Martin Misses in Hard-Fought Georgia Senate Runoff

by Seth Michaels, Dec 3, 2008

In yesterday’s runoff election for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat, working family-friendly candidate Jim Martin made a strong effort but wasn’t able to unseat incumbent Sen. Saxby Chambliss. Chambliss won with 57 percent of the vote, while Martin took 43 percent.

Martin’s presence in the runoff and the votes he won last night are thanks, in part, to the efforts of hundreds of union volunteers who have been working hard contacting active and retired members around the state. Union volunteers knocked on 100,000 doors, sent 300,000 pieces of union mail and leafleted more than 150 worksites. Union phone bankers made more than 300,000 phone calls, and Martin himself took part in a union phone bank as the election approached.

Throughout the race, union volunteers identified and mobilized union voters. Though they weren’t successful this time, they’ll be ready to turn out votes in future Georgia races.

The union member-to-member mobilization program this year helped to elect at least seven new pro-worker senators around the country who will be critical in passing legislation to turn around the economy and protect workers.

One Senate race has yet to be decided. The nation’s closest contest, between AFL-CIO-endorsed Al Franken and Sen. Norm Coleman in Minnesota, is still being recounted. If Franken wins, he’d be a strongly pro-worker senator.

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