by Seth Michaels, May 14, 2008

For the fourth time this year, an AFL-CIO-endorsed candidate has won a special congressional election. Last night, Travis Childers won a striking (54 percent to 46 percent) victory in Mississippi’s 1st Congressional District (CD), by emphasizing the issues that matter most to working families.

The Mississippi AFL-CIO endorsed Childers, a Democrat, for the seat left open by the appointment of Republican Rep. Roger Wicker to the Senate. Childers pledged in his campaign to support affordable health care for working families and to fight bad trade deals that would cost Mississippi jobs. He also pledged to support the Employee Free Choice Act.

The seat had been held by Wicker for more than a decade, and the district voted for Bush by 19 points in 2000 and 25 points in 2004. Vice President Dick Cheney and a bevy of Republican leaders campaigned with Republican candidate Greg Davis. The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) and big-money special interests pumped millions of dollars into Davis’ campaign. Despite the resources expended and the seat’s strong Republican lean, Childers won the seat comfortably, with 54 percent of the vote. More than 100,000 voters turned out for the special election.

AFL-CIO-endorsed candidates have a perfect record in this year’s four special elections. On March 8, Illinois Democrat Bill Foster won in that state’s 14th District, a seat vacated by former Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert, who left for a career as a lobbyist. On March 11, union-endorsed André Carson won a special election to replace the late Rep. Julia Carson in Indiana’s 7th District. And on May 3, Don Cazayoux picked up the seat left open by former Republican Rep. Richard Baker, who retired to take a lobbyist job.  

Mississippi working families last night added to the growing, nationwide chorus calling for an economic turnaround by electing pro-worker candidate Travis Childers to Congress. Last night’s victory was the latest in a string of wins by working family candidates that points to gathering momentum for candidates who support key issues like affordable health care and good jobs.Childers’ win in a longtime Republican-held district is a vivid reminder that working people are energized to support candidates who champion an economy that works for all. The union vote once again proved pivotal, with the more than 17,000 union family voters in the district helping to push Childers over the top.  The momentum by working families across the nation has not been lost on anti-working family members of the House and Senate. Over the past year, Bush’s allies in Congress and state legislatures have been announcing their retirement rather than face an uphill battle for re-election. 
Around the country, union members are mobilized and engaged as working families are coming out to vote in big numbers and giving victories to candidates who promise to fight for them.  

Political observers agree these special election results, especially last night’s big win for Childers, are a preview of what’s to come this fall. John Nichols, writing in The Nation, says Childers’ win is a refutation of the Bush economic agenda and the Bush administration’s record of bad trade deals. 

This Saturday, union volunteers in some 20 states will knock on nearly 200,000 doors to get their fellow union members informed and engaged about this fall’s election. They’ll talk with their fellow workers about health care, the economy and the importance of getting out to vote. The AFL-CIO Labor 2008 program is set to become the largest union mobilization in history.

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