Union Political Activity
How labor unions participate in politics, from PAC contributions and endorsements to mobilizing members as campaign volunteers.
The Union Political Machine
Labor unions have been major political actors in democracies since the 19th century. In the United States, unions spend roughly $1.8 billion per election cycle on political activities, including PAC contributions, issue advertising, voter registration drives, and get-out-the-vote operations. The AFL-CIO, SEIU, and teachers' unions (NEA and AFT) are consistently among the largest political spenders in the country.
But unions' political power depends more on mobilization than money. A union with 100,000 members can deploy thousands of trained volunteers to knock on doors, staff phone banks, and drive voters to polls. This ground-game capacity is far more valuable per dollar than television advertising. In the 2020 election, union households represented roughly 18% of voters, and they supported Biden by 16 percentage points, a margin that was decisive in key swing states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.