Election Recap and Forward

As the dust settles on an unprecedented election, Wisconsin’s union members are proud of our accomplishments and are looking to the future.

Vice President Kamala Harris has been a stalwart champion of workers and organized labor, and we are disappointed she did not succeed in her historic campaign for President. We know she will continue to be a strong voice for working people.

We are bursting with pride to warmly congratulate U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, our union-endorsed champion, who will return to Washington, DC to fight for working families.

Union-endorsed candidates also made significant gains in the Wisconsin State Legislature, setting workers up for future success. In the state Senate, we ran the table on targeted races, erasing the two-thirds supermajority that extremist right-wing, anti-labor politicians used to try and override commonsense vetoes by Governor Tony Evers. Pro-union senators will hold 15 of 33 seats in that chamber. In the state Assembly, our union-endorsed candidates won several important races across the state, resulting in a net pickup of ten seats for pro-labor state representatives. Congratulations to all the winning candidates, as well as the two chambers’ Minority Leaders, Representative Greta Neubauer and Senator Dianne Hesselbein, for your excellent work.

We also congratulate Congresswoman Gwen Moore and Congressman Mark Pocan on their landslide re-election victories, and thank them for their continued support of organized labor in the U.S. House. Although Rebecca Cooke, Peter Barca, and Kristin Lyerly didn’t win, we thank them for their strong commitment to working families.

The tireless work union men and women put in throughout this election, through our Wisconsin AFL-CIO Labor Votes program, led to a victory equally important as any individual race – a win for democracy. About 73% of our state’s voting-age population cast ballots for president, setting a state record. Our work to organize and mobilize working people to participate in the democratic process is a service we faithfully provide in support of our American way of life.

Now, as the last votes are counted and a new political cycle begins, we in the labor movement will do what we always do. We will work to grow and strengthen our unions and join with our allies to continue building a future in which working families thrive. In so doing, we strengthen the foundations of a prosperous and secure America.

Our work continues. We will win in April with pro-labor candidates for Wisconsin Supreme Court and State Superintendent for Public Instruction.

And in January, newly-elected officials will begin the work voters have entrusted them with. They will do well to remember the critical role working people play in our society and join with our unions to build a better future for all.