04 Nov BCTGM Mobilizes for a UNION WAVE in the 2026 Midterms

Above: Members of BCTGM Local 372A attend a labor rally for Indiana Secretary of State Candidate Beau Bayh

BCTGM representatives, local unions and members worked to elect worker-friendly candidates in key states this midterm election season—helping to usher in a new day for working families.

“This was the largest midterm mobilization in the labor movement’s history,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement the morning after the election. “For months, the labor movement mobilized tens of thousands of uniquely trusted volunteers to reach more than 16 million union voters in swing states and districts across the country at their doors, phones, and worksites.”

BCTGM International President Anthony Shelton praised the AFL-CIO’s Get-Out-the-Vote effort, adding, “our local unions answered the call to get more involved with their state and central labor bodies two years ago, and were front and center to this effort in key states. Their operation was remarkable.”

Exit polls show union households voted 21 points more for Democrats than Republicans nationwide, driving victories that were decisive for control of Congress. Union voters made up an historic high of 15% of the overall electorate, and even higher in key battleground states—a direct result of the AFL-CIO’s commitment to turn out millions more union members in 2026.

Voters also elected a record number of union members, who share our values and bring their lived experience as workers to Congress and state legislatures. “We are thrilled to celebrate our union brothers’ and sisters’ victories,” Shuler said. “We look forward to taking the power of union solidarity to Congress.”

Shuler traveled from coast to coast this election season, working in-person with labor federations on their election efforts. “In every community, we heard the same thing,” she said. “Working people are sick and tired of the failed economic status quo that prioritizes billionaires over the people who make this country run.”

For its part, the Trump administration did everything it could to control the results of this election: Change the ID laws. Redraw maps. Purge the voting lists. Mess with mail-in ballots. Harass and intimidate voters—especially immigrants and people of color—to scare people away from the polls. Elon Musk alone spent almost $500 million backing Republican causes, becoming the biggest individual donor in the midterm cycle.

“It didn’t work,” Shelton countered. “Working people asked for very basic things in 2024, and Trump—along with a Republican majority in both houses—didn’t deliver. Plain and simple.”

On this page: BCTGM Local Unions are shown attending rallies, making BCTGM-PAC donations and showing up to phone banking events for candidates who fight for workers.