Congressional candidates who received backing from the SIU’s voluntary political action fund enjoyed lots of success on Election Day.
Of the 50 House of Representatives members (from a total of 435, plus four delegates) receiving support from the Seafarers Political Activities Donation (SPAD) during the 2024 cycle, 47 of them won, with one race still too close to call at press time. In the Senate, SPAD supported 17 individuals (from a total of 33); 13 of them won, with one race still too close to call.

The SIU-endorsed candidate for the presidency did not win, although no SPAD money was given in that race.
Specifically commenting on the presidential election, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler stated, “Presidential administrations change, but the labor movement’s values do not. We stand for the freedom to organize and for the right to collectively bargain. We stand for solidarity – the kind that is built when working people stand together to take on the biggest, richest bosses and the most powerful extremist politicians. Most importantly, we know how to fight back when anyone comes after our freedoms.
“This result is a blow for every worker who depends on our elected leaders to fight for our jobs, our unions and our contracts,” she continued. “We organized for months to produce a nearly 17-point advantage for Vice President Kamala Harris with union members. But it is clear that the economic struggle working-class people are facing is causing real pain and neither party has sufficiently addressed it.”
Shuler concluded, “Organized labor is the path forward. In unions, people have power to build a stable foundation for themselves and their families. To say, ‘It’s Better in a Union,’ is not simply a slogan – it’s the way to level the playing field and create a path to economic security for every working person. The nearly 13 million union members of the AFL-CIO won’t be divided and we won’t back down. We will be there for each other and we will fight every step of the way for every worker in this country, no matter who sits in the Oval Office.”
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