Elections matter

Sometimes things have to get bad, before they can get better.

One year a go, Donald Trump was elected president and the Congress came under Republican control.

This year, in Connecticut, with a very small Democratic majority in the state house and a tie in the senate, we saw unprecedented attacks on working families, unions, and an austerity budget.

In Connecticut, the legislature refused to close tax loopholes that favor the rich.

In Washington, the administration and congress has tried repeatedly to take away healthcare from millions of Americans, and now they are trying to give the rich a tax break!

But...

Last winter, in a special election, AFT Connecticut member and Hartford teacher Josh Hall was elected as a Working Families Party candidate to the state legislature.

We have defeated Obamacare repeal over, and over, and over.

And this past Tuesday, progressives won elections across this country and the state of Maine voted in a referendum to expand Medicaid.

AFT Connecticut endorsed over 100 candidates for municipal office, including over 30 of our own members. Over 70% of our endowed candidates won.

Our members teamed with their communities and door knocked for pro-worker candidates. We passed our literature and had one on one conversations about our endorsed candidates. 

We became active.

We became engaged.

There is much work left for us to do.

But for those of us who believe that America can still be a country of equal opportunity, regardless of race, skin color, religion, etc.....

I see hope.

Those of us who are not of the top 1% must stand together.  

We must believe that a society “of the people, for the people, and by the people,” is possible if we are engaged and active.

Tuesday showed that.