Harris courts minorities amid US poll bump, but misses key union nod

US Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris waves after speaking at the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute in Washington, DC, on September 18, 2024. Agence France-Presse

WASHINGTON — Kamala Harris spent a second straight day Wednesday courting minority voters, especially Latinos, as fresh polling showed the Democrat receiving a post-debate bump over Donald Trump in two of the swing states likely to decide the US presidency.

With the candidates effectively tied less than seven weeks before Election Day, the US Federal Reserve made news that may well impact the race, cutting its key lending rate by half a percentage point in its first reduction since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The move, which sharply lowers borrowing costs for Americans, was well-received by Vice President Harris, who has looked to highlight her and President Joe Biden’s economic record in her race against Trump.

READ: Harris calls Trump as assassination scare sparks tensions

She called it “welcome news for Americans who have borne the brunt of high prices,” while Biden’s White House said the rate cut marked a “moment of progress” for the US economy.

But in a potential setback for the Harris camp ahead of November’s election, the influential Teamsters union announced it would not endorse a presidential candidate in 2024.

“Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before Big Business,” Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien said in a statement.

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The group had endorsed Democrats for president in every election since 2000.

The powerful union’s decision came minutes after Harris told the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute of her commitment to working Americans.

“We have to put the middle class first. We have to put the working class first, understanding their dreams and their desires and their ambitions,” she told the group in Washington.

Harris had already benefitted from the endorsement this year of other major unions including United Auto Workers and the AFL-CIO.

‘Red flag’ for Trump?

The Democratic nominee said the United States must “reform our broken immigration system and protect our Dreamers,” referring to the roughly half million undocumented immigrant youth currently protected by law.

“Understand we can do both, create an earned pathway to citizenship and ensure our border is secure,” she said.

Trump and Republicans have savaged Harris as a “border czar” who has failed to curb undocumented migration to the United States.

Trump was set to host a public rally Wednesday night on Long Island, New York.

Meanwhile, a new poll showed Harris with significant leads over Trump in swing-states Pennsylvania and Michigan, two “blue wall” battlegrounds key to victory in November.

The surveys, conducted after the candidates’ September 10 televised debate, suggest a post-showdown boost for Harris, who is widely perceived as having outperformed Trump on stage.

In the latest poll of likely voters by Quinnipiac University, Harris leads ex-president Trump 51 percent to 45 percent in Pennsylvania, and tops him 50-45 percent in Michigan. A third Rust Belt state, Wisconsin, has Harris one percentage point ahead.

“Three crucial swing states wave a red flag at the Trump campaign,” Quinnipiac University polling analyst Tim Malloy said in a statement.

Trump leads narrowly in the so-called Sun Belt states of Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina, according to an amalgam of polls on survey tracker RealClearPolitics.com. It shows Harris barely ahead in the fourth Sun Belt state of Nevada.

‘Earn the vote’

Harris only became the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate in July, after Biden ended his reelection bid following a disastrous debate performance against Trump.

The candidates were campaigning Wednesday in the aftermath of yet another tense moment in an already restive race, three days after a gunman apparently tried to assassinate the former president in Florida.

Trump held a town hall event Tuesday before fervent supporters in the beleaguered industrial city of Flint, Michigan, where he boasted that “only consequential presidents get shot at.” He also praised Harris for calling to check on him after Sunday’s assassination scare.

Trump has said the would-be shooter was a follower of what he called Biden’s and Harris’s rhetoric that he is a threat to US democracy.

Harris, who is half Black and half Indian-American, was interviewed for an hour Tuesday by the National Association of Black Journalists in battleground Pennsylvania, where she said she was “working to earn the vote” of African American men, and not just assuming they would cast ballots for her because she is Black.