Like any good Democratic politician running for office in the heartland of America’s automotive industry,has cast himself as an unyielding ally of the United Auto Workers, the sector’s biggest labor union.
In the 2010s, Harper featured in several promotional campaigns for Lexus, the luxury car division of Toyota. In 2011, he narrated and appeared in a TV ad for a new Lexus model, and also began co-hosting a Lexus-sponsored program called “Verses and Flow,” which the company called “a 30-minute variety show that features spoken word and music talent, engineered by Lexus.” The show ended in 2017.
Through the years, Toyota also hyped Harper. In 2011, it gave him the “Lexus Pursuit of Perfection” award at an event in Atlanta. In 2016, Toyota donated $10,000 to Harper’s charitable foundation to benefit Black youth. He posed with the check. Slotkin, who is the favorite in the primary, has been endorsed by a number of Michigan labor unions, and appeared on UAW picket lines in Michigan over the weekend.
While it’s virtually unheard of to see a major candidate in Michigan who was once on the payroll of a foreign auto company, it’s rare to see a major candidate, from either party, who would be seen rolling up anywhere in the state in a foreign car. With workers testifying that their wages have failed to reflect their work or keep up with economic conditions—not to mention keep up with CEO pay increases—the UAW is demanding 40 percent wage increases over four years, along with reinstated pension benefits.