vice president. In April, she participated in a forum on student debt relief and spoke with Kelli Gray, a social worker with the Philadelphia Department of Human Services and member of AFSCME Council 47, who had $350,000 in loans canceled through the Biden-Harris administration’s actions to reform the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
Harris is, in Saunders’ words, “exactly the right person to meet the moment,” especially as anti-worker extremists are laying a dangerous groundwork for a second Trump presidency through Project 2025, which would transform the entire federal government and take away power from working people.
“Vice President Harris has been cracking the glass ceiling her whole career,” Saunders said. “Now she has the opportunity to become the first woman and the first woman of color to hold the highest office in the land. And AFSCME will help her get there.”
Turning out voters will be key to electing Harris. To learn how you can get involved, visit AFSCME.org/action.
“From today until November 5, we will mobilize in communities nationwide,” said Saunders, “turning out the vote and moving mountains to make Kamala Harris the 47th president of the United States.”