Political Update

Kentucky

IUE-CWA Local 83761 President Jerry Carney, Legislative/Political director Steve Wimsatt, Grimes and CWA Staff Representative Isa Shabazz.

Below: South Ward Councilman Ras Baraka accepts CWA's endorsement in his run for mayor of Newark.

IUE-CWA and CWA are big supporters of Kentucky Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, who is running for election to the Senate next year. She is challenging Mitch McConnell, who as Senate minority leader, has mounted a campaign of "no" over the past five years. Grimes put McConnell's record in context: "If Mitch McConnell had a kidney stone, he'd refuse to pass it."

IUE-CWA Local 83761 recently hosted an event for Grimes in Louisville, where she met with union activists and leaders and talked about how she would help move Kentucky in the right direction to help working families.

At a later State AFL-CIO meeting, delegates overwhelmingly endorsed Grimes in her bid to become senator. She said, "Labor has lifted millions out of poverty. It is labor that is going to be the way we continue to grow the middle class in this state and make sure that everyone has an equal voice, especially at the bargaining table."

New Jersey

CWA New Jersey has endorsed Ras Baraka for mayor of Newark.

"Ras Baraka is building a movement in Newark for everyone who loves, lives and works in this city," said Hetty Rosenstein, CWA's New Jersey state director. "He isn't just running a political campaign for himself. CWA endorses that movement. Our members endorse that movement. That movement is who we are and what we are as a union."

Watch the endorsement here.