Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and United Automobile Workers President Shawn Fain spoke at a Harris-Walz campaign event to mobilize early voters in Philadelphia on Oct. 20.
At the “Get Out the Early Vote” rally, Ocasio-Cortez and Fain encouraged an energized crowd of around 250 attendees to continue canvassing and door-knocking in the final two weeks leading up to Election Day. The speakers appealed to the experiences of working Americans and highlighted the importance of union labor, stressing unity and solidarity.
The event was held at a union hall in Center City owned by a local chapter of the Service Employees International Union, and drew a crowd composed primarily of young voters and union workers from the Philadelphia area.
A number of speakers addressed the crowd before Ocasio-Cortez and Fain took the stage, including Vice President at 32BJ SEIU Vice President Sam Williamson, Pennsylvania State Sen. Nikil Saval (D-Philadelphia), SEIU union member Tyrone Payne, and actress and activist Danai Gurira.
Daniel Vicente, the regional director of the United Auto Workers region that encompasses Pennsylvania, also gave introductory remarks. He highlighted Harris’ pro-labor record as a reason for the union’s endorsement of her in this election, despite what he characterized as the Democratic Party’s history of neglecting “blue collar working people.”
“The reason we are endorsing this woman is because she's already done it in the past. The UAW wasn't popular in 2019 like it is now. Kamala was on our strike lines. GM was out on strike for 40 days. Donald Trump was the president at the time. What the hell did he say about the strike? Not a damn thing,” Vicente said.
Ocasio-Cortez spoke about a number of key issues — including Medicare, the minimum wage, and natural disaster response — that would be decided by the election, emphasizing her desire to “organize” under a Harris-Walz administration rather than “go back to a past of Donald Trump.”
“When we're being handed conditions where our rights are being taken away, I know that I don't want to leave anybody else to be making this choice but us. We need to make this choice, and if we sit it out, we're allowing the same people who made the decisions up to this point, continue to make them for tomorrow. We can't stand that,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
Fain echoed a similar message, saying that organized labor must stand united to win the upcoming election.
“We have a choice in this election. It's a real simple choice to me. It's either electing candidates to protect billionaires and sow division among the masses, or we elect someone who fights for the working class and will unite the people,” Fain said.
Several speakers, including Ocasio-Cortez, remarked on the ongoing Israel-Hamas war during the event. The New York representative said that “what [the United States is] doing in Gaza” was “atrocious,” a comment met with cheers from the audience. Ocasio-Cortez stressed that while she may not agree with Harris on “everything” she would rather be “wrestling with Kamala Harris and Tim [Walz] in the White House than with Donald Trump.”
In an interview with The Daily Pennsylvanian, Vicente noted that the war was an important issue for many of his union members and young people around the country — including graduate workers at Penn— but emphasized that voters should focus on more than one issue and recognize that Trump poses a “legitimate threat” to democracy and to organized labor.
In her speech, Ocasio-Cortez also emphasized the role Pennsylvania voters will play on Nov. 5, emphasizing that the presidential race will be determined in “places like Philadelphia.” The swing state — and its 19 crucial electoral votes — has attracted numerous visits from both campaigns throughout the election cycle, including former President and 1968 Wharton graduate Donald Trump, who was in Bucks County, on the same day.
Multiple speakers commented on Trump’s visit to a Bucks County McDonald’s earlier that day, contrasting his socioeconomic background with Harris’.
“Today, Donald Trump, a 78 year old who's never earned a real paycheck in his life, was putting on a show playing dress up at McDonald's to act like he is one of us,” Fain said. “Kamala Harris doesn't have to put on a show. She doesn't have to play dress-up at McDonald's because she actually wore the uniform.”
Fain referenced Penn’s graduate student workers union — who voted overwhelmingly to unionize earlier this year — in both his speech and in an interview with the DP.
“[Organized labor] lives on right here in Pennsylvania where 4,000 graduate students at Penn formed a union this past year,” he said on stage.
Fain told the DP that higher education was the fastest growing sector of the UAW, noting that he was “really excited about the Penn workers.”
College junior and Penn Democrats Political Director Lucas Eisen said he was excited to see Ocasio-Cortez at the event, calling her “emblematic of a new generation of leadership.” Eisen also noted that election enthusiasm on Penn’s campus has been “consistent,” and said “it’s been exhilarating” to be in Philadelphia during a general election season.
When asked about her message to Philadelphia college students in the election, Ocasio-Cortez told the DP that the presidential race would be determined by the “respective enthusiasm” of both parties’ bases.
“Youth turnout is going to be critically essential. We saw this in 2020. Young people turned Pennsylvania for the victory of President Biden, and we need young people to turn Pennsylvania for the victory of Kamala Harris,” Ocasio-Cortez said.
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