Unions Called Their Midterm Push the Biggest Yet, and Now They Want Inflation Relief and Union Jobs

Organized labor is claiming one of its biggest midterm efforts in years — and saying Democrats now need to deliver on inflation, worker protections and union jobs, CNBC reported.

Brody Rutledge, a 25-year-old Ohio electrician and father of four, spent lunch hours and late nights this year making social-media posts and videos for Amy Acton's gubernatorial campaign and Sherrod Brown's bid to reclaim a Senate seat. The posts drew more than 15,000 views, and both candidates won in a state that had been considered Republican-leaning. "People are realizing that there needs to be a change," Rutledge told CNBC. "We are extremely excited with the results."

The AFL-CIO launched a seven-figure paid media campaign and said its members had engaged nearly 15 million voters since Labor Day. By the federation's count, more than 600 union members themselves were elected, including dozens heading to Washington and hundreds to statehouses. A CNBC Voter Poll found midterm voters who were union members or lived in a union household backed Democrats over Republicans by 22 percentage points, the widest margin of the last four cycles, compared with a 10-point Democratic edge among voters in non-union households. "We are very proud of the impact that the labor movement made on this election," AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said. "It was our biggest and boldest effort ever." The federation represents almost 15 million workers.

In some places, unions got in early. In Michigan, the United Auto Workers organized behind Democrat Abdul El-Sayed before a contentious Senate primary against Haley Stevens. The union believes about one in 10 August primary early voters were UAW members. "I'm not sure we would have won without them," said Connor Farrell, a fundraiser who worked with El-Sayed. El-Sayed and Jocelyn Benson, the Democratic nominee for governor who also had early UAW backing, won last week in a state that supported Donald Trump in 2016 and 2024. The Detroit-based union said volunteers knocked on more than 100,000 doors and made half a million phone calls, and it held an Election-eve rally with the statewide ticket. El-Sayed's post-election comments on Senate leadership and health care are covered in a separate story.