The American Federation of Teachers abruptly canceled a planned 10 a.m. Wednesday press call with its president, Randi Weingarten, to discuss Tuesday’s election returns. No explanation was given, but it likely would not have been a fun experience for her, since AFT spent an estimated $20 million of its 1.6 million members’ dues this election with little to show for it.
Another union, the 3-million member National Education Association, reportedly committed $40 million and possibly as much as $60 million. Both aimed to send a message to lawmakers pushing conservative education reforms.
“The market-based reforms, the top-down reforms, the testing and sanctioning as opposed to supporting and improving has taken hold so much and has been so wrong-headed that you’re seeing this fight back,” Weingarten told the liberal magazine The Nation last month. AFT even created a Tumblr page called “You Got Schooled” to hit Republican candidates.
Instead voters sent a message to the unions. Most targeted Republicans held on, and the GOP even managed upsets in the Illinois and Maryland gubernatorial races and a near-upset in Virginia’s Senate race.
While both unions congratulated individual candidates they backed, neither late Wednesday morning had put out a statement on the election overall. A spokeswoman for AFT said it would issue one later Wednesday. A spokesman for NEA could not be reached.
The teachers unions prioritized their spending on governor’s races, backing Democrats in six states: Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. The Democrats lost in four out of five, with the results still pending in Connecticut, though the latest returns put incumbent Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy in the lead.
Wisconsin Republican Scott Walker, who is particularly hated for by unions for his reforms to the state’s public-sector union laws, won a solid 52 percent to 47 percent victory over Democrat Mary Burke. He also beat a union-lead recall effort in 2012, making Tuesday the third time inside four years he has won races for the Badger State’s governorship.
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder, also hated by organized labor for pushing a right-to-work law through the state legislature in 2012, beat Democrat Mark Schauer 51 percent to 47 percent.
Teachers unions also heavily backed former governor and former Republican Charlie Crist in his effort to oust incumbent Rick Scott. Polls late in the race suggested that Crist would pull it off, but Scott prevailed 48 percent to 47 percent.
In one of the major upsets of the night, incumbent Illinois Democrat Pat Quinn lost the governorship to Republican challenger Bruce Rauner, 51 percent to 48 percent. Quinn had been particularly close to organized labor, having backed efforts to get state-subsidized home care workers into unions by declaring them public employees. That ultimately led to a Supreme Court case over the workers’ status, which Quinn also lost.
The only solid win the unions could claim in the gubernatorial races was Pennsylvania Democrat Tom Wolf ousting incumbent Republican Tom Corbett by a 55 percent to 45 percent margin. That was not much of a surprise, though, since Corbett was long viewed as endangered.
The unions also invested heavily in Senate races, where they had better luck. They helped Democratic incumbents such as Minnesota’s Al Franken hold onto his seat against Republican Mike McFadden, 53 percent 43 percent, and boosted Democrat Gary Peters in his effort to win Michigan’s open seat against Republican Terri Lynn Land, 55 percent to 41 percent.
But there were disappointments there, too. Weingarten campaigned with Democrat Kay Hagan in North Carolina, who lost to Republican Thom Tillis, 49 percent to 47 percent. The unions also backed Arkansas Democrat Mark Pryor, who lost to Republican Tom Cotton, 57 percent to 39 percent.
In a statement, Weingarten argued that while Democratic candidates may have lost, organized labor and progressive groups won on the issues: “It’s clear that many believe this country is on the wrong track and voted for change. Republicans successfully made this a referendum on President Obama’s record and won resoundingly, but where the election was about everyday concerns—education, minimum wage, paid sick leave—working families prevailed.”
To back up her case, she pointed to wins such as Corbett’s and the re-election of California State Superintendent Tom Torlakson, as well as New York voters passing a school bond initiative and even Scott’s win in Florida. “[He] ran on funding schools, not on his record,” she said.
Talking with reporters Wednesday morning, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said the Republicans beat Democrats in money and messaging. “More [voters] heard from Republicans than Democrats on the economy. Plus, they were strong and assertive in their message.”
This article was originally published at 11:25 a.m. and has been updated. It has been corrected to reflect the correct first name of victorious Illinois governor candidate Bruce Rauner and the Senate race near-upsets.
