USW - United Steelworkers
11/26/2024 | News release | Distributed by Public on 11/26/2024 10:30
From the SOAR Director: Retirees Have Reason to Celebrate
Nov 26, 2024
From the SOAR Director: Retirees Have Reason to Celebrate
Throughout 2024, mainly since Labor Day, USW and SOAR members worked tirelessly to ensure our core values were on voters' minds as they prepared to cast their ballots.
In our conversations with fellow union members, our families and the 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 and those who don't.
By midnight on November 5, it was clear that our union's endorsed candidate for President, Kamala Harris, would not be victorious.
However, we've been thankful for the number of USW-backed candidates who have prevailed as votes continue to be counted in the battleground states, including:
- Arizona: Voters elected Ruben Gallego to the United States Senate;
- Michigan: Voters opted to secure a labor-friendly majority in 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);
- 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 outcome in Ohio's 9th Congressional District, where our longtime friend, Marcy Kaptur, is currently leading;
- 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);
- 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), Chris Deluzio (CD-17), Nick Pisciottano (SD-45), Rob Matzie (HD-16) and Arvind Venkat (HD-30); and,
- 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.
Outside of these battleground states, our union is celebrating a growing list of victories for pro-labor candidates in local, state and federal elections, including those who won in competitive elections for the U.S. House of Representatives, including Frank Mrvan (IN-1), Nikki Budzinski (IL-13), and Eric Sorenson (IL-17).
This is far from a complete list of all the victories our efforts helped secure in the 2024 elections. But, we wanted to highlight these wins because we are proud of the tireless work of our USW and SOAR members who, against all odds, helped ensure an election outcome that will mean retired and working people will continue to be well-represented in local, state and federal government.
Rest up during the holidays! And get ready for our ongoing efforts to continue this vital work in 2025.
-SOAR Director
Julie Stein