The American Federation of Teachers backs presidential candidates based on who would support working families, union rights and benefits, and public education. Democrat Kamala Harris has earned our parent union’s endorsement because she is pro-public education and pro-union, as is her running mate Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor and a former teacher.

Harris wants to improve educators’ working conditions, provide universal prekindergarten, expand career and technical education, and reduce standardized testing. During her 2020 campaign for the Democratic nomination, she pledged, if she became president, to fight to raise teachers’ salaries to close the pay gap between teachers and other professionals with similar educational backgrounds.

Conversely, the platforms of Donald Trump and the Republican Party denigrate the value of public education and unions. Trump’s Agenda 47 platform would abolish teacher tenure, defund schools that engage in “inappropriate political indoctrination,” promote prayer in schools and create a “Parental Bill of Rights” to give parents control over curriculum.

Let’s not forget Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, who sought to undermine public schools at every turn, pushed voucher programs and charter schools, and famously suggested that guns have a place in schools (to protect against grizzly bears).

Project 2025, which was crafted by the conservative Heritage Foundation and many Trump administration alumni, calls for eliminating the U.S. Department of Education, creating a federal school choice program, phasing out Title I funding for the poorest students and other measures to weaken public education and labor unions.

Republicans have made no secret of wanting to erase decades of progress for our students, our profession and the labor movement. This November, the choice for union members and educators is clear.