UNITE HERE Electoral Politics
To build an empowered working class, we must build power on all fronts — including politics.
Each year, elections are getting harder to win. Races in battleground states are won by razor-thin margins. UNITE HERE runs the largest labor-led canvassing program in the country that inspires working people to vote and makes the decisive difference in close elections.
Our canvassing program is highly effective because our canvassers are union members. They are housekeepers, cooks, dishwashers, and concessions workers who have won middle-class wages and top-notch health insurance through one-on-one grassroots organizing. They knock on doors and organize voters like they organize their coworkers.
2024: It’s Up To Us
UNITE HERE is running an ambitious field program to win the Presidency, Senate, House, and other down ballot races in ten states: Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan, Georgia, Maryland, California, and New York.
It’s Up to Us to help working families by electing pro-union candidates. UNITE HERE is proud to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris for President in the 2024 election. Harris has consistently demonstrated her unwavering commitment to working people and the labor movement.
It’s Up to Us to knock on doors to hold the Presidency and Senate and take back the House of Representatives. Democrats must win 22 of 22 Democratic-held Senate seats to hold on to a 50-50 Senate, and they must take back an additional 4 House seats to regain the majority from Republicans, who carried the chamber in 2022 by just 6,675 votes across a handful of critical districts.
In 2020, it was up to us to lead the way and defeat Trump by building the nation’s largest labor-led canvassing program. In 2022, it was up to us to step up again to help win the Senate.
And this year, once again, It’s Up to Us.
Your donation will help protect democracy and workers’ rights and support the training and leadership development of working-class people.
Politics for Long-Term, Grassroots Organizing and Leadership Development
Our canvassing program is part of a decades-long investment in organizing and leadership development year-round, not just during election season. During elections, up to 1,700 UNITE HERE members and their friends and family receive rigorous organizing training and deploy as door-to-door canvassers. After elections, they continue building power for working people by organizing workers in the hospitality industry.
UNITE HERE is proud to be a diverse union, representing over 300,000 workers, mostly women and people of color from over 200 countries. Together, we are building a movement to enable people of all backgrounds to achieve greater equality and opportunity.
Our canvassing program is a leadership development opportunity for working class people to take on new roles, lead teams, and exercise more power in the civic process. This moves us closer to the vision of leadership we most value and need: diverse, powerful, and representative of our membership in every way.
Our Track Record
UNITE HERE has a national reputation for executing exceptionally effective canvassing operations that make the decisive difference in close elections nationwide. Read more about our track record.