State Legislature Maintains Working Families Majority
Election Day 2013 provided a solid victory for New Jersey working families. We applaud Senator Barbara Buono for running a vigorous campaign, championing the rights of New Jersey’s working families, and fighting to advance our shared middle class values including the minimum wage. While we did not win every battle we faced this year, we succeeded in achieving overwhelming voter approval of Ballot Question #2 to raise the state minimum wage and to include an annual cost of living adjustment. This policy will uplift families, boost the local economy, and could not have come at a better time for our state. We also succeeded in preserving working family majorities in the State Legislature with victories in several competitive districts, despite an unprecedented spending blitz from the Governor and his political machine, which sought to defeat our endorsed candidates. We elected 47 out of 68 labor candidates to public office with four races too close to call, achieving a 69% win ratio. We remain fully committed to advancing an agenda that will promote progress, economic fairness, and social justice for all New Jersey working families.
CLICK HERE for complete election results in this year’s Election Day Labor Fax.
We thank affiliates, Central Labor Councils, Building Trades Councils, and thousands of volunteers, who were critical to this year’s Labor 2013 program and took the lead in educating union members through worksite leafleting, local union mail, making over 750,000 phone calls, and knocking on a total of 265,370 union household doors during the labor walks. This program is the heart and soul of our operation, and would not have been possible without the tremendous support of our affiliates.
This year also demonstrated the advantages of partnering with our community allies. Through the Working Families United for New Jersey, Inc. “Raise the Wage” campaign, our coalition of 256 religious, labor, community, civil rights, student, progressive, women, and retirees groups did an outstanding job of educating voters about Ballot Question #2. Our efforts spanned eight months during which we registered tens of thousands of voters; promoted our message through newspapers, billboards, lawn signs, leafleting, television, radio, social media, YouTube, a website, and online ads; held dozens of press conferences and community meetings; and joined with local governments to pass supportive resolutions. Once again, your efforts delivered a clear victory for working families tonight and we thank you for your dedication to moving our state forward.