Actors’ Equity Association, the national labor union representing theater actors, stage manager and other workers in live entertainment, has endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States and Governor Tim Walz as her vice president.
In a lengthy statement, Al Vincent, Jr., executive director of Actors’ Equity Association, made the union’s case for the endorsement:
“Vice President Harris has prioritized the needs of workers her entire career. Over these last few years she has played a vital role in President Biden’s staunchly pro-labor administration. We are excited for her, along with Governor Walz, to accelerate that momentum to enact policies that honor and protect all Americans. We need everyone to ride this momentum, too, and raise Vice President Harris into the presidency this November.
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“Actors’ Equity Association endorsed Kamala Harris for Vice President in 2020 and in 2024 because we know she has the best interest of working people at the heart of her political philosophy. Now, by picking Tim Walz as her running mate, a man who in Congress and as governor of Minnesota has championed union causes, she has already demonstrated that she will continue to be a champion of labor. She has proven time and again that she fights for the issues that matter most to Equity members, including preserving our democracy, protecting abortion access, stopping climate change and enacting common-sense gun control. I am excited for a Harris presidency, which I know will build on the pro-labor legacy of the Biden administration.
“Governor Walz is the best vice presidential pick we could have hoped for. After twenty years as a public school teacher and union member, he truly internalized the importance of centering the needs of working families and using his influence to benefit his community. As a lawmaker, he has excellent records on LGBTQ rights, reproductive freedom and the right to organize -– all issues that are core to this union.”
Equity had endorsed the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris ticket, as it did for the last election. The union noted that, during the current Biden-Harris administration, funding for the National Endowment for the Arts has increased by $52 million along with $135 million in supplemental funding for the NEA/NEH.
The administration’s Covid relief was also cited as “critical for countless arts workers, including temporary COBRA health insurance subsidy, supporting pandemic unemployment insurance that was vital for the unique employment structure of arts workers and allowing labor unions access to PPP funds like most other businesses.”
Also mentioned was The American Rescue Plan, which the union said expanded financial assistance to Americans enrolling in health insurance through the Affordable Care Act, “a critical need for many Equity members during the shutdown of the industry during Covid.”
The endorsement reflects Equity’s efforts to increase political power for union since 2020, taking measures to form a political action committee, expand the union’s use of political endorsements and sending union members to turn out union voters in battleground states.
The union said its current legislative priorities include the PRO Act and the Performing Artist Tax Parity Act.