Kamala Harris announces executive order on union apprenticeships in Wisconsin

MADISON – Vice President Kamala Harris visited a Madison construction site Wednesday to announce a new executive order aimed at promoting apprenticeships as top Biden administration officials continue to blanket the battleground state eight months before the presidential election.

Joined by Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su, Harris delivered brief remarks from what will be a new Madison Metro Transit facility, where electric buses will be charged and serviced as part of a new bus rapid transit system. She announced the signing of an executive order directing federal agencies to explore which government jobs can be filled with trained apprentices, rather than those with four-year degrees.

"The work that is happening here really is a wonderful example of so many of our administration’s priorities," Harris said. "It is also an example of the fact that when we invest in the American people, including the American worker, everyone benefits."

The stop is part of what the Biden administration has described as its efforts to continue “fighting for workers, advancing economic opportunity and building a strong economy for all Americans.” But it also continues a recent flood of visits from President Joe Biden and his top officials to a state that could prove critical in the path to the White House in 2024.

Since the start of the year, Biden officials have made six visits to the state — from Milwaukee and Waukesha to Madison and north to Green Bay and Superior. The trips underscore the heightened attention on Wisconsin heading into November, and they come as the Biden-Harris campaign recently beefed up its staff in the state.

Biden has made a concerted effort to highlight the strong and growing economy to voters in Wisconsin in recent months. Other top administration figures, like first lady Jill Biden, have sought to energize women voters in a state where abortion will remain a top campaign issue for Democrats.

Harris last visited Wisconsin in late January, when she kicked off her nationwide tour focused on abortion access in Waukesha County, a traditionally Republican stronghold.

In a call with reporters, Republican Party of Wisconsin chairman Brian Schimming said Harris' stop and others "aren't just visits, they're rescue missions."

"She's here for a reason, and that is that this ticket is in trouble," Schimming said. "If she has to come to the base of Democrat voters in Wisconsin, in my hometown of Madison, to try to rescue the fortunes of this ticket, they are in real trouble."

Former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee who this week swept through Super Tuesday primaries across the country, has yet to visit Wisconsin this election cycle at a time when polling shows both Trump and Biden are similarly unpopular among likely voters in the state.

Schimming said he was "quite sure" Trump and other surrogates would come to Wisconsin. Republican U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson said Trump knows "exactly how crucial Wisconsin is" and the state just has a later primary.

Asked by reporters how she and Biden will defeat Trump in Wisconsin, Harris responded: "One vote at a time." Wisconsin’s presidential primary is set for April 2.

On Wednesday, though, Harris stood in the large warehouse-style construction facility dotted with construction equipment as she spoke with a handful of registered apprentices in white hard hats and orange and neon green sweatshirts.

One man Harris met with, she told reporters, joined an apprenticeship program because he had a new baby and wanted to find a job that would turn into a career.

She detailed the executive order, which the administration said will encourage agencies to “provide preferences on projects that receive federal grants and contracts” to organizations that hire workers who have participated in apprenticeship programs.

"They are learning skills that are about engineering and technology," Harris said. "They are learning skills that's about complex math and science."

"These are the kinds of skills that we need in a variety of jobs that... are an addition to the work that we're doing to rebuild America's infrastructure."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kamala Harris touts union initiatives in latest Wisconsin visit