Disgraced former president Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, have no advertised events on Monday, but their Democratic opponents spent Labor Day kicking off a fall campaign blitz with events in key states.
Vice President Kamala Harris paid tribute to labor unions, saying they had helped “build America” and deserve credit for an array of protections that benefit all workers.
Her Labor Day remarks in Detroit were part of a full day of campaigning for Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, as well as President Joe Biden, who plans to join his Vice President at an event in Pittsburgh.
Walz greeted labor leaders earlier Monday in Minnesota before heading to Wisconsin.
Some vans in the press motorcade following Walz as he traveled north on Interstate 794 in Wisconsin were involved in a crash, according to the press pool covering Walz. Per reporters at the scene, the vehicle carrying Walz and his wife were not involved. According to the press pool, no severe injuries were reported, though two people were taken to the hospital.
Trump has drawn ridicule after he accused Harris of mistreating Mike Pence, the former vice-president who his supporters said should be hanged during the January 6 insurrection that he incited.
During the 2020 vice presidential debate, Harris rebuked Pence’s interruption with the phrase, “Mr. Vice President, I’m speaking.”
“Now they have Kamala, who they say has many deficiencies, but she’s a nasty person. The way she treated Mike Pence was horrible. The way she treats people is horrible,” said Trump, who expressed support for hanging Pence while his supporters were rioting on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump and Pence’s relationship grew increasingly tense toward the end of their White House term. It came to a head in early 2021 when Pence refused to overturn the 2020 election results despite pressure from Trump and his allies.
Many people among the mob of terrorists at the Capitol insurrection were chanting, “Hang Mike Pence” and several sources reported that Trump approved of that sentiment as he watched on television as a mob of his supporters smashed through police lines and disrupted the counting of electoral votes that confirmed Biden’s victory in the 2020 election.
Cassidy Hutchinson, a former aide to White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told the House January 6 committee that Trump approved of the “hang Mike Pence” chants from rioters who stormed the US Capitol, and she testified that Trump complained about his then-vice president being hustled to safety while Trump supporters breached the Capitol.
At a rally preceding the Capitol riot, Trump said to the crowd: “Mike Pence, I hope you’re going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of our country.”
After Pence said that he did not believe he had the authority to reject Electoral College votes, Trump tweeted that “Mike Pence didn’t have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our Country and our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth!”
Donald Trump, who became only the fifth president since the 1800s to be booted out of office after one term — and the first in 28 years, would have been the second most prominent victim if the insurrectionists had caught his sycophantic sidekick, Pence.
Pence lodged an unsuccessful presidential bid to challenge Trump for this year’s GOP nomination, and he has stated that he will not be voting for the Republican candidate in November.
Harris used her speech in Detroit to draw a now-familiar contrast between her focus on the future with Donald Trump’s campaign, saying that the country is “not going back.”
Trump, she said, “intends to pull us back, including to a time before workers had the freedom to organize,” pointing to actions he took while in office, including appointing “union busters” to the National Labor Relations Board.
Citing Trump’s efforts to lower taxes on the wealthy and repeal laws such as the Affordable Care Act, Harris argued, “America has tried those failed policies before, and they are failed policies. And we are not going back.”
Trump is approaching the final nine weeks of the presidential campaign as a race to drag Harris down.
Americans’ views of the Republican nominee have barely budged over the past nine years, spanning three White House bids, two impeachments, an insurrection, four indictments and an assassination attempt. He remains deeply divisive, with enthusiastic support and intense opposition.
With her more affirmative campaign message, Harris enjoyed a 2-point average edge over Trump in Arizona, Georgia and Nevada according to a Bloomberg News/Morning Consult poll released Thursday while Fox News polls on Wednesday showed Harris leading by 1 point in Arizona, 2 points in Georgia and 2 points in Nevada.
Harris is polling slightly ahead of Trump in Nevada and Georgia, according to an Emerson College Polling/The Hill poll released Thursday, while Trump is slightly ahead in Arizona in the same survey.
The newfound momentum behind Harris in the Sun Belt has put states in play and the Vice President widened the gap with Trump among women in a new poll that highlights a notable boost from a major voting group that could be key for the Democratic nominee in November.
The ABC News/Ipsos poll, released Sunday, found Harris leading Trump 54 percent to 41 percent among women. Before last month’s Democratic National Convention, Harris led Trump by only 6 points among this demographic group.