A top labor union announced Wednesday that it will be spending $200 million to help President Biden win reelection.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) announced a “massive drive” to mobilize working class voters of color in battleground states to back pro-labor candidates, including Biden. The SEIU represents about 2 million members across service industries, including the health care, property service, and public services sectors.
“This election, workers are going to vote for candidates up and down the ballot who’ve got their back,” SEIU Executive Vice President Rocio Sáenz said in a statement. “They are ready to support candidates like President Biden, who walked the picket line, took on big corporations, and invested in good, union jobs.
“Workers don’t want leaders who blame immigrants for everything while giving tax breaks to billionaires and trying to take our healthcare away,” Sáenz added.
The announcement stated the union aims to reach 6 million voters of color in the swing states of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina. It is hoping to engage with voters who are less likely to vote or who have never voted at all by using field programs and partnering with community groups, among other efforts.
The SEIU endorsed Biden last April, shortly after he formally launched his reelection bid. The union says it plans to launch messaging that “contrasts how the president has backed workers with how Donald Trump has sided with big corporations and tried to take healthcare coverage and reproductive rights away from millions.”
The organization noted that similar efforts in 2022 increased voter turnout by 27 percent among those that they reached. The union also said it will be reaching out to voters in seven different languages to get its message across.
“Our votes are our demand for a better future,” SEIU Secretary-Treasurer April Verrett said in a statement. “Workers walked the picket lines for better pay and better jobs, and we will vote for the same reasons.”
“Workers of all races know what’s at stake in this election, and will take our energy from the strike lines to the ballot box to support candidates who side with us instead of price-gouging, union-busting corporations,” she said.