President Biden will travel to Michigan on Tuesday to join a group of striking autoworkers on the picket line, an extraordinary gesture of support to a labor union by a sitting American president.
At first glance, the visit looks like a capstone for a politician who has for decades positioned himself as a champion of the middle class, but other political forces are at play as well.
Mr. Biden will join the workers in Wayne County one day before his predecessor and likely 2024 rival, former President Donald J. Trump, is scheduled to visit a nearby county and deliver remarks to current and former union members.
It is the first time this campaign season that the two men, whose political styles are as divergent as their visions for the country, will be competing in real time to present dueling messages to a powerful bloc of voters in a key swing state.
In one corner, Mr. Biden has argued that his clean-energy agenda, including a shift toward electric vehicles, will create new manufacturing jobs, even as companies that make batteries and other electric-vehicle parts resist unionizing their workers.
Persons:
Biden, Donald J, Trump
Locations:
Michigan, Wayne County