Yesterday at the polls, voters overwhelmingly supported Chris Taylor for Wisconsin Supreme Court. In Dane County, results are in for Dane County Circuit Court, thirteen competitive races for Dane County Board of Supervisors, two Madison Metropolitan School District Board of Education seats, and three Madison Common Council alder races. That’s in addition to the numerous non-partisan races in towns and villages across Dane County, in which many union-backed candidates won their races.

To break down what voters decided in yesterday’s Spring Election, host Ali Muldrow is joined by four local labor leaders: Derek Wallace is the President of AFSCME- Dane County Employee Association Local 720. Kevin Gundlach is the President of the South Central Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. And Molly Grupe who is a teacher in Waunakee and the Wisconsin Education Association Council (WEAC) Region 6 PAC Chair. John Wedge is the Executive Director at WEAC Region 6.

Grupe says that she’s heartened by the election results, which are part of a larger national push to elect Democratic candidates. Gundlach says that of AFL-CIO’s 156 endorsements, only 20 candidates lost their races. It takes a ⅔ vote of members to get that AFL-CIO endorsement. Wallace also reports a very high win rate for AFSCME-endorsed candidates: 15 of 16 races. Union endorsements are building trust at a time when there’s a lot of political mistrust.

The election of Chris Taylor to the Supreme Court is exciting for these leaders because Act 10 is one step closer to being overturned. Wedge says that there’s now a reasonable majority on the Supreme Court who don’t want to strip unions of their power. If unions gained their power back, Grupe would like to see them advance DEI and inclusivity, smaller class sizes, more transparency on property tax bills, and all kinds of issues that go beyond salary negotiations.

They also talk about how unions can support their elected officials to be effective and hold them accountable to their campaign promises. They preview what might happen in the August Primary and November Midterm.

Featured image of “I Voted” stickers via Pexels.

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