Vice President Kamala Harris returns to Chicago on Tuesday to speak to the National Education Association at McCormick Place.
Harris will travel to Chicago with her husband, second gentleman Doug Emhoff, for the NEA’s 2022 annual meeting and representative assembly.
NEA members are an important part of the Democratic base and NEA President Becky Pringle is well known in the Biden White House. At a May 20 event in a Washington suburb highlighting how the Biden infrastructure bill will fund investments in electric school buses, Harris gave a shout-out to Pringle and added, “And to all the teachers — just such noble and important work that you do.”
A White House official told the Chicago Sun-Times that at the NEA annual meeting, Harris will “discuss the challenges educators have faced in recent years and highlight their critical role in communities across the country, as well as the Biden-Harris’ Administration historic investments to support students and educators. The Vice President will also speak to the critical importance of labor unions and how the Administration is removing barriers to organizing.”
Harris was just in Illinois on June 24 for events in Plainfield and Chicago.
It’s not known yet if Harris will add events to her upcoming Chicago visit or do any fundraising. Nor is it known if Emhoff has any solo activities planned.
As Harris has recounted now several times — most recently at a Democratic National Committee fundraiser June 30 in Los Gatos, Calif. — Harris was on Air Force Two with Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., heading to the airport in Aurora when they learned the Supreme Court had reversed Roe v. Wade, ending federal protections for abortion rights. After a speech in Plainfield blasting the Supreme Court decision, Harris traveled to Chicago to speak to the annual conference of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials.
The vice president and second gentleman will spend the July 4 holiday in Los Angeles.
