Members Drive Voter Turnout in the General Election

A huge thank you to all our members who went out to vote, made their voices heard, and dedicated thousands of invaluable hours volunteering to ensure we ran a strong and successful election campaign! We also extend our gratitude to our social justice sibling union members who worked alongside us to help secure a brighter future for both the CSU and our country.

Through grassroots efforts, the labor movement is reshaping the electorate and mobilizing voters from working-class and marginalized communities. For the first time in history, we are on track to have gender parity in both houses of the California State Legislature.

This wouldn’t be possible without the perseverance of CFA members who canvassed door-to-door in their districts, spent countless hours phone-banking, text-banking, writing postcards supporting our endorsed candidates, and walking campus hallways to get faculty to pledge their votes.

“Although I’m not happy with the outcome, what mattered most to me was that I voted for judges, senators, council members, and local ballot measures that won and these things matter. All of the smaller wins move us closer to equity, closer to justice, and grow the capacity of our communities to fight for what is right and necessary in the coming months and years. I remain hopeful and steadfast in my ability to help co-create the world I want to live in and leave behind for many generations to come,” said Leis Rodriguez, CFA Dominguez Hills Political Action and Legislative Committee Chair and CSU Dominguez Hills lecturer.

The political landscape plays a crucial role in securing key victories for CFA members – both in terms of bargaining and ensuring our endorsed candidates and legislative leaders prioritize a budget that puts education at the forefront.

Despite record spending by corporations aimed at blocking and even reversing our progress, our voices came out stronger. Thanks to our members’ efforts, we are getting close to electing leaders like Dr. LaShae Sharp-Collins (Assembly District 79), Sade Elhawary (Assembly District 57), and Mark Gonzalez (Assembly District 54), who will carry our mission forward and fight for policies that improve minimum wages, paid sick days and paid family leave, education funding, affordable housing, childcare, healthcare, government services, and work to reduce income inequality.

Our collective efforts have proven that when we fight, we win. As we continue to push the work of political advocacy forward, we must maintain community engagement on our campuses and push for both social and economic transformation. We must continue to hold those in power accountable and ensure that a thriving community ensues.