NATIONAL

There’s no sugar-coating it: Donald Trump’s win in the race for president is likely to be a big loss for organized labor. Joe Biden arguably kept his pledge to be the most pro-union president ever, and Vice President Kamala Harris looked to be on track to continue his policies. Unions endorsed Harris across the board (except Teamsters and Firefighters, which remained neutral). Many unions sent staff and members to battleground states to help the Harris campaign. 

The national AFL-CIO backed the Harris campaign heavily in battleground states, sending 2.5 million pieces of mail to union households, 700,000 personalized letters from local union leaders, and digital ads that it estimates reached three million union voters. 

Still, a sizable minority of union members voted for Trump, according to polls. A joint national poll that concluded on election day had 41% of union members saying they were voting for Trump, and 57% for Harris. A Washington Post summary of exit polls in swing states found that 45% of voters in union households chose Trump (6 points less than nonunion households), while 53% chose Harris. Results varied by state. A CNN exit poll in Ohio showed Trump had the support of 54% of those in union households, up from 40% four years earlier when Biden won. Harris did better in Michigan, winning 58% in union households, compared to 39% for Trump.

In his first term, Trump made a sharp turn from Republican free-trade orthodoxy. And unlike other recent Republican presidents, he has directly contended for union member support, meeting with building trades leaders in the White House and inviting Teamsters president Sean O’Brien to speak at the Republican Convention. This year, with his campaign in control of crafting the Republican Party platform, he also got rid of pledges to repeal the prevailing wage and pass a national right-to-work law.

But his first term also saw union foes appointed to key positions in the Labor Department and National Labor Relations Board, where they worked to reverse many worker rights gains.

Trump will have a friendly Congress at least the first two years. The Republican Party also picked up three seats in the Senate, giving them a 53-47 majority and ending Democratic control there. And at press time Republicans also appeared to be on track to retain control of the House. 

The Northwest favored Kamala harris

Harris won 55% of the vote in Oregon, 58% in Washington, and 30% in Idaho. Trump won 41% support in Oregon, 39% in Washington, and 67% in Idaho.

OREGON

Labor celebrated election wins almost across the board.

Congress: five of six

In races for Congress, union-backed Democrats won five of Oregon’s six Congressional seats. Those included incumbent Suzanne Bonamici in Congressional District (CD) 1 (69%) and Maxine Dexter in CD 3 (68%), formerly held by Earl Blumenauer, both heavily Democratic Portland-area districts. But they also included the reelection of Val Hoyle in CD 4 (52%) over Monique Despain (44%), and Andrea Salinas in CD 6 (53%), who won a second term by fending off a challenge from Mike Erickson (47%) in their second match-up. CD 5 was a bit more complicated for labor in that both Democrat Janelle Bynum (48%) and incumbent Republican Lori Chavez-Deremer (45%) had substantial labor endorsements. Bynum’s win eliminates a rare Congressional Republican who openly courted union support, even signing on as a cosponsor of the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act. Labor didn’t contend for Oregon’s heavily Republican CD 2, where Cliff Bentz won a third term. 

Statewide sweep 

Union-endorsed Democrats also won all three statewide races: 

• SECRETARY OF STATE  Term-limited state treasurer Tobias Read (54%) defeated Dennis Linthicum (42%).
• STATE TREASURER  Longtime state senator Elizabeth Steiner, who had the lion’s share of union endorsements, prevailed (49%) at the same time that retired PSU economics professor and former AAUP union president Mary King garnered 6.5% as a candidate of the union-backed Oregon Working Families Party — without tipping the race to Republican Brian Boquist (43%). King’s win of more than 1% in a statewide race preserves her party’s status as a minor party able to place candidates on the ballot.
• ATTORNEY GENERAL House Speaker Dan Rayfield (54%), a strong union ally, outpolled Will Lathrop (46%).

Pickup in the senate

A win by labor-backed Democrat Anthony Broadman of the Bend seat formerly held by Republican Tim Knopp flips the seat and gets Democrats to 18 of 30 seats, the supermajority needed to pass tax legislation. That’s because county commissioners are expected to appoint a Democratic replacement for Elizabeth Steiner, who resigned Nov. 7 after winning the race for state treasurer.

Status quo in the House

Democrats ended up with a 35-25 majority in the Oregon House, the same as they’ve held the last two years. That’s one short of the supermajority they’d need to pass any kind of tax increase. Labor does have a new foe of note in the chamber: Alek Skarlatos, who formerly worked for the anti-union Freedom Foundation, easily won with 70% in heavily Republican House District 4.

Ballot measures

• Measure 115, which gives the legislature the power to  impeach state officials when they commit serious abuses, passed with 64% support
• Measure 116, which would have created a commission to set pay for legislators and statewide elected officials, fell short with just 47% support.  
• Measure 117, which would have established ranked choice voting,  failed with just 42% support.
• Measure 118, which would have levied a gross receipts tax on large corporations and paid an annual dividend to every resident, went down hard with just 22% support.
• Measure 119, which requires cannabis businesses to sign labor peace agreements, passed with 56% support.

New pro-union majority in Clackamas county

In Clackamas County, labor-backed challenger Craig Roberts (57%) defeated incumbent county chair Tootie Smith. So did Melissa Fireside (52%) in her race against incumbent Mark Shull. Their wins mean that together with Paul Savas and Martha Schrader they will form a 4-1 labor-friendly majority on the county commission. Meanwhile, a Clackamas Community College bond measure was squeaking by with just over 50% support.

Meghan Moyer and shannon Singleton  win in Multnomah county 

Running for Multnomah County Commission, Meghan Moyer (60%) outpolled Vadim Mozyrsky (39%), and Shannon Singleton (57%) bested Sam Adams (42%). Because unions were split in the two races, all four candidates had some union endorsements. But both of the winners were backed by AFSCME Local 88, the largest union of county employees.

Washington County

Union-backed K.C. LeDell (40%) failed to unseat incumbent Circuit Court Judge D. Charles Bailey Jr.

Portland’s all-new pro-labor City Council 

Labor did well in the election of Portland’s new City Council: Close to 100 candidates vied for 12 seats, and all 12 winners had at least some union endorsements. Over a dozen labor organizations took an active interest in the election, and of those, the Northwest Oregon Labor Council (NOLC) had the greatest success: 8 out of the 12 NOLC-endorsed candidates won. (The only labor organization with a higher win rate was Ironworkers Local 29, but that’s only because it endorsed more than three per district in some cases.) The final results did have some disappointments for labor. Former National Writers Union president Jonathan Tasini, who had the broadest base of labor support of any city council candidate, came in eighth place in District 2 (N/NE). And Steph Routh, who also had wide labor support, placed sixth in District 1 (Outer Eastside).  Here’s who will be on the new council starting January (NOLC endorsees in grey):

• District 1 Candace Avalos, Loretta Smith, and Jamie Dunphy
• District 2 Elana Pirtle-Guiney, Dan Ryan, and Sameer Kanal
• District 3 Steve Novick, Angelita Morillo, and Tiffany Koyama Lane
• District 4 Olivia Clark, Mitch Green, and Eric Zimmerman  

Mixed night for Mister Knight

This year billionaire Nike founder Phil Knight contributed $2 million to support Republicans running for state legislature. His money helped win for incumbent Republicans Tracy Cramer and Cyrus Javadi. But of the challengers he funded to Democratic incumbents, all four lost:

• SD 25 (Gresham, Fairview) Raymond Love failed to oust Chris Gorsek
• HD 49 (Troutdale, Fairview) Terry Tipsord failed to oust Zach Hudson
• HD 50 (Gresham) Paul Drechsler failed to oust Ricki Ruiz 
• HD 53 (Tumalo, Sisters) Keri Lopez failed to oust Emerson Levy

WASHINGTON

In its electoral program this year, Washington State Labor Council reports that union members knocked on more than 33,000 doors and made more than 107,000 calls to mobilize workers.

Labor wins on ballot measures

• I-2066, which bans policies discouraging natural gas, won with 52%.
• I-2109, which would have repealed the new tax on capital gains paid by the top 1%, went down hard with just 36% in favor.
• I-2117, which would have repealed the cap and invest program that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, also failed heavily, with just 38% in support.
• I-2124, which would have allowed residents to opt out of the state’s new long-term care insurance program, had just 45% support.

Congressional results

U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell easily won re-election with 59% support. Union-backed Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez won reelection in Congressional District 3 with 52% support in her second matchup against Republican Joe Kent.

Sweep of statewide offices

The Washington State Labor Council celebrated a clean sweep this year with all nine endorsed candidates for statewide office winning — eight Democrats plus Chris Reykdal for the nonpartisan seat of superintendent of public instruction (53%). Those elected were Bob Ferguson for governor (56%), Denny Heck for lieutenant governor (56%), Steve Hobbs for secretary of state (59%), Mike Pellicotti for state treasurer (57%), Pat McCarthy for state auditor (58%), Nick Brown for attorney general (56%), Dave Upthegrove for commissioner of public lands (53%), Patty Kuderer for insurance commissioner (57%).  

Results in the state legislature (for SW Washington)

• LD 14 (from Trout Lake to Pasco) defied predictions about what would happen when the district boundaries were redrawn by a judge to favor Hispanic voters. All three labor-endorsed Democrats lost: Maria Beltran (47%), Chelsea Dimas (44%), Ana Ruiz Kennedy (48%).
• LD 17 (Eastern Vancouver) also failed to elect labor-endorsed candidates Marla Keethler (49%) and union nurse Terri Niles (49%).
• LD 18 (Clark County) elected labor-backed Adrian Cortes (50%), but union laborer Deken Letinich (44%) and union teacher John Zingale (49%) fell short.
• LD 19 (Longview to Aberdeen) failed to elect union-endorsed Democrats Andi Day (38%), Mike Coverdale (40%), or Terry Carlson (38%).
• LD 49 (Vancouver) re-elected union-endorsed incumbents Annette Cleveland (62%), Sharon Wylie (63%), and Monica Stonier (63%).