Labor to spend $300 million to unseat five GOP governors
Over $300 million has already been committed by labor groups, including the AFL-CIO, to elect five Democrat governors in states currently controlled by the GOP. The states targeted, according to Lee Saunders and Mike Podhorzer who both work for the AFL-CIO?s political side, are Florida, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. The dollar amount the labor organization is expecting to spend is well in excess of what it has contributed in the past, including the contentious 2010 elections. Additionally, the organization will spend undisclosed amounts defending incumbent Democratic senators in West Virginia, Michigan, Iowa, North Carolina, Montana, Louisiana, Alaska, and Arkansas. In line with the AFL-CIO decision to focus on state-level politics, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, said that the organization she leads would do the same. The president of the AFL-CIO, Richard Trumka, said that the focus would be on wages partially because that is a salient and popular issue with voters.
See "Labor to spend $300 million to unseat five GOP governors", John Wojcik, People's World, February 20, 2014