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LABOR 2008
Union Voters Help Drive Historic Victory
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(This article first appeared in
the January/February 2009 issue of
The American Postal Worker magazine. [PDF])
The overwhelming support of unionists and their families played an important role in Barack Obama’s historic victory, with labor’s widespread, multi-pronged support boosting not only the president-elect, but numerous other worker-friendly candidates.
The AFL-CIO “Labor 2008” program was a driving force behind the sweeping wins from coast to coast, which are considered a mandate for economic change.
“We reclaimed our country from those who are serving corporate interests and the privileged at the expense of everyone else,” labor federation President John Sweeney said. “We have taken the first crucial steps to build a better future for our children and grandchildren.”
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Labor 2008 campaigners were all over the map, and were especially active
in “swing” states, with activists talking one-on-one with other
union members, their families, and union retirees. The goal of the phone
calls, door-to-door “labor walks” in residential neighborhoods,
and mass mailings was to increase the margin of victory among traditional
working family voters in sufficient numbers to turn the tide in the
key states. And it worked.
In traditional swing states such as Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, the Labor 2008 effort focused on retirees, veterans, and gun owners. When the numbers were all in, it was clear that the union-member vote made a difference.
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And in several other states, the grass-roots campaign for the worker agenda drove remarkable turnarounds, with more than eight in 10 union members in battleground states saying that they heard from their union during the election cycle.
Your union was in the thick of the battle: APWU members, as these pages show, were a strong presence in Labor 2008.
Success in the West
In three key battleground states out West — Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico — Labor 2008 helped Obama and other worker-friendly candidates prevail.
In Colorado, nine electoral votes swung Democratic, and the working-families campaign helped pick up a Senate seat — Mark Udall — and a House seat. “The biggest surprise was the huge win for Betsy Markey,” Denver Metro Area Local Legislative Director Tina Desautels said of the House win. “We did a lot of work on that race and she loves us post office people.”
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At the Democratic National Convention, which was held in Denver, APWU
local members were active behind the scenes: Clerk Craft Director Brian
Thomason, Motor Vehicle Services Craft Director Robert Helmig, and local
President Gary Scott provided security and logistical support for a backstage “boiler
room” that served as headquarters for technicians coordinating camera
shots of delegates.
Colorado voters also turned back Amendment 7, a contentious “right-to-work” measure that sought to restrict unionorganizing activities and that was backed by the state Chamber of Commerce and a number of other business groups.
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Healthy Heartland Gains
Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Iowa all went Democratic in 2008, with Iowa an important turnaround state.
Democrats had carried Iowa in the last several presidential races until George W. Bush captured just over half of the vote in 2004. But in 2008, Obama won with 54 percent of the vote. Sen. Tom Harkin defeated the GOP nominee, businessman Christopher Reed, with 63 percent of the vote.
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In Michigan, there was a gain of two House seats for the Democrats, and
in Minnesota, first-timer Al Franken and Republican incumbent Norm Coleman
were in a very close race, with Coleman winning the initial count by less
than .01 percent of the nearly 2.9 million votes cast statewide. A recount
drew Franken even closer, and by mid-December, several thousand ballots
were still to be considered.
A Sound Southern Strategy
In three of the election’s toughest battlegrounds, Barack Obama won big, netting 55 Electoral College votes in Virginia (13), North Carolina (15), and Florida (27), all George W. Bush victories in the previous two presidential elections.
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In North Carolina, state Senator Kay Hagen defeated incumbent Republican
Elizabeth Dole. A Virginia Senate seat also went Democratic.
With incumbent GOP Senator John Warner not seeking another term, two former governors squared off: Jim Gilmore, a Republican who had made a bid for his party’s presidential nomination, and Mark Warner (no relation to the incumbent), who held a strong lead in the polls almost from the get-go.
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When asked in June whether the Republicans were abandoning their hopes of holding onto the seat, Nevada Senator John Ensign, the chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, responded, “You don’t waste money on races that don’t need it, or that you can’t win.” On election night, Virginia’s was one of the first Senate races to be called, with Warner collecting a healthy 64 percent of the vote. (Democrats also picked up three House seats in Virginia, giving the state’s delegation a 6-5 majority in Washington.)
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As part of the “Walk, Knock, and Talk across the Hoosier State” campaign, APWU members Tom Landis (Northern Indiana Unified Area Local) and Amy Sutcliff (Fort Wayne Area Local) were ready to hit the streets for a “Labor Walk” in Gary on Oct. 4. |
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APWU Tri-County Ohio Area Local activists helped coordinate a multi-union mailing in late July to more than 7,000 labor household in the Cincinnati area. |
Shining On In The Rustbelt And Elsewhere
With Indiana and Ohio turning it around and going for Obama, the Democrats picked up 31 important Electoral College votes, and held on to Pennsylvania (21 EC votes), giving the party supported by most working families a sweep in the presidential race of the three “rustbelt battleground” states.
Democrats in Ohio and Pennsylvania showed a net gain of three or four House seats as well.
Meanwhile, nationwide, Obama won all the states that John Kerry won in 2004, and picked up nine others: Florida (27 Electoral College votes), Ohio (20), North Carolina (15), Virginia (13), Indiana (11), Colorado (9), Iowa (7), Nevada (5), and New Mexico (5).
The Senatorial Swings
Seven U.S. Senate seats switched from the Republicans to the Democratic side of the ledger on Nov. 4, with one more seat still in question: Minnesota is undergoing a recount.
New Mexico’s voters elected Democrat Tom Udall, first cousin to Colorado Senator-elect Mark Udall, who won his bid to fill the seat of retiring GOP Sen. Pete Domenici.
In Alaska, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich beat Sen. Ted Stevens, a Republican seeking his eighth term despite federal investigations into his conduct. (On July 29, a federal grand jury indicted Stevens on seven felony counts for making false statements, and on Oct. 26, a jury found him guilty on all charges.) The fourth Senate-seat change in the western U.S. was in Oregon, where the state’s House of Representatives Speaker Jeff Merkley defeated the GOP’s two-term incumbent, Gordon Smith.
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Other changes in the Senate: North Carolina and Virginia (see previous page) and New Hampshire.
All told, 35 Senate seats were up for grabs. Democrats held onto all 12 of theirs, while among the 23GOP seats up for re-election, Democrats won 7,with the Minnesota seat still undecided. The Democrats will hold at least 58 of the 100 seats in the Senate.
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Holding On In Northeast Stronghold
From northern Maine to southern Maryland, Democrats have held steady during the Bush administration. But New Hampshire went for George W. Bush in 2000 and John Kerry barely carried the state in 2004.
New Hampshire Democrats did make gains in 2006, however, taking both of the previously Republican-held House seats and the gubernatorial race, and winning majorities in the state House and Senate, which gave them control of both bodies at the same time for the first time since 1874. The state’s Democrats also elected their first U.S. senator since 1975, with former Gov. Jeanne Shaheen defeating Republican and incumbent John Sununu.
There were gains as well in the already strongly-Democratic U.S. House, with New York working- families candidates picking up three seats and the only Republican House seat in New England, Connecticut’s 4th Congressional District, which is now Democratic.
House Gains
Across the country, union activists also helped elect more U.S. Representatives who will stand up for working families.
Labor played a major role in electing pro-union candidates to 16 of 19 open House seats, and helped defeat 15 anti-union incumbents, producing a net gain of 24 new pro-worker legislators.
When the 111th Congress convenes on Jan. 6, 2009, the new lineup for the House of Representatives will be 257 Democrats and 178 Republicans.
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Looking Ahead... |
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While helping to get out the vote, Philadelphia Area Local APWU member Lisa Powell paused in front of a poster for the Employee Free Choice Act. The Obama victory and gains in the House and Senate are likely to give a boost to the drive to pass the measure, which would give American workers greater freedom to make their own choices about joining unions. The law also would stiffen penalties for harassment, intimidation, and other illegal tactics employers often use to prevent workers from unionizing. |
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