Winning the presidential election was only half the battle. To improve the odds of enacting pro-worker laws and advancing our union’s legislative priorities, we will need members of Congress in both the House and Senate who will work with the Biden-Harris administration.
Luckily, thanks to the hard work of our members, activists, and allies in getting out the vote, the majority of AFGE’s endorsed candidates won at the ballot box this November.
In the House of Representatives, 184 of the 238 candidates AFGE endorsed were successful in winning their election, for a success rate of 77%. Despite losing more than 10 seats, Democrats will still hold control of the House for the next congressional session.
Due to the historic number of mail-in ballots cast in this election, there are still House races that have yet to be called in California and Utah. In Iowa, AFGE-endorsed candidate Rita Hart has requested a recount as she trails by only 47 votes.
In the Senate, 13 of the 24 AFGE-endorsed candidates won their election, for a success rate of 54%. Senators-elect Mark Kelly and John Hickenlooper unseated the incumbent senators in Arizona and Colorado, respectively.
Democrats gained one seat in the Senate, yet Republicans currently have a 50-48 majority. However, Democrats have the chance to gain two additional seats on Jan. 5, when the two undecided Senate races in Georgia will go to a runoff.
AFGE has endorsed candidates Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock for the two Senate elections in Georgia. If they win, party control of the Senate will be split 50-50, with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris holding the tie-breaking vote in her constitutional role as president of the Senate. This scenario would make it a lot easier for legislation advancing AFGE’s priorities to be voted into law.
Regardless of the outcome, AFGE will continue to work with lawmakers from both parties on behalf of our members. We will fight to ensure federal workers receive consistent and competitive pay increases, maintain good quality health care and retirement benefits, and preserve their rights to join a union and bargain collectively for better working conditions.
The Office of Personnel Management last week took a huge step toward aligning the locality pay maps for employees on the Federal Wage System and General Schedule.
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With the election approaching Marcial Gomez talks about what’s on the line for TSA employees and his concerns about Project 2025.
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Members of AFGE’s DEFCON Steering Group met along with AFGE staff and elected leaders to discuss ways to better serve employees throughout the DoD in the year ahead.
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