HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — The nation’s largest teachers’ union has endorsed Kamala Harris for President during its national convention in Houston.
The American Federation of Teachers (AFT), with 3,500 delegates, overwhelmingly voted to support Vice President Harris after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race.
“AFT President Randi Weingarten praised Harris, saying, “The American people have a great choice in Kamala Harris for President. We need to stand together on behalf of democracy, human rights, and economic rights for working people.”
While public education and health are primary topics at this week’s national convention at the George R. Brown Convention Center, politics remains a focal point.
Colin Allred, a Democratic congressman from North Texas running for Senate against Ted Cruz, did not mention Biden or Harris in his speech despite endorsing her in a written statement this weekend. Instead, he criticized Cruz: “When I was in the NFL, we had a word for guys like Ted. We called them ‘me guys’. ‘Me guys’ are always looking out for themselves first.”
At the same time, Cruz held a press conference in Houston, where he criticized Biden, Harris, and Allred: “One hundred percent of the Joe Biden record is Kamala Harris’. Colin Allred, during his first four years in Congress, voted 100% with Nancy Pelosi.”
The race between Cruz and Allred, though not the top issue given the weekend’s developments, is one of the high-profile races impacted by Biden’s withdrawal. Texas’s political significance is underscored by the AFT’s choice of Houston for its convention and endorsement.
Houston Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia was among the first to address the surprising news in her early morning speech: “Has this whole weekend been a civics class? We’re lucky because his partner through it all has been Kamala Harris, and she will be the next president of the United States of America. She will be the first woman president.”
Despite Republican criticism of Harris’s policies and experience, she is not yet the official Democratic nominee. Governor Greg Abbott joined Cruz and other GOP leaders in blaming her for immigration issues at the southern U.S. border: “She has utterly failed as it concerns the border. The United States has never suffered as much as we are now because of these open border policies.”
Although Harris was tasked with leading the administration’s efforts on migration from Central America, she was never designated as a border czar. If she becomes the nominee, expect the border to remain a significant issue leading up to Election Day.
Abbott has been particularly critical of the Biden administration’s handling of the border crisis, which saw a sharp increase in migrants seeking asylum and crossing into the United States illegally. However, border crossings from Central American nations like Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador have decreased each year since 2021, according to the administration.
