Alaska, Arizona AFL-CIO State Feds Announce Endorsements

by Seth Michaels, Jun 23, 2008

Signifying a strong national effort to elect a working family-friendly Congress, the Alaska State AFL-CIO and the Arizona AFL-CIO have announced endorsements in important federal races.

The Alaska State AFL-CIO has made history by endorsing, for the first time, a challenger to longtime incumbent Sen. Ted Stevens, a Republican who voted to block the Employee Free Choice Act when it came up for a vote last year.

The state federation will endorse Mark Begich, the Democratic mayor of Anchorage, Alaska’s largest city. Begich has pledged to fight for new jobs, protect Social Security and support affordable health care for all.

Alaska State AFL-CIO President Vince Beltrami said the state’s unions would work hard to elect Begich:

Mark Begich wholeheartedly supports the legislation most important to Alaska’s working families.

In Arizona, the state AFL-CIO has announced endorsements in races for the U.S. House. In addition to incumbent Reps. Ed Pastor (D-4th District), Harry Mitchell (D-5th District), Raul Grijalva (D-7th District) and Gabrielle Giffords (D-8th District), the Arizona AFL-CIO has endorsed three challengers. State Sen. Ann Kirkpatrick is endorsed in her race for the open 1st District seat, while 2nd District challenger John Thrasher and 3rd District challenger Bob Lord have earned the endorsement in their races. All three candidates are Democrats running for Republican-held seats.

You can find out more about the 2008 congressional elections in Alaska and Arizona at Working Families Vote 2008.

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Paid for by the AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education Political Contributions Committee, www.aflcio.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

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