Teachers union pres comes out for Josh Shapiro, John Fetterman in PA

The head of the American Federation of Teachers Randi Weingarten campaigned in Pittsburgh Wednesday in support of Josh Shapiro and John Fetterman, declaring both candidates to be “on our side.”

Randi Weingarten was joined by First Lady Jill Biden on the campaign trail and said in her speech that her grandchildren have less freedom than she did as a child, and accused Republicans of using kids as “political pawns.”

“My grandkids, they're two and a half and six. They have less freedom than I had, and I have now, and I was the first out gay person as a leader of a union in the United States,” said Weingarten.

“They just use our kids as political pawns. In culture wars,” she went on, before accusing Republicans of taking “a knife to our democracy.”

Weingarten then urged the assembled crowd to get out and vote because “these elections are really close.”

“Because what we need are people like our special, special guest and her husband. Dr. Biden, Dr. B as we know her, as First Lady has been, frankly a sea change from the last First Lady,” continued Weingarten. “For her humanity, for her decency, for her competence, for science, for inclusion for our kids, our schools, our communities. And yes, for our members.”

One the subject of freedoms enjoyed by children now compared to those of the past, parental rights advocate Megan Brock pointed out on Twitter that it was Josh Shapiro who aligned with the wishes of teachers’ unions when they were pushing for virtual learning in July 2020, and fighting against the federal push for a return to in-person learning.

Brock says that children now struggle with “unprecedented learning loss” and that there is an “escalating mental health crisis” as a result of what she believes were “unnecessary, prolonged school closures.”

“We must vote [out] every Democrat who hurt our children. In Pennsylvania the choice is clear: vote for @dougmastriano and @DrOz,” said Brock.