PA union leaders rally behind Josh Shapiro ahead of Kamala Harris’ VP decision

Over 50 labor leaders penned a letter supporting Gov. Josh Shaipro’s potential candidacy for vice president. In 2022, he carried Pennsylvania’s union voters after they split the vote in 2020.

Labor leaders and union members from across Pennsylvania are throwing their support behind Gov. Josh Shapiro to become Kamala Harris’ running mate in the upcoming presidential election against Donald Trump.

“Josh Shapiro has been one of the best governors for union members in Pennsylvania that I can remember in my life, and I think every labor union in Pennsylvania supports Governor Shapiro,” Robert Bair, President of the Pennsylvania Building and Construction Trades Council, told reporters at a press conference on Wednesday.

Bair believes having Shapiro as the vice presidential candidate would help labor-friendly candidates up and down Pennsylvania’s ballot. The labor leader spoke at a press conference outside the United Steelworkers Local 1668 union hall in Steelton ahead of Trump’s visit to Harrisburg on Wednesday.

Last week, over 50 labor leaders from a wide array of public and private sector unions across the commonwealth signed a letter supporting a possible Shapiro vice presidency.

This includes leaders from Pennsylvania’s largest unions and aligned organizations such as the Pennsylvania State Education Association, AFSCME Council 13, the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, and the Philadelphia AFL-CIO.

“Pennsylvania is home to over a half million union workers who play a critical role not just in our workplaces, but in our neighborhoods and our communities,” the letter reads.

“Organized labor built the Pennsylvania and United States that we know and love today. At this moment in history, the role of unions is more critical than ever, and we take seriously the commitment of our elected officials to support and promote the union way of life. No one has been more steadfast in their commitment to working people than Josh Shapiro.”

Since 2000, both the density of Pennsylvania’s union vote and the share of that vote that has gone to Democrats have shrunk according to Blue Compass Strategies, a progressive research firm.

Union voters in Pennsylvania accounted for 30% of the electorate in 2000, with 65% of that vote going to Al Gore. By 2020, the total share of union voters in the state dropped to 18%, with President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump roughly splitting the vote.

During the 2022 midterms, Shapiro was able to win 60% of union voters after easily defeating State Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Franklin).

“In 2016, Donald Trump did a great job of mudding the waters and mixing messages, and he made a lot of promises,” Bair said to reporters.

“Now, you’ve dealt with us a lot at the building trades. When somebody tells us something makes a promise, we expect him to honor it. Well, guess what? He didn’t. And I think our membership has seen that the union vote is going to be incredibly important in this race.”