The victories in California, Oregon, Connecticut and Delaware, and the pending voctory in Washington State, could not have happened without the dedicated support of our labor unions, and specifically the support of the AFL-CIO and Richard Trumka.
In contrast to the myth of a professional left that failed to vote, what we really experienced was an energized AFL-CIO under the dynamic leadership of Richard Trumka, who has been 100% right all along.
The AFL-CIO sponsored canvassing events throughout the US leading up to the election.
The AFL-CIO contacted 189,000 union voters in Colorado to achieve the victory of Michael Bennett.
In West Virginia 65% of union households supported Joe Manchin.
In CT 63% of 300,000 union members supported Blumenthal.
In Washington State the Labor Council actively campaigned for Social Security protection, achieving and releasing Patty Murray's letter opposing any cuts in Social Security.
The California Labor Federation has sponsored a Good Jobs Express tour. The ILWU is influential there as well as the AFL-CIO.
This year the AFL-CIO issued a long report on outsourcing that became popular among Republicans in the software industry as well as among Democrats.
The AFL-CIO has a clear jobs policy and so does the Machinists' union.
Organized labor also supplied substantial donations, which can be quantified when the FEC database is fully updated for this year.
It is clear that Harry Reid's victory was achieved with the support of organized labor.
I hope that Harry Reid will now move quickly to adopt as much of the AFL-CIO plan as possible before January and work towards these goals after January.
We should acknowledge where the strong leadership is coming from in the Democratic Party.