“The middle class built America,” Biden told a rally of park workers in Milwaukee. “Everyone knows that. But unions built the middle class.” Later Monday, he flew to West Mifflin, outside Pittsburgh — returning to Pennsylvania for the third time in less than a week and just two days after his predecessor, Donald Trump, held his own rally in the state. The unofficial start of fall, Labor Day also traditionally kicks off a busy political season where campaigns scramble to get voters excited for Election Day on November 8. Then the control of the Parliament and the Senate, as well as some of the leading governments of the country, will be decided. Trump spoke Saturday night in Wilkes-Barre, near Scranton, where Biden was born. The president made his own trip to Wilkes-Barre last week to discuss increasing police funding, rebuke GOP criticism of the FBI after the raid on Trump’s Florida estate and argue that new, bipartisan gun measures can to help reduce violent crime. Two days later, Biden went to Independence Hall in Philadelphia for a prime-time speech denouncing the “extremism” of Trump’s most die-hard supporters. Trump has endorsed candidates in key races across the country, and Biden warns that some Republicans now believe so strongly in Trumpism that they are willing to undermine core American values to advance it. The president said Thursday that “blind faith in a single leader and willingness to engage in political violence is fatal to democracy.” Trump responded during Saturday’s rally that Biden is an “enemy of the state.” Republican National Committee Chairwoman Rona McDaniel tweeted Monday that Biden “is the most anti-aggressive president in modern history,” noting that high inflation had taken a bite out of U.S. wages, income and savings. During his speech in Milwaukee, Biden said that “Not every Republican is a MAGA Republican,” but singled out those who took Trump’s “Make America Great Again” campaign to dangerous or hateful lengths. He highlighted incidents such as last year’s mob attack on the US Capitol. He said many in the GOP are “filled with anger, violence, hatred, division.” “But together we can and must choose a different path forward,” Biden said. “A future of unity and hope. we will choose to build a better America.” The crowd booed loudly as the president repeatedly berated Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin for voting against a Democratic-backed measure aimed at lowering prescription drug prices. The president also suggested that Johnson and other congressional Republicans were willing to undermine Social Security. Union endorsements helped Biden overcome disastrous early successes in Iowa and New Hampshire to win the 2020 Democratic primary and ultimately the White House. Since then he has continued to praise the labor movement as president. Mary Kay Henry, president of the 2 million-member Service Employees International Union, called Biden’s advocacy of unions “critical” heading into the midterm elections and said workers must “mobilize on battlefields across the country to ensure that the workers will come.” “We’re really excited that the president was talking directly to workers about joining a union if he had the chance,” Henry said. He added: “This president has shown which side he is on. And he is on the side of the workers. And that is of great importance.” In Pennsylvania, Biden addressed members of the United Steelworkers and noted that Trump is a “former, defeated president.” Referring to Trump’s persistent, false claims of fraud in the 2020 presidential election, Biden said: “You can’t love the country and say how much you love it when you only accept one of two election results: You either won or you were cheated.” Both of the perennial presidential states Biden visited on Monday may provide key measures of Democratic strength ahead of November. With inflation still raging and the president’s approval ratings slightly better but still low, how much Biden can help his party in top races — and how much the candidates want him to try — remains to be seen. That was on display in Milwaukee, where Democratic Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes is trying to unseat incumbent Johnson, but he didn’t show up with Biden. In the state’s other top race, Trump-backed construction executive Tim Michels is trying to deny Democratic Gov. Tony Evers a second term. Evers spoke at the labor event addressed by Biden and briefly greeted the president backstage. “We have a president who understands the challenges that working families face,” Evers told the crowd. He said Biden “hasn’t forgotten that working families matter, not just on Labor Day, but every day of the year.” Pennsylvania voters are choosing a new governor, with state Attorney General John Shapiro facing another Trump-backed Republican, Doug Mastriano, and a new senator. That race is between Democratic Lt. Gov. John Fetterman and Trump-backed celebrity heart doctor Mehmet Oz. Fetterman spoke with Biden before both spoke at West Mifflin. The Pennsylvania and Wisconsin races could decide which party controls the Senate next year, while the winner of each governorship could affect the outcome of the 2024 presidential election. The stakes are especially high given that some Trump-aligned candidates have spread his lies about widespread fraud that did not occur during the 2020 election. Judges, including those appointed by Trump, have dismissed dozens of lawsuits filed after that election, and Trump’s own attorney general has called the claims false . Vice President Kamala Harris paid tribute to organized labor at this morning’s meeting with the Boston Labor Council, stating “When union wages go up, everyone’s wages go up.” “When unionized workplaces are safer, everyone is safer,” Harris said. “When unions are strong, America is strong.”
Associated Press writer Wilson Ring contributed to this report.
