AFSCME is mobilizing for the Harris-Walz ticket

https://www.afscme.org/blog/afscme-is-mobilizing-for-the-harris-walz-ticket

By AFSCME President Lee Saunders · Monday, August 19, 2024

The 2024 elections are now just 11 weeks away, and AFSCME members are kicking our activism into high gear, mobilizing for pro-worker allies from school board and town council to president of the United States.

At the top of the ticket, we are all in for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Vice President Harris has been a strong, steady ally for AFSCME and all working people. She has walked the picket line with striking workers. From affordable health care to retirement security to student loan forgiveness and more, she is committed to building on the successes of the last three-and-a-half years.

In 2021, she cast the tie-breaking vote in the U.S. Senate to pass the American Rescue Plan, which pulled the economy back from the brink and saved tens of thousands of AFSCME jobs. She has shown her respect for us, calling public service “some of the most noble and selfless work that anyone can do.” And she has made our freedoms a main focus of her campaign — the freedom not just to get by, but to get ahead; the freedom to earn a living wage and lead a decent life; the freedom to join a union and bargain collectively.

And to be her running mate, she chose a leader in Tim Walz who doesn’t just support public service workers — he was a public service worker himself, a teacher and union member who spent decades strengthening his community. He is one of us.

On the flip side, their opponents have developed a 900-page plan called Project 2025 — an extreme, divisive agenda that they will start implementing on Day One if they win the election. Among many other things, Donald Trump’s Project 2025 proposes banning public service unions like AFSCME. That’s right — they want to wipe us out completely.

This week, I am joining roughly 100 AFSCME members as delegates to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago where the Harris-Walz ticket will be formally nominated. This is one of our best political engagement opportunities. I will have the privilege of addressing the full convention this evening, along with several other union presidents. And throughout the week, AFSCME members will tell their stories of service.

This is a historic election with high stakes. Kamala Harris has only been a presidential candidate for a month, but her campaign has caught fire during this short period of time. The energy is off the charts. The momentum is overpowering. The mood is electric. Now, it’s up to us to do the work, to do what we do best, to be the boots on the ground. We must spend the next 11 weeks hitting the doors, making phone calls and turning out voters for pro-worker candidates at all levels.


Minnesota Governor Tim Walz speaking at the AFSCME 46th International Convention. Photo credit: Sed McCray