Thursday, October 31, 2024

The union gender gap

Inside the Golden State political arena
Oct 31, 2024 View in browser
 
POLITICO California Playbook Newsletter Header

By Dustin Gardiner and Lara Korte

Kamala Harris greets supporters at a rope line.

Unions led by so-called care-economy workers have redoubled their volunteer efforts in support of Kamala Harris. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP

DRIVING THE DAY: The LA Dodgers won the World Series last night, beating out the Yankees. Gov. Gavin Newsom cheered their victory as "California domination."

THE BUZZ: (UNION) SISTERS DOIN’ IT FOR THEMSELVESMale-dominated unions like the Teamsters, firefighters and port workers have snubbed Kamala Harris. But other factions of the labor movement, especially unions predominantly led by working-class women, aren’t having it.

From California to North Carolina, unions led by so-called care-economy workers have redoubled their volunteer efforts in support of the Democratic presidential nominee in the final weeks of the election. It’s a clear effort to help Democrats shore up the party’s union support to counteract the bromance between former President Donald Trump and working-class men.

As our colleague Blake Jones reports this morning, the wave of labor groups boosting Harris includes canvassing armies of volunteers, many of them women. The 310,000-member California Teachers Association, for example, doesn't usually canvass for presidential candidates, but it recently dispatched hundreds of teachers to help turn out independent voters in the neighboring swing state of Nevada. Its leaders can’t remember a time when the union deployed members to campaign in a presidential race.

“Unions should not shy away from having deep political conversations,” said CTA President David Goldberg during an interview in Reno earlier this month. He argued that falling membership in churches and community groups has closed off important channels for political dialogue. “Unions are one of the last places where we actually can do this. We have an obligation.”

The hospitality union UNITE HERE, meanwhile, is aiming to knock on 3.5 million doors before Election Day — one of the largest displays of union muscle this cycle.

“This was important to us, regardless of the Teamsters and the firefighters,” said UNITE HERE President Gwen Mills. “We all have members in our unions who took to Trump, but as a majority, we don't.”

Among the other groups joining the fray: The National Education Association of teachers has funded digital ads and canvassed union households in eight swing states. The AFL-CIO’s members (domestic workers, school employees and others) have spoken with more than 3 million voters. The Service Employees International Union (health care and building service workers) has bussed members from Los Angeles to Nevada and Arizona to knock on doors.

Union leaders still in Harris’ corner argue that the average union member has an ethos that can sway fellow blue-collar voters who have boosted Trump in past elections — if they can engage them in one-on-one conversations.

“That contact is more important than it has ever been due to the cynicism in the American electorate,” said AFL-CIO spokesperson Steve Smith.

The more conservative-leaning unions declined to endorse anyone in the presidential race this year — that includes the Teamsters, firefighters and port workers. But those unions have been less central to the Democratic Party’s ground game in past elections (even when they endorsed Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton). And the unions backing Harris generally have larger memberships.

“The labor unions that turn people out are usually the teachers, the service employees” and unions representing health care employees, said Doug Herman, a Democratic strategist and Obama campaign alumnus.

But though Harris enjoys support from many union leaders, the Trump campaign argues it's the rank-and-file members who make a difference — and will prove key in voting.

"While union leadership has been fully entrenched in Democrat politics for decades, the workers who comprise unions are supporting President Trump because they have paid the price for Kamala's failed economic policies,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt in a statement.

GOOD MORNING. Happy Halloween! Thanks for waking up with Playbook.

You can text us at ‪916-562-0685‬‪ — save it as “CA Playbook” in your contacts. Or drop us a line at lkorte@politico.com and dgardiner@politico.com, or on X — @DustinGardiner and @Lara_Korte.

WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.

CAMPAIGN YEAR

Booking photos of Erik Menendez, left, and Lyle Menendez.

The Menendez brothers have garnered newfound interest in recent years thanks to new documentaries. | California Dept. of Corrections via AP

CLEMENCY WATCH — Erik and Lyle Menendez are seeking clemency from Gov. Gavin Newsom that, if granted, could set them free by Thanksgiving.

The brothers, who have been in prison since they were convicted of murdering their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez in 1989, have garnered newfound interest in recent years thanks to documentaries and the recent Netflix series, “Monsters.” At the time of their initial trial, the brothers claimed they had killed their parents in self-defense, citing years of sexual abuse from their father, but this argument was dismissed and the two were convicted to serve life sentences without the possibility of parole.

The renewed media attention prompted a flood of requests for reconsideration to embattled Los Angeles District Attorney George Gascón, who is fighting for reelection and last week announced he would seek resentencing for the brothers.

A resentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 11, but the brothers’ legal team is also pursuing different avenues for release, including asking the governor to grant them clemency. Their attorney submitted their request on Monday, according to the Los Angeles Times, and on Wednesday, Gascón offered his support.

“They have respectively served 34 years and have continued their educations and worked to create new programs to support the rehabilitation of fellow inmates,” Gascón told the Times in a statement.

ABORTION

California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

SIGNED, SEALED, DELIVERED — A judge on Wednesday signed a deal between Attorney General Rob Bonta and Providence St. Joseph Hospital, cementing a promise that the Catholic hospital would provide emergency abortion care.

As Playbook PM reported Tuesday, the agreement lifts an injunction against the hospital amid a bigger lawsuit Bonta filed over the facility’s alleged refusal to perform an abortion earlier this year. His suit alleges the hospital violated a patient’s civil rights — and the state’s emergency services law — when it declined to terminate a non-viable pregnancy because doctors detected a fetal heartbeat.

Providence St. Joseph is the last labor and delivery center in Humboldt County, an area almost four times the size of the state of Rhode Island. — Rachel Bluth

FOR GOOD MEASURE

BALLOT GUIDE — As the days tick down toward Nov. 5 — and your friends and family continue to bug you about what any of these ballot measures actually mean — we hope you consider sharing our California ballot-measure voter guide. If we can briefly brag, it’s a fun read for both the uninitiated and people who like and care about politics.

Please share the politico.com/caballot link with your community, and we hope you learn something new.

CLIMATE AND ENERGY

IT'S THE MONEY — Elon Musk may be Trump's biggest supporter, but he's still stumping for California climate policies. Read more about the contradiction at the heart of Musk's Republican embrace in last night's California Climate.

TOP TALKERS

California Department of Motor Vehicles | Getty Images

San Franciscans are giving the California DMV flak over driver's licenses that refer to the city as "San Fran." | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

ROAD RAGE — State Sen. Scott Wiener sent a sternly worded letter to California DMV Director Steve Gordon on Wednesday, asking his agency to “immediately cease and desist” the scandalous practice of … issuing licenses that denote San Franciscans’ city of residence as “San Fran.”

For the uninitiated, declaring you’re in “San Fran” while taking a phone call on a crowded BART train might earn you nasty looks from fellow passengers, or at the very least identify you as a non-local. Luckily, Wiener pitched the DMV some alternatives that may or may not fit on a pocket-sized plastic card: “SF,” “The City,” “Best City In The World” and the controversial “Frisco.”

DEMS STUMPING FOR TRUMP? — The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board reports that a Democratic-aligned group funded by the House Majority PAC is running a TV spot that says incumbent GOP Rep. David Valadao “turned his back” on Donald Trump for voting to impeach the former president after the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots.

SWEET RELEASE — The Biden administration brokered the release last month of David Lin, a U.S. citizen jailed in China for 16 years, by trading him for an unidentified Chinese citizen in U.S. custody, our colleagues Phelim Kine and Robbie Gramer reported Wednesday night. Gov. Newsom lobbied for Lin’s release while on a trip to China last year but was unable to secure a deal. Lin, a Chinese American pastor who lived in California, had been behind bars in China since 2006 serving a life sentence for what the U.S. government said were bogus charges of contract fraud.

AROUND THE STATE

— Meet the venture capitalist and San Francisco Standard founder shaking up the city’s media and political landscape. (Mission Local)

— A private developer previously selected to convert a state office building in Sacramento into affordable housing has withdrawn from the project. (Sacramento Bee)

— A highway sign marking the city limit for Yokuts Valley — the Fresno County town previously known as “Squaw Valley” before a contentious name change — has been vandalized for the second time in a month. (Fresno Bee)

PLAYBOOKERS

PUT A RING ON IT — Kyle Orrock, a managing director at Northwestern Mutual, proposed to Rachel Janc , a strategic communications consultant and Conde Nast alum. He proposed at the Rombauer Vineyards in St. Helena, Calif. (Rombauer was the wine they had on their first date.) Pic ... The ring

PEOPLE MOVES — Tommy Felix has joined Morrison Foerster as a partner in the global law firm's Capital Markets group. He was previously a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

Shannon Udovic-Constant, a San Francisco-based pediatrician, has been installed as the new president of the California Medical Association. René Bravo , a San Luis Obispo-based pediatrician, was also selected as CMA’s new president-elect, to succeed Udovic-Constant next fall.

BIRTHDAYS — Gabriel Sanchez of the state Department of Insurance … Piper Perabo Olivia Alair Dalton of Apple … Lauren VrazilekJulie Michelman

BELATED B-DAY WISHES — (was Wednesday): Mark Yudof ... Stuart B. Wolfe ... Paul E. Jacobs

WANT A SHOUT-OUT FEATURED? — Send us a birthday, career move or another special occasion to include in POLITICO’s California Playbook. You can now submit a shout-out using this Google form.

CALIFORNIA POLICY IS ALWAYS CHANGING: Know your next move. From Sacramento to Silicon Valley, POLITICO California Pro provides policy professionals with the in-depth reporting and tools they need to get ahead of policy trends and political developments shaping the Golden State. To learn more about the exclusive insight and analysis this subscriber-only service offers, click here.

Want to make an impact? POLITICO California has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Golden State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness amongst this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Rebecca Haase to find out how: rhaase@politico.com.

 

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