by Mike Hall, Nov 8, 2006

America’s working family voters broke a dozen-year Republican stranglehold on Congress, taking back the U.S. House of Representatives and making a strong bid to win control of the U.S. Senate.

In addition, many governors’ races fell into the Democratic win column and voters passed ballot initiatives to raise the minimum wage in all the states where it was on the ballot: Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Ohio and Nevada.

The unprecedented off-year election mobilization by the AFL-CIO union movement played a major role in moving the nation in a new direction and away from failed Bush administration policies at home and abroad.

In the final four days of the election alone, some 187,000 union volunteers knocked on 3.5 million union family doors, made 7.9 million calls to union voters and contacted more than 2 million union members at worksites.

Initial reports show that union household voters made up 23 percent of the electorate and backed Democrats by a 65 percent to 33 percent margin. Voters from nonunion households also cast their ballots for a change in direction but by a smaller margin—52 percent to 47 percent. With many tight races, the union vote made the difference. (Later today, we will take a closer look at the impact of the union vote.)

Says AFL-CIO President John Sweeney:

It’s clear that working people were the engine driving the change in leadership in the House—they want our leaders in Washington to address issues like jobs, health care and retirement security and they’re voting for a change to the economic status quo.

This morning, projections show that Democrats, who needed to gain 15 seats to take back control of the House, picked up at least 28, with 13 races still undecided, according to final tallies and network projections in close races. In the Senate, where until recently most pundits believed Republicans would easily maintain control, it is now a 49–49 tie with races in Virginia and Montana too close to call although working family candidates Jim Webb and Jon Tester were holding leads.

Other noteworthy victories include a pair of wins in Ohio where Rep. Sherrod Brown unseated Sen. Mike DeWine for a U.S. Senate seat and Rep. Ted Strickland defeated Ken Blackwell in the governor’s race. In Pennsylvania, extreme conservative Sen. Rick Santorum lost his seat to Bob Casey, and in Missouri, Claire McCaskill defeated incumbent Jim Talent. In all three states, the AFL-CIO’s Labor 2006 mobilization reached a record number of union voters.

In Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District, John Yarmuth defeated five-term incumbent Rep. Ann Northrup. In the 2nd Congressional District in Indiana, Joseph Donnelly beat incumbent Chris Chocola. In Wisconsin, Dr. Steve Kagen took the traditionally Republican House seat in the 8th Congressional District with a win over John Gard.

Two closely watched governors’ races also went to working family-endorsed candidates. Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle won re-election over former Rep. Mark Green. In Maryland, Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley unseated Gov. Bob Ehrlich. Maryland working families will remember Ehrlich for two vetoes—one that killed a minimum wage increase and another that slapped down the Fair Share Health Care bill, which he vetoed with a top Wal-Mart executive beaming by his side.

Democrats won new majorities in the Indiana state House, where activists in the AFL-CIO union movement made a massive push, as well as in the New Hampshire House and Senate, Iowa House and Senate, the Minnesota House, the Michigan House, the Wisconsin Senate and the Oregon House.

Writes Jonathan Singer at MyDD:

Democrats have kept majorities in targeted chambers including the North Carolina House, the Tennessee House, Minnesota Senate, Kentucky House, the Colorado House and Senate, the Maine House and Senate, and the Washington House and Senate.

Democrats have gained ground in the Tennessee Senate, Ohio House, Pennsylvania House, and the North Dakota House and Senate.

Winning state legislative chambers is critical to ensuring laws such as right to work for less are not passed (or are rescinded).

Mobilized through the AFL-CIO Labor 2006 effort, working family voters turned back a desperate Republican attack that relied on a huge spending advantage (including contributions from Big Oil, Big Business and Big Pharma companies), a barrage of some of the most vicious and negative campaign ads ever aired and reports of Election Day dirty tricks to suppress the vote.

Through Labor 2006, AFL-CIO and Working America activists reached an unprecedented 13.4 million voters in 32 states. Since the beginning of the year, the AFL-CIO union movement has involved 205,000 volunteers who have:

• Knocked on the doors of 8.25 million union voters;
• Made 30 million phones calls to union voters;
• Mailed 20 million pieces of mail to union homes;
• Distributed 14 million worksite fliers.

These efforts involve unions affiliated with the AFL-CIO, but do not include the unions’ own substantial get-out-the-vote mobilization.

The changing of guard on Capitol Hill means the congressional agenda will change—from passing repeated tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations to raising the minimum wage; from privatizing Social Security to protecting pensions and retirement; from bashing workers’ rights to protecting the freedom of workers to form unions; from handing out giveaways to big drug companies and the insurance industry to making health care affordable for all.

Of course, none of that will be easy with Bush still in the White House and with Republican lawmakers’ certain opposition. But, for a change, working families will be fighting to go forward instead of battling against retreat.

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