Rust Belt autoworkers, traditionally a cornerstone of the blue voting base, are not casting their votes for Vice President Kamala Harris this time around, the founder of Auto Workers for Trump 2024 insisted.
Brian Pannebecker, the group’s founder, spoke to a roaring crowd of supporters of former President Trump at a rally in Warren, Michigan, Friday, just days before the presidential election.
“We’re not voting for Kamala Harris. … Don’t believe anything you see Shawn Fain talking about,” he said. “The autoworkers — UAW members — are voting for Donald Trump for president.”
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For Pannebecker, the switch for some came after layoffs of autoworkers as the Biden-Harris administration has pushed for more electric vehicle mandates.
Pannebecker said Ford Motors’ recent layoff of hundreds of workers was difficult to digest for those responsible for building the all-electric Ford F-150 Lightning.
“They laid everybody off till next year. Those people through the holidays — Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years — are unemployed,” he said. “We don’t know when they’re coming back, but it won’t be at least until next year.”
Ford announced the layoffs for the Dearborn plant Thursday, saying it would idle the assembly factory that makes the battery-powered truck from mid-November to Jan. 6.
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“We continue to adjust production for an optimal mix of sales growth and profitability,” Ford said.
The company has opted to put more investment into hybrid vehicles over EVs recently due to substantial losses in its EV division because of tepid consumer demand.
The layoffs come just four days before the presidential election as voters in the battleground state debate government support for EVs.
Trump and Harris have turned their attention to Michigan, with the dueling campaigns investing time and money in the battleground state.
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In July, the United Auto Workers’ (UAW) governing board announced its endorsement of Harris.
“Our job in this election is to defeat Donald Trump and elect Kamala Harris to build on her proven track record of delivering for the working class,” UAW President Shawn Fain said in a statement at the time.
“We stand at a crossroads in this country. We can put a billionaire back in office who stands against everything our union stands for, or we can elect Kamala Harris, who will stand shoulder to shoulder with us in our war on corporate greed.”
Trump has attempted to court autoworkers throughout his campaign, promising to bring jobs back to the U.S. and new tariffs to prevent Chinese vehicle imports from Mexico.
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Polls show Trump and Harris are locked in a tight race ahead of the Nov. 5 election, and the outcome is expected to be decided by slim margins in battleground states like Michigan.
