CWA Made the Difference in N.Y. Special Election

A pro-worker candidate, Scott Murphy, is now leading in the closely-watched ballot count to fill the U.S. House seat vacated by New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.  A tremendous level of political activism by CWAers in the weeks leading up to the March 31 special election helped make the election a close one.

Electing a worker-friendly candidate to the House seat for New York's 20th Congressional District seemed like a long shot, given that some 70 percent of voters in the district are registered Republicans, but that didn't deter members of CWA Local 1118.

"The race should not have been close when you look at our district's political registration," said Mike Carmel, Local 1118 political coordinator. "But the high level of activism by our members shows what can be accomplished," he said. During the brief, 5-week campaign, local members, supported by CWAers from locals 1113, 1120, and 1104, organized more than 60 volunteer shifts, knocked on more than a thousand doors and made some 3,000 phone calls.

Currently, Murphy, a Democrat, businessman and supporter of Employee Free Choice, is leading Republican Jim Tedesco, a 30-year assemblyman in the New York State legislature, by 364 votes, Carmel said. There are about a thousand contested ballots still to be resolved.