The US labor movement is having a banner election year.
asserted
movement → have → year
More than three dozen nominees for open House and Senate races across the US have backgrounds as labor union representatives or members.
asserted
nominees → have → representatives
Several nominees are running in heavily blue districts, making it almost certain they will win the seat in November’s midterms, while others are in highly contested races that are likely to determine control of the House and possibly the Senate.
uncertain
that → run → House
Most are Democrats, though some are running as independents.
asserted
some → run → independents
The early success of so many candidates with ties to labor comes as Democrats work to rebuild their support among working-class voters, centering their campaign messaging around affordability issues.
asserted
Democrats → come → issues
But the messenger matters, too.
asserted
messenger → matter → ?
“In a political environment that’s been dominated by wealthy elites for decades, union candidates provide a level of trust and credibility that’s simply unmatched,” Steve Smith, a spokesperson for the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor unions in the US, told the Guardian.
asserted
Smith → dominate → Guardian
“These candidates are at long last returning the levers of power to the people.”
asserted
candidates → return → people
A 2024 study by Cal State and UCLA researchers found working-class voters are 6.4 percentage points more likely to prefer a political candidate with a working-class occupation over one with an upper-class occupation.
asserted
voters → find → occupation
Yet a 2026 report by the Center for Working-Class Politics found working-class candidates make up just 8-14% of Democratic and 5-8% of Republican congressional candidates.
asserted
candidates → find → candidates
Union candidates invoked pro-worker themes 159% more than non-union candidates, the report found.
asserted
report → invoke → candidates
Running more union members as candidates, its authors argued, could increase the representation ordinary Americans have in Congress, by elevating people who can speak to and deliver on issues that affect the working class.
uncertain
that → run → class
“Voters want elected leaders who understand the struggles working people face in an economy rigged against us,” Smith said.
asserted
Smith → want → us
“In every area of the country, at every level, union members are running for office and winning because they bring lived experience in leveling the playing field for workers and creating a brighter future for our families.”
asserted
they → run → families
Americans overwhelmingly favor labor unions, according to recent annual Gallup polls, with 68% approving labor unions in 2025.
uncertain
% → favor → 2025
But union density has been on a decline in recent decades, from more than 30% in the 1950s to 10% in 2025, correlating to a drastic increase in wealth and income inequality in the US.
asserted
density → correlate → US
In 2024, Donald Trump sought to woo labor leaders and blue-collar voters with populist trade promises.
asserted
Trump → seek → promises
But exit polls and surveys conducted after the presidential election found little evidence that union members had shifted toward Trump.
asserted
members → conduct → Trump
According to the VoteCast survey conducted for the Associated Press and Fox News after the 2024 election, union members preferred Harris over Trump by 16% in 2024, 57% to 41% for Trump, matching Biden’s 16% lead over Trump with union households in 2020.
uncertain
members → accord → 2020
Trump was formerly a union member, but he resigned from the Screen Actors Guild in February 2021 rather than facing disciplinary charges from the union for violating its constitution regarding his actions and role in inciting the attack on the US Capitol on 6 January 2021.
asserted
he → resign → January
In his resignation letter, Trump wrote “Who cares!” and accused the union of never doing anything for him.
asserted
Who → write → him
In response to his resignation, the union issued a two-word statement: “Thank you.”
asserted
union → issue → you
Meet the Senate and House candidates identified as having labor union backgrounds who are running to join the roughly 25 current members of Congress who have previously worked in the labor movement or in a job represented by a union.
asserted
who → meet → union
Independent Todd Achilles, a former American Federation of Teachers member from his work as a public policy professor and lecturer, is running for the US Senate in a race where the Democratic nominee withdrew in July.
asserted
nominee → run → July
Abdul El-Sayed is a former American Association of University Professors member and other higher education unions from his time working as a professor and scholar at Columbia University, Harvard University, the University of Michigan, Wayne State University and American University.
asserted
Sayed → work → Michigan
The union made its first ever national political endorsement in endorsing his Senate campaign.
asserted
union → make → campaign
In an interview with the Guardian in July, El-Sayed explained his critique of the economy and the impact of concentrated corporate power.
asserted
Sayed → explain → power
“If the markets actually worked the way they’re supposed to, you might have some efficient movement of money,” he said.
uncertain
he → work → money
“The problem is, we don’t live in capitalism, we live in oligopoly.”
asserted
we → live → oligopoly
Maine
Troy Jackson worked several past union jobs as a member of the unions of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), the Machinists (IAM), Operating Engineers (IUOE), United Auto Workers (UAW), and Laborers’ International Union of North America (Liuna).
asserted
Jackson → work → America
“Everything Troy fights for comes from his working-class roots as a logger from Allagash and the 1998 blockade, when he stood up to powerful landowners undercutting Maine workers,” Jackson’s campaign manager, Dan Gottlieb, said in a statement.
asserted
manager → fight → statement
Gottlieb added: “Mainers know whose side Troy is on: theirs.
asserted
Troy → add → side
For him, solidarity isn’t a slogan – it’s how he’s lived his life.”
asserted
he → ’ → life
Angie Nixon is a state legislator in Florida and the Democratic nominee for Senate in a special election to fill Marco Rubio’s vacated seat.
asserted
Nixon → fill → seat
She previously has worked as a union organizer, directing the Florida Public Services Union’s (FPSU) higher education campaign.
asserted
She → work → campaign
Candidate for US Senate, Nebraska
Dan Osborn, a former president of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM) Local 50G, which represents Kellogg’s workers, is running for the US Senate in Nebraska as an independent.
asserted
which → represent → independent
He faces Republican Pete Ricketts, the heir to billionaire Joe Ricketts, co-founder of TD Ameritrade.
asserted
He → face → Ameritrade
The former congressman Colin Allred is running again this cycle in a newly redrawn Democratic-dominant district in Texas.
asserted
congressman → run → Texas
He is a former member of the NFL Players Association, the union representing National Football League players.
asserted
He → represent → players
Mitchell Berman worked a union job in college at UPS, where he was a member of Teamsters Local 344.
asserted
he → work → Local
…and 48 more, not listed.
The Aporia
