(Cross-posted from the AFL-CIO Now Blog.)
The fight for a pro-working family government doesn’t end with the race for the White House. Around the country, union members in key states are looking to elect new members of Congress who will help turn around America.
The Kentucky AFL-CIO has announced endorsements in key races for U.S. Congress and Kentucky AFL-CIO President Bill Londrigan says these candidates, and the issues they’ll fight for, will help mobilize union members to win this fall.
[We] endorsed on the basis of their of support for the issues of critical importance to Kentucky’s hard working men and women: good jobs, the right to organize, health care for all, retirement security and education and training opportunities.
Topping the list of the Kentucky endorsees is Bruce Lunsford, who’s running for U.S. Senate against Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader who’s led the fight against working family-friendly policies like a real economic stimulus bill and children’s health insurance.
McConnell is behind the strategy of obstruction that has allowed a minority of senators to block important legislation like the Employee Free Choice Act. He consistently has voted for Bush nominees for key federal agencies, including the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MHSA) and the Department of Labor (headed by his wife, the worker-unfriendly Elaine Chao). In short, McConnell is the Senate’s key enabler of the anti-worker agenda. Lunsford has pledged to support the Employee Free Choice Act and to work with union members as they fight to ditch Mitch.
In addition to supporting Lunsford, Kentucky unions gave their strong endorsement to two incumbent House members and a challenger. Endorsements went to Democratic Reps. John Yarmuth of the 3rd District and Ben Chandler of the 6th District, as well as to Democratic state Sen. David Boswell, who’s running for the 2nd District seat left open by retiring Republican Ron Lewis.
Union members were crucial to the stunning 18-point victory for Gov. Steve Beshear last November, and the Kentucky AFL-CIO is looking to build on its success with these endorsements for the U.S. House and Senate.
In addition to working to elect Lunsford and Boswell and re-elect Chandler and Yarmuth, Londrigan says the Kentucky AFL-CIO will focus on exposing the record of Sen. John McCain.
In Oklahoma, state Sen. Andrew Rice is running against Sen. Jim Inhofe, another Republican who regularly votes against working family-friendly policies on health care, wages and the freedom to form unions. Rice, who Oklahoma AFL-CIO President Jimmy Curry called “a good friend of working men and women,” won the endorsement of the Oklahoma AFL-CIO on Tuesday.
In Idaho, where Republican Sen. Larry Craig won’t be returning to the Senate, former Democratic Rep. Larry LaRocco has won the endorsement of the Idaho AFL-CIO. Idaho AFL-CIO President David Whaley says members of the Idaho AFL-CIO’s Executive Board were impressed by LaRocco’s commitment to working family issues and his visits to work sites around the state.
The working families of Idaho are struggling to raise families, pay their taxes, support education, care for their aging parents and cope with the continued increase in health care costs. Larry LaRocco has been working in jobs all across Idaho and has heard first-hand about the challenges they face in their lives. When he is elected he will continue to work alongside these same families and make sure their voices are heard through his expressed support of the Employee Free Choice Act. We are proud to endorse him for the U.S. Senate.
The effort to elect more working family-friendly members of the House and Senate is an essential part of this year’s unprecedented mobilization of millions of union members.
Very disappointing to see them endorse Lunsford and not endorse Heather Ryan.
I will be voting against their choice in the primary for Senate I can assure.