In Michigan, autoworkers offer to fight for Biden, but Gaza protesters
want him out
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[February 02, 2024]
By Nandita Bose and Andrea Shalal
WARREN, Michigan (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden won a strong pledge
of support on Thursday from union autoworkers crucial to his reelection
bid in Michigan, while protests over his backing of Israel's actions in
Gaza shadowed the trip.
Biden's travel to the election battleground state was intended as a
celebration after the United Auto Workers (UAW) union recently endorsed
his reelection bid. But his visit was also met with protests from some
of the state's sizable Arab-American community, who demand the president
seek a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war and have refused to meet his
campaign.
Biden visited a UAW union hall in Warren, Michigan, where UAW members
plan to work a phone bank on his behalf ahead of the state's Feb. 27
nominating contest.
He was greeted by UAW President Shawn Fain, who last week gave a
full-throated endorsement of the Democratic incumbent and a sharp rebuke
of Republican frontrunner Donald Trump.
As the crowd chanted, "Joe, Joe," Fain promised Biden, "We're going to
fight like hell" for him to win the November presidential election.
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"Wall Street didn't build the middle class. Labor built the middle
class, and the middle class built the country," Biden said. "When labor
does well, everybody does well."
He later joked: "Besides, you built my '67 Corvette."
The campaign kept specific details of the president's visit private in
the face of expected opposition until just before his arrival.
Ahead of his motorcade, about 100 protesters marched down a street
toward the UAW location, chanting “Genocide Joe has got to go” and
waving Palestinian flags.
Before heading to Michigan, Biden attended the National Prayer Breakfast
in Washington. He said he was working to resolve the Israel-Hamas
conflict, including a two-state solution for Palestinians and bringing
home the hostages still held following Hamas's Oct. 7 attack on southern
Israel.
"We are actively working for peace," he said at the breakfast.
UNION BACKING
Former President Donald Trump, Biden's likely Republican opponent in the
Nov. 5 presidential election, blasted Fain after the union leader
endorsed Biden, and on Wednesday met with the Teamsters, one of
America's biggest unions representing truck drivers, airline pilots and
others, as he competes for their backing.
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![](../images/020224PIX/news_g76.jpg)
U.S. President Joe Biden, flanked by U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow
(D-MI) and entrepreneur Darren Riley, is greeted by United Auto
Workers (UAW) President Shawn Fain as he arrives in the Detroit
metro area, Michigan, U.S., February 1, 2024. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Feb/02/images/ads/current/debbiesfloral_lda_122623.png)
The auto industry and its labor movement are deeply intertwined with
politics and elections in Michigan.
In 2016, Trump earned a level of support from union members that no
Republican had reached since Ronald Reagan in 1980, helping him
narrowly capture the critical states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and
Wisconsin.
Biden rebounded with unions in 2020, with a roughly 16-percentage
point advantage as he reclaimed those so-called Rust Belt states,
which have been scarred by decades of job losses as companies
embraced lower-cost, often non-union locations. He won Michigan in
2020 by some 154,000 votes.
Across the Detroit area, protesters had amassed in cars and vans
with blue and white "Abandon Biden" signs and Palestinian flags
ahead of Biden's Thursday visit, planning to rush to wherever he
appeared.
"We're ready to go. I have my megaphone in the car," said Farah
Khan, a Pakistani-American who voted for Biden in 2020 but now
supports the Abandon Biden campaign in Michigan, told Reuters. "We
have 92 Abandon Biden chapters across the country. This is bigger
than just Michigan."
Arab Americans account for 5% of the vote in Michigan and Biden's
margin of victory over Trump was less than 3 percentage points in
2020. An October poll showed Biden's support among Arab Americans
had plunged to 17% from 59% in 2020.
However, Biden's campaign believes that his support from union
workers could overcome any drop in support from the Arab-American
community. A Biden campaign official said the UAW's endorsement will
mean more in November in Michigan than the anger among Muslim voters
in the state.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose and Andrea Shalal in Michigan and Steve
Holland in Washington; Editing by Heather Timmons, Paul Thomasch,
Susan Heavey, Jonathan Oatis and Sonali Paul)
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