CWA Next Gen Gearing Up for Election Day 2022

During two virtual political briefings in July, more than 30 CWA members and mentors, including District 4 Vice President Linda Hinton, joined CWA Next Generation for a crash course in mobilizing for Election Day 2022. The online political briefings provided a glimpse of upcoming challenges and opportunities with National Political Director Cory Medina and National Legislative and Political Field Director Yolanda Bejarano.

Medina explained that if key pro-worker legislation is going to escape death in the “Senate graveyard,” members must help elect Democrats in eight critical states, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. He emphasized that governors’ races and contests for state attorneys general and secretaries of state are more important this year than at any time in recent memory, because the winners of those races will set the rules for the national election in 2024.

Both Medina and Bejarano talked to Next Gen members about the power of member-to-member contact. “In work site visits, flyers, texts, phonebanking, and mail—member-to-member work is our priority,” said Medina. “We know for sure that CWA members value getting information about candidates and hearing stories from other members.”

Bejarano said the field plan for the next few months is simple: “We want to have persuasive conversations with members to make sure they understand the issues. We want to build the long-term power of our union.”

All CWA members—young and old—can volunteer for member-to-member outreach in November right now. “We know democracy is under threat right now,” said Bejarano, “and that’s why we’ve got to leave it all on the field. It will take each and every one of us to win in November.”