After taking a look at key statewide races last time, its time to shift our focus to state legislative chambers and key congressional contests.
AFSCME has a long history of investing in state legislative races, and 2022 remains no different. We understand the importance of these races and the impact they have on our membership. Unfortunately, due to continued gerrymandering of districts, there are only a handful of states that are truly in play this year. But those states are vitally important to us. It is imperative that working families keep control of both chambers in Nevada as well as the Colorado State Senate. In Minnesota there is the chance to earn a trifecta by holding the House and flipping the State Senate – we feel this is tough, but doable. Alternatively, there are a few opportunities to gain ground and perhaps flip chambers – especially in Michigan, and to a lesser extent in Arizona and Pennsylvania.
Research and recent election results suggest that there has been a shift in the national electoral landscape. And while control of the U.S. Senate remains our most important federal play, we do believe that control of the House will likely be decided by just a handful of seats. We won’t be able to play in every targeted congressional race, but there are several that we are paying particular attention to – either due to membership density in the district, support of labor, or unique political opportunities. Several states offer a cluster of targeted races, including:
- CA (9, 13, 22, 27, 41, 47, 49)
- IL (11, 13, 14)
- MI (3, 7 ,8)
- NV (1, 4)
- OH (9, 13)
- PA (6, 7, 8)
- NY (11, 18)
- IA (1, 2, 3)
We’re also closely watching these individual races:
- AZ 4
- MN 2
- NC 13
We always like to support great labor champions, and there are some true labor allies running for re-election, like Elissa Slotkin in Michigan, Dina Titus and Steven Horsford in Nevada, Matt Cartwright in Pennsylvania, Marcy Kaptur in Ohio, Greg Stanton in Arizona and Cindy Axne in Iowa. We’re also excited about some challengers who are on the ballot this fall who have been championing workers rights and unions in their campaigns, like Nikki Budzinski in Illinois, Wiley Nickel in North Carolina and Liz Mathis in Iowa.