Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.
On Tuesday, June 1, union-endorsed candidate Melanie Stansbury won by a landslide in a special election to represent New Mexico’s 1st Congressional District, a House seat vacated by Deb Haaland, secretary of the Interior Department, with 60.3% to 35.7% of the vote. The New Mexico Federation of Labor kicked off a historic labor program by opening three staging locations to host phone banks and literature drops, at the state federation’s office and the union halls of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 611 and Laborers (LIUNA) Local 16. The state federation also recruited seven release staff from local affiliates, AFSCME District Council 18, American Federation of Teachers (AFT) Local 8029, LIUNA local 16, National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA) New Mexico and SMART Local 49. Workers knocked on doors and dropped literature at the nearly 13,000 homes of union members and households. With almost 10,000 calls and mail pieces going out to more than 28,000 targeted union members and households in the 1st District, working families made the difference in this election.