AFL-CIO Announces Ad Buy Targeting Over 2.5 Million Pivotal Union Voters in Battleground States

September 30, 2024

The targeted digital and streaming ads featuring union members focus on reaching infrequent, swing union voters who will be pivotal in victories to Harris-Walz and pro-union U.S. Senate candidates.

(Washington, D.C.)-The AFL-CIO launched a seven-figure digital and streaming presidential ad campaign today across seven battleground states in support of Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz. Running in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, the spots focus on reaching infrequent and swing union voters who will provide the pivotal support to decide this election.

This effort builds on previous digital campaigns and months of on-the-ground conversations in battleground states, where thousands of union volunteers are contacting union voters at worksites, doors, and over the phone-and will continue every day between now and Nov. 5. In the coming weeks, the AFL-CIO ad campaign will reach more than 2.5 million union voters across states multiple times on the kitchen-table issues that matter most to working people: support of unions, lowering costs, retirement security, health care, worker safety and more. The AFL-CIO also launched ads this week backing Senate candidates-Sens. Sherrod Brown in Ohio and Jon Tester in Montana who are up for re-election, and Dan Osborn in Nebraska-in critical races that may determine control of the U.S. Senate.

"In state after state, union voters will be the difference in this election," said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. "Our digital ad campaign closely mirrors the real conversations happening in communities, because when union members talk to other union members and all our families, it cuts through the political noise like no other form of communication can. This is the most consequential election in American history for union families. That's why we're laser-focused on ensuring that the union voters who will decide this election know the stakes and know the stark contrast between Kamala Harris' and Donald Trump's policies on our jobs, our unions, and our contracts."

Union voters in battleground states will receive the digital ad content on bread-and-butter issues more than 30 times across popular platforms, including Meta, Hulu, Max, news sites and many more. The digital and streaming ad campaign, run in coordination with the AFL-CIO and our affiliated unions' ground mobilization programs, builds on the labor movement's unparalleled reach that will deliver millions of pivotal votes this election:

• 1 in 5 voters in Blue Wall states are union voters.
• Union voters account for more than 17% of the electorate in Nevada and nearly 15% of voters in Arizona.
• Union voters receiving digital and streaming ad content include infrequent, rural, Black, Latino and hard-to-reach voters who may not be showing up in public polling-the very voters who will be decisive in battleground states.
• According to an aggregate of internal and external polling, union households currently favor Harris-Walz by 17 points across battleground states, potentially providing the margin needed in some of these key areas.

"From her time as attorney general to U.S. senator to being a partner in the most pro-union administration in our lifetime, Kamala Harris has delivered for working people every step of the way," added Shuler. "Donald Trump's devastating Project 2025 Agenda would destroy unions, dismantle our freedoms and gut our contracts. In the final five weeks of this campaign, we will leave no stone unturned to reach union voters with the hard facts about the stakes in the race for working families' futures. We're confident that millions of union voters across industries and geography will deliver the decisive margins to elect Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, and pro-worker candidates up and down the ballot."

The digital ads are available to view here.

Contact: Steve Smith, 202-637-5018