| By Big Radio News Staff |
You could call Vice President Kamala Harris’s speech in Janesville Friday afternoon “labor intensive.”
The vice president spoke largely about the middle class economy for about 20 minutes this afternoon in Janesville.
Harris connected with about 600 guests who gathered at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers hall on Janesville’s south side.
The invite-only crowd was heavy on organized labor, with more than a few guests who turned out dressed in work boots, reflective vests and hard hats covered in stickers representing their labor union local.
“Janesville, we have just four days left in one of the most consequential elections of our lifetime, and we have a lot of work still to do,” Harris said in the opening remarks of a 20-minute speech.
“But I know who’s here. We like hard work,” Harris said, gesturing at the crowd, which included union electrical workers, auto workers, teachers, and public employees.
“Hard work is good work! Hard work is Joyful work! And we will win,” Harris said, elevating her voice to a shout.
Harris told the crowd she wants to see the U.S. economy become more tangible to the working class. She talked about plans to invest in American iron, steel and electric power, as well as work to retool and revamp defunct factory properties.
Harris and former President Donald Trump head into November neck and neck with Wisconsin voters, polls say.
Alongside a continent-crossing tour of battleground states like Arizona, Nevada, and Michigan, and North Carolina, both Trump and Harris have hit Wisconsin hard this week.
Here, the two candidates have launched last-minute efforts to connect with voting groups associated with independent, swing voters.
Organized labor unions are one such group.
Among decided voters, polls show some signs labor union members are split between support of Trump or Harris — with Harris at times seeming to struggle most gaining support among male union workers.
In Janesville, Harris sought to skewer Trump’s past performance on jobs and the economy, taking aim specifically at one Wisconsin-based example — Trump’s initial backing of the largely-failed FoxConn tech project in the Kenosha area.
Harris said Trump’s earlier promises of FoxConn to the middle class were “all talk, no walk.”
Harris told the crowd she believes in a mentality of unity, and said she thinks it’s time to pull the plug on what she called “10 years” of divisiveness in America that’s come under Trump’s influence.
“That’s who he is, that’s not who we are,” Harris said. “And nobody understands better than a union member that as Americans, we all rise or fall together.”
Harris got into a few more specific ideas she said could help bootstrap middle class workers.
She gave kudos to the IBEW’s electrical apprenticeship programs, which Harris says shows promise in building an economy of family-sustaining jobs.
Harris said she wants to help middle class people succeed through one initiative — erasing education-based barriers to employment.
“One of the things I’m doing on Day 1, because I can do it through executive order, is I will eliminate unnecessary degree requirements for federal jobs,” Harris said. “And then I will challenge the private sector to do the same.”
Both Harris and Trump were set to appear in major visits in Milwaukee late Friday as they continue to go toe-to-toe to win battleground Wisconsin.
As though anyone needs reminding, the election is Nov. 5.
