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Senate Update: Merkley Headed to Senate, Three Races Still Unknown |
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On election night, working families got a big boost in the Senate, with strong victories by five pro-worker candidates: Rep. Mark Udall of Colorado, Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, Rep. Tom Udall of New Mexico, Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mark Warner of Virginia. Now it looks like we can add a sixth name to the list of great new senators elected on Tuesday: Jeff Merkley of Oregon.
Merkley, a strong supporter of the freedom to form unions, has pulled ahead of incumbent Sen. Gordon Smith in late counting. The state’s largest paper, the Portland Oregonian, projected last night that Merkley would win the race.
Oregon’s union members carried out an energetic statewide campaign to educate other members about Merkley and get out the vote, and the closeness of this race shows why our get-out-the-vote efforts are so critical. (Smith, his opponent, understood the importance of unions in this race: Despite his anti-worker record, he falsely claimed the support of the state’s Longshore and Warehouse Union [ILWU].) In the Senate, Merkley will support the Employee Free Choice Act and defend working families.
Two more races are in the late stages of counting and may be headed for a recount.
In Minnesota, Democrat Al Franken and Republican Sen. Norm Coleman are only a few hundred votes apart out of nearly 3 million cast, and a recount is quite likely. Franken, the AFL-CIO-endorsed candidate and a strong proponent of the Employee Free Choice Act, released a statement last night in support of a recount.
Our goal is to ensure that every vote is properly counted.
The process, dictated by our laws, will be orderly, fair, and will take place within a matter of days. We won’t know for a little while who won this race, but at the end of the day, we will know that the voice of the electorate was clearly heard.
There is reason to believe that the recount could change the vote tallies significantly.
In Alaska, AFL-CIO-endorsed Mark Begich is behind Sen. Ted Stevens by fewer than 2,500 votes, with provisional and absentee ballots still being counted. These races likely won’t be resolved for a few days.
The extreme closeness of these races shows the importance of the Labor 2008 campaign. In the 12 key Senate battleground states, union members voted 65 percent to 30 percent in favor of the AFL-CIO-endorsed candidate.
Finally, in Georgia, the race between Jim Martin and anti-worker Sen. Saxby Chambliss appears to be headed for a runoff. Chambliss has a small lead, but state law requires a two-candidate runoff if neither candidate reaches 50 percent. We’ll know next week if a runoff will be necessary. If so, it will be Dec. 2. A strong late push by Georgia’s union members helped put this race in contention.
With a larger pro-worker majority in the Senate, we can break the grip of obstruction that has prevented real change for working families for too long. Merkley and the other new senators elected across the country will fight for jobs, health care and the freedom to form unions and bargain for a better life.
1 Comment
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Recent comments show that many people are looking at the Alaskan Senatorial race with suspicion. The exit poles do not reflect the current numbers. The increased registrations, especially for Democrats do not reflect the number of Democrats that have already voted, nor would these numbers put Stevens ahead. There is something fishy in Alaska, and its not the fish. Besides, why would anyone vote for a felon for the Senate. It makes no sense.