SEIU members, worker leaders in the Fight for $15 and a Union, and other essential workers celebrated across the country Saturday as Democrat Joe Biden crossed the Electoral College threshold for winning the 2020 presidential race. SEIU members and their partners made 39 million phone calls, sent 80 million texts and knocked on two million doors to get out the vote for pro-worker candidates and policies up and down the ballot.
In addition, 20 SEIU members who ran for office themselves also triumphed on election day- with several more races being too close to call.
“Working people won this election,” said SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry in a statement. “By voting in record numbers, essential workers — Black, Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, white — delivered this historic victory. All of us — no matter our race or where we come from — want the same thing: a better future for our families. Essential workers have risked their lives to keep our country running, working through a pandemic, protecting our democracy and turning out their communities to vote in record numbers. Essential workers’ message is clear: respect us, protect us, pay us.”
After Saturday’s victory for Biden and Harris, Henry said that SEIU members are ready to continue the fight for a more just society.
“Tomorrow, we will be back in the fight to win justice for all and chart a new path forward for America,” she said. “We must face this pandemic, the economic insecurity of too many families and demands for an end to police violence head-on. We’ll be in the streets, organizing our communities, and marching together to continue the fight to ensure our economy and democracy works for all of us, no exceptions.”
