LAS VEGAS (AP) – Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine is set to try to shore up labor support with a little help from his dad.
Kaine will make a personal appeal on Monday at the ironworkers’ union annual convention, held this year in Las Vegas.
Accompanying Kaine will be his father, Al Kaine, who owned a union-organized ironworking and welding shop in the Kansas City, Missouri, area. The senior Kaine owned the shop, Iron Crafters, for more than 20 years and also served many years on the ironworkers’ national pension board.
Tim Kaine and his running mate, Hillary Clinton, are competing against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump for the support of blue-collar workers, particularly in Midwest battleground states where wages have stagnated and a decline in manufacturing jobs has hurt workers.
Major unions, including the ironworkers, have endorsed Clinton, and the labor vote has long been a key part of the Democratic base.