UNITE HERE, the hospitality workers’ union, ran the largest field operation SD-13.

Petersburg, VA — UNITE HERE, the hospitality workers’ union, is celebrating Lashresce Aird’s victory in SD-13. 50 Union members and their friends and families have spent the past two months knocking doors six days a week for Aird in SD-13.

“This race was fundamentally about the issues our members deal with every day,” said Sam Epps, Political Director of UNITE HERE Local 25. “The voters we talked to on the doors want to live in safe neighborhoods, have good healthcare and autonomy over their bodies, send their kids to good schools, and have jobs that can support their families. That’s why they chose Lashresce – she’s committed to fighting for working families.”

“We were proud to knock 65,000 doors for Lashresce Aird,” said Bert Bayou, Vice President of UNITE HERE Local 23. “We had her back in the primary because we know she will fight for economic justice, reproductive justice, and social justice in the Senate.”

UNITE HERE’s team is a mix of local union and community members with experience organizing voters — and coworkers — around issues that matter most. In recent years, UNITE HERE has successfully organized hundreds of new workers into the Union in Virginia, primarily from university cafeterias where many canvassers leading this operation come out.

In the 2021 general, 200 UNITE HERE members knocked over 230,000 doors for endorsed candidates in VA. Union-endorsed candidates won in every down-ballot race where UNITE HERE canvassed. In January, 20 UNITE HERE members knocked 9,000 doors for Aaron Rouse in VA-07’s special election, which Rouse won by just a few hundred votes.

“This is a win for the union, for our community, but most of all for my daughters,” said Rosalyn Carter, a food service worker at recently organized Virginia Commonwealth University cafeteria, a UNITE HERE canvasser, and a voter in VA SD-13. “I’m so proud to have helped elect someone who will fight to protect and expand their rights to have good lives – lives that they deserve to live on their own terms.”