CWA Election Overview: When We Fight, We Win!

Earlier this week, CWA members across the country saw the results of their hard work as millions of union voters flooded polling stations to cast ballots for pro-worker, pro-union candidates. Led by the CWA Legislative and Political Team (LP Team), our political activists joined tens of thousands of other unionists for an historic voter engagement push that resulted in incredible turnout and unprecedented wins. The “blue tsunami” was brought to you by union power.

To meet this political moment, CWA trained a record 1,046 members across 51 sessions of the CWA Fighting Oligarchy and CWA Political Activist programs. CWA members received a world-class level of preparation that few unions can match. And our activists left it all on the field.

In January, the LP Team launched a multi-year, political power-building program focused on building a robust cadre of activists capable of record-breaking door knocking, phonebanking, text banking, post card writing, and holding persuasive conversations with workers. CWAers were on the ground conducting these activities in 27 states. Our union also sent activists and staff to work directly with the AFL-CIO in another 22 states. Those activists made the difference in key races, contributing to electoral wins that will set the stage for future policy gains and the eventual presidential showdown in 2028.

During this cycle, our members did more outreach to educate and mobilize union voters than ever before, conducting 40% more voter contact attempts than in the 2024 election cycle.

This work helped fuel the seismic shift in political power the American public has been calling for, with decisive victories in formerly unreachable races. We are sending champions of working people to the U.S. Senate—from Sherrod Brown in Ohio to Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan to Troy Jackson in Maine to Roy Cooper in North Carolina to James Talarico and Gina Hinojosa, CWA members who turned Texas blue. Our activists’ work helped us win six of our ten priority Senate races outright, with another two Senate champions leading in races yet to be called.

When we fight, we win.

Led by CWA National Political Field Director Curtis Hierro, the CWA Legislative and Political team hosted a national debrief session on Wednesday, where CWA political activists shared their triumphs and their recommendations for where to go from here. CWA District 4 Vice President Linda L. Hinton attended the meeting.

Members thanked the CWA National, District, and Sector staff for consistent support throughout the electoral season. CWA Local 4320 Secretary-Treasurer Niki Yemi summed up the sentiments of many on the call, saying, “You got about 48 hours to celebrate, then it’s back to work. We have to hold these elected officials accountable now. We have to make sure they are standing firm on what they ran on.”

Hierro ended the meeting, saying, “Our plan is to be as aggressive as possible to implement our Worker Power Agenda.” This political action plan was formed through extensive listening sessions and feedback from over 6,000 CWA members and details our political priorities, which have higher chances of success now that more pro-union candidates will be taking office, especially at the state level.

Congratulations to all of our political activists for their hard work and dedication!

 
CWA President Claude Cummings Jr. spent the weeks leading up to the 2026 midterm elections speaking at numerous events to help drive voter turnout. He is pictured above with Texas AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Lorraine Montemayor (right) and Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation Executive Director Hany Khalil (left) at an October 31 door knocking rally in Houston, Texas.

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This post originally appeared on cwa-union.org.