WISCONSIN — Vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence both visited the Badger state this Labor Day.
Sen. Harris visited Milwaukee Monday afternoon, while Pence arrived in La Crosse in the morning.
These visits come on the heels of presidential candidate Joe Biden's and President Donald Trump's separate visits to Kenosha last week. The two candidates visited Kenosha in the aftermath of the shooting of Jacob Blake by police and subsequent protests.
Pence visited Dairyland Power Cooperative and delivered remarks thanking the workforce, as well as law enforcement.
According to the White House, Trump's administration led to an unemployment rate of 3.1% in March and 59,600 Wisconsin jobs, including 15,000 manufacturing jobs since Trump took office. Since the pandemic, over 200,000 Wisconsin jobs have been recovered and over 92% of Wisconsin small businesses have safely reopened.
"[President Trump] is the best friend American workers have ever had," Pence said.
Harris, on her first solo stop, began her visit with a private visit with Blake’s family. She met with Blake’s father and two sisters, and spoke with other family members over the phone. She also spoke with Blake, who is still paralyzed, over the phone during the meeting.
"[...] They’re an incredible family and what they’ve endured, and they do it with such dignity and grace," Harris said during the tour. "And you know, they're carrying the weight of a lot of voices on their shoulders."
The senator then toured an International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) training facility and spoke with IBEW members and Wisconsin labor leadership about Biden’s commitment to workers and organized labor.
Following the tour, Harris attended a “Build Back Better” roundtable with Black Milwaukee business owners.
This is Harris' first visit to the battleground state of Wisconsin since she accepted the nomination. She did not attend the Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee, which was held mostly virtually around the country, due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Pence was most recently supposed to deliver remarks to the 2020 graduating class at Wisconsin Lutheran College's commencement ceremony, but there was a change of plans following the police shooting of Jacob Blake that caused protesting and civil uprest.
Both campaigns see Wisconsin as a prize that could be pivotal. Trump’s narrow win in Wisconsin in 2016 helped to send him to the White House.
Monday's visit from both vice presidential candidates marks the first time both VP candidates have been in the same state on the same day while campaigning.
According to details shared first with The Associated Press, the Biden campaign will announce three union endorsements: the Laborers’ International Union of North America, the International Union of Elevator Constructors and the National Federation of Federal Employees, collectively representing hundreds of thousands of union workers nationwide who can be mobilized to support the campaign. The Biden campaign believes its labor support could help get out the vote in states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
The U.S. economy has been steadily rebounding from its epic collapse in the spring as many businesses have reopened and rehired some laid-off employees. Yet the recovery is far from complete. Only about half the 22 million jobs that vanished in the pandemic have been recovered.
Economic inequalities also appear to have widened, with lower-income and minority workers suffering disproportionately while affluent Americans have lost fewer jobs and even benefited from rising stock and home prices.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.