UAW president Fain to be Biden guest at State of the Union

Washington — United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain will be a guest at President Joe Biden's State of the Union address Thursday night, the White House said.

Fain will be a guest of first lady Jill Biden, joining her in the House gallery viewing box for speech. Biden, a self-described friend of labor, visited a Wayne County picket line to support the UAW's strike last fall. He earned the influential labor union's endorsement in January.

"Each of these individuals were invited by the White House because they personify issues or themes to be addressed by the President in his speech, or they embody the Biden-Harris Administration’s policies at work for the American people," the White House said in Thursday's announcement.

The first lady also will be joined by Natalie King of Detroit, founder and CEO of Dunamis Charge, which the White House described as the first African American women-owned electric vehicle charger manufacturing company in the country.

Her company has over 135 workers and is on pace to produce 400,000 electric vehicle chargers by 2025. This month, King introduced Biden at the Small Business Administration’s Women’s Business Summit, according to the White House.

Fain has emerged as a surrogate for Biden's campaign to win reelection in 2024. The decision to invite Fain shows a growing focus by the president on Michigan as a crucial battleground and blue-collar auto workers as an important slice of the state's electorate.

More:UAW president, Trump clash over future of auto industry ahead of Biden visit to Michigan

Biden is set to visit Michigan again next week after making a campaign stop in Metro Detroit on Feb. 1. During that trip, Fain greeted Biden at Selfridge Air National Guard Base and accompanied the president to a UAW hall in Warren.

“We're going to fight like hell,” Fain told union members that day. “And we're going to ensure that Joe Biden is the next president.”

Former president and current Republican 2024 frontrunner Donald Trump, who won Michigan in 2016 in part due to strong support from blue-collar workers, called Fain a "dope" following the UAW's endorsement of Biden. Trump has repeatedly attacked Fain in recent weeks as he criticized the auto industry's transition to electric vehicles.

Fain, whose defiant style helped deliver significant gains for workers during the UAW strike last year, has repeatedly fought back against attacks from Trump.

During his speech endorsing Biden on Jan. 24, Fain called Trump a "scab."

“Donald Trump stands against everything we stand for as a union, as a society," Fain said. "When you go back to our core issues, wages, retirement, health care and our time, that’s what this election is about.”

Fain won't be the only UAW leader at the event. U.S. Sen. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, is bringing UAW Region 1 Director LaShawn English as his guest.

“This past fall, Michigan autoworkers won record contracts that will lift up working people and middle-class families not only in Michigan but across our country,” Peters said in a statement. "LaShawn has played a critical role in this success and supported the advancement of workers throughout our state. I’m honored she will join me for the State of the Union address.”

U.S. Rep. Dan Kildee, Democrat-Flint Township, also will bring a UAW leader. Steve Dawes, director of UAW Region 1D, will be his guest, Kildee's office said.

Another UAW member will also be in the first lady's viewing box: Dawn Simms of Davis Junction, Illinois, a third-generation autoworker on the Belvidere, Illinois, assembly line, according to the White House.

When Stellantis shuttered their local auto plant in February 2023, her son had just started his junior year in high school, and she worried she might be forced to relocate her family, the White House said in a press release.

But eventually, Stellantis agreed to reopen the plant as part of their strike negotiation with UAW. In November 2023, Simms joined President Biden in Belvidere to mark the reopening of the plant.

Michigan is home to the most auto workers in the United States, 70,000 of whom are represented by UAW, Peters' office said in a news release.

More:Insider: State of the Union guests for Michigan's congressional delegation

The auto industry directly and indirectly employs 1.1 million workers in Michigan, or about 20% of the state’s workforce, according to the Detroit Regional Chamber.

Washington Bureau Chief Melissa Nann Burke contributed.

gschwab@detroitnews.com

@GrantSchwab