DETROIT — Putting Vice President Kamala Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket increases the Democrats’ chance of winning Michigan and keeping the White House in November, the head of the United Auto Workers says.

In a recent interview, Shawn Fain said former President Donald Trump is beholden to billionaires, knows nothing about the auto industry and would send the labor movement into reverse if elected again.

“Trump has never supported working-class people. He has never supported unions,” Fain said. “But he sure as hell was trying to pander for our votes now.”

Fain has become a top nemesis of the Republican presidential nominee, who frequently rails against Fain at rallies and in speeches.

Trump has called him an idiot, courting autoworkers’ votes by saying Fain is putting their jobs at risk by embracing a move to electric vehicles.

Although the UAW has members across the nation, many auto-making jobs are concentrated in the Great Lakers region — including Michigan, a swing state that could decide the presidential race Nov. 5. The UAW endorsed Harris last week.

In a statement, Trump’s campaign called Fain “a puppet for the Democrat party” who isn’t serving union laborers who are supporting Trump.

Trump and Harris realize that increasing their share of union votes gives them a much better chance of taking Michigan, where the past two presidential elections have been close, said Marick Masters, a business professor emeritus at Wayne State University who follows labor issues.

Trump won the state by 11,000 votes in 2016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton, and then lost it four years later by nearly 154,000 votes to President Joe Biden.

Appealing to autoworkers helps to get votes from other union members, and union membership is high in the state at about 556,000, Masters said. That doesn’t include thousands of family members and union retirees, he said. Any swing in those votes would be consequential in the race.

During his acceptance speech at the Republican convention last month, Trump called on union workers to fire Fain, using false statements that Chinese auto companies are building factories in Mexico to ship vehicles to the United States without tariffs.

Industry analysts say they aren’t aware of any such plans.

“You probably have to get rid of this fool, this stupid idiot representing the United Auto Workers,” Trump said at a July 20 rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Trump claimed he’ll get 95% of the UAW vote because Fain is pushing electric vehicles.

Trump also pledged to bring the auto industry back from obliteration if he’s elected.

But the industry is far from that kind of shape.

Since Biden took office in January 2021, employment making cars and parts has grown 13.8% to just over 1 million people, according to the Labor Department. Detroit automakers GM, Ford and Stellantis have made billions in profits.

Fain dismissed the insults as typical Trump behavior.

“All the man does (is) name-call, label people. He never has solutions,” he said. “That’s the problem in leadership. You need to find solutions.”

The move from internal combustion vehicles to those powered by electricity is inevitable, Fain said, and union members need to be ready for it.

During the transition, auto companies are still making gasoline vehicles and keeping factory workers employed, he said.

Trump, he said, did nothing for autoworkers when GM closed its small-car assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio, in 2019.

Biden, who last month announced he would drop out of the race and support Harris, helped to get GM to build an electric vehicle battery plant in the Lordstown area, replacing some of the lost jobs, Fain said.

Fain said he’s confident that Harris will remain an advocate for working people, citing her trip to walk picket lines with striking GM workers in 2019.

“She was there with the president through a lot of things we’ve been through,” he said. “She’s been there for labor.”

Fain reiterated that the 370,000-member UAW stands behind Harris.

“I think she’s a brilliant woman. A very strong person,” he said. “She understands the issues. I think Trump’s just all talk. That’s all he’s ever been. He’s a showman.”