This article was originally published in the Election Connection.
Throughout 2024, particularly since Labor Day, USW members and retirees worked tirelessly to ensure our core values were on the minds of voters as they prepared to cast their ballot.
In our conversations with fellow union members, our families and community, we spoke passionately about collective bargaining, workplace safety and health, job security, domestic economic issues, health care, and retirement security.
We also did everything in our power to remind union voters of the following:
· Our union’s endorsements are a recognition of shared values. As with any election, the USW only endorsed candidates who clearly demonstrated their support for protecting and strengthening unions. If a candidate was anti-union, they didn’t get our support. It’s that simple.
· Who you vote for is a personal decision, and the central role of our member-to-member voter mobilization effort is to ensure union members and our families know which candidates share our values, as well as those who don’t.
While the union’s endorsed candidate for president, Kamala Harris, was not victorious, we are thankful for the number of USW-backed candidates who prevailed in presidential battleground states, including:
· Arizona: Voters elected Ruben Gallego to the United States Senate.
· Michigan: Voters opted to secure a labor-friendly majority to the state supreme court with the election of Kyra Harris Boulden and Kimberly Ann Thomas. Additionally, our friend Elissa Slotkin prevailed in her campaign for the U.S. Senate, along with labor-friendly candidates in competitive Congressional Districts including Hillary Scholten (MI-3), Kristen McDonald Rivet (MI-8), Haley Stevens (MI-11), and Shri Thanedar (MI-13).
· Nevada: Our efforts were key in securing reelection for U.S. Senator Jacky Rosen, while also assuring victories for Dina Titus (CD-1), Susie Lee (CD-2) and Steven Horsford (CD-4).
· North Carolina: Union ally Josh Stein was elected Governor.
· Ohio: Voters reelected incumbent labor allies including Greg Landsman (OH-1), Joyce Beatty (OH-3), Shontel Brown (OH-11) and Emilia Sykes (OH-13). We are still awaiting the final outcome in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District where our longtime friend, Marcy Kaptur, is currently leading.
· Pennsylvania: Voters opted to keep a labor-friendly majority in the state house while also delivering victories for union-endorsed candidates including Chrissy Houlihan (CD-6) and Chris Deluzio (CD-17).
· Wisconsin: One of our closest allies in the U.S. Senate, Tammy Baldwin, prevailed in her reelection campaign while labor-friendly allies made inroads in the newly redistricted state legislature.
This is far from being a complete list of all the victories our efforts helped secure in the 2024 elections. But, we wanted to bring attention to these wins because we are proud of the tireless work of USW members who helped ensure an election outcome that will mean working people will continue to be well represented in local, state and federal government.