Midwest Democrats slamming the panic alarm as they lose blue-collar voters
Democrats across the Midwest are slamming the panic alarm because they’re struggling to break through with blue-collar voters in states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
“It’s clear Midwest Democrats up and down the ballot are slamming the panic alarm because they know their party has left blue-collar voters behind while the elites have spiked inflation, opened the border, and made life more difficult for working people. Republicans are welcoming voters with open arms that extreme Democrats have ignored for far too long.” — NRCC Spokesman Mike Marinella
Read more from The Wall Street Journalhere or see excerpts below.
Kamala Harris Struggling to Break Through With Working Class, Democrats Fear
Wall Street Journal
Ken Thomas and Catherine Lucey
October 8, 2024
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.—Democrats have privately grown worried about Kamala Harris’s standing among working-class voters in the crucial “blue-wall” states—particularly in Michigan.
Donald Trump has assiduously courted union members and noncollege-educated white voters with a message focused on high costs, manufacturing and the threat of China to the U.S. economy. Senior Democrats, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, want a sharper economic appeal from Harris and have conveyed those concerns to her campaign, according to people familiar with the conversations. They also would like the vice president to spend more time campaigning in the state.
Michigan Democrats have urged the campaign to make more overt appeals to auto workers and blue-collar workers by emphasizing the administration’s work to grow the industry and build new plants.
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Recent polling shows Harris and Trump essentially tied in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. Winning the blue wall, along with Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District, remains her strongest path to 270 Electoral College votes, as she is doing slightly worse in polls of competitive Sunbelt states.
An internal poll done by Democrat Tammy Baldwin’s Senate campaign last week showed Harris down by 3 percentage points in Wisconsin, while Baldwin was up by two points, according to a person familiar with the poll. The person said much of the narrowing is due to Republicans’ strength with noncollege-educated men. Public polling has shown Harris with a slight lead in the state.
Harris also hasn’t matched President Biden’s 2020 support from organized labor. While she has won backing from some influential unions, including the United Auto Workers and the Service Employees International Union, others have withheld their support. The International Brotherhood of Teamsters declined to back either candidate, as did the International Association of Fire Fighters. Both endorsed Biden four years ago.
The campaign had anticipated Harris receiving the firefighters’ union endorsement and planned an event last week in Redford Township, Mich., according to two people familiar with the plans. But when the national union narrowly declined to endorse Harris, the campaign went through with a labor-focused event Friday at the community’s fire station, where Harris was introduced by the head of the Michigan Professional Fire Fighters Union.
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Republicans have targeted Harris over her past positions on electric vehicles and on fracking—with vehicles a top interest in Michigan and fracking in western Pennsylvania. On electric vehicles, Harris during her 2019 bid called for tougher emission standards with a goal of making all new vehicles emit zero emissions by 2035, but has quietly walked that back more recently. Also in 2019, Harris said she was in favor of banning fracking, a stance backed by environmentalists, but has since disavowed that position.
Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski said people around the country see Harris as “the most radical, dangerous nominee of a major party in the history of our country. The people of Michigan know it. The people who work in the auto industry know it.”
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Michigan Democrats have urged the campaign to schedule more time for the candidate in their state after she made only two trips in September. Harris has been to Michigan five times since she became the candidate and has appeared in other battleground states, including Pennsylvania and Wisconsin during that time.
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