Our friends at AFSCME Council 31 has provided a list of political candidates they are endorsing for the election on November 8th. Most of these candidates are in alignment with candidates already endorsed by National NOW and IL NOW:
“This fall, Illinois voters will head to the polls to determine who will represent us in Congress and lead our state. And since early summer, AFSCME local union leaders have been meeting regionally to review records and conduct interviews of candidates in order to evaluate their commitment to advancing the interests of working families.
That process culminated Aug. 13 when hundreds of AFSCME local union leaders and retiree activists met in Springfield for the biennial conference of PEOPLE (Public Employees Organized to Promote Legislative Equality).
In addition to hearing remarks from Council 31 leaders and guests including Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch and Congressional nominee Nikki Budzinski and discussing the importance of the Workers’ Rights Amendment on the fall ballot, delegates made decisions about which candidates to recommend in the general election.
Here are the results of those decisions:
2021-22 Voting Record in parentheses
Incumbents in Bold
U.S. Senate
Tammy Duckworth (100%)
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
District: Endorsed candidate
2nd CD: Robin Kelly (100%)
3rd CD: Delia Ramirez
4th CD: Jesús “Chuy” Garcia (100%)
5th CD: Mike Quigley (100%)
6th CD: Sean Casten (100%)
8th CD: Raja Krishnamoorthi (100%)
9th CD: Jan Schakowsky (100%)
10th CD: Brad Schneider (100%)
11th CD: Bill Foster (100%)
12th CD: Homer “Chip” Markel
13th CD: Nikki Budzinski
14th CD: Lauren Underwood (100%)
17th CD: Eric Sorensen
JUDICIARY
Office: Endorsed candidate
1st Supreme Court District – Retain: Mary Jane Theis
2nd Supreme Court District (Thomas): Elizabeth “Liz” Rochford
3rd Supreme Court District (Kilbride): Mary K. O’Brien
2nd Appellate Court District (Burke): Chris Kennedy
3rd Appellate Court District (Wright): Sonni Choi Williams
5th Appellate Court District – Retain: Judy Cates
Statewide Executive OFFICES
Office: Endorsed candidate
Governor: Two resolutions were approved:
Resolution #1: Given that Darren Bailey has introduced legislation that would overturn our state’s constitutional protection of public employee pensions, opening the door to reducing or even eliminating our pension benefits, and has also repeatedly voted against legislation that would protect labor rights, AFSCME urges members not to vote for Darren Bailey for governor of the state of Illinois.
Resolution #2: In session on this 13th day of August 2022, the AFSCME Illinois PEOPLE Conference hereby delegates to the PEOPLE Executive Committee the authority to take any action that, upon further deliberation, is deemed in the best interest of AFSCME members with regard to the 2022 gubernatorial election.
Why we took this course.
Attorney General: Kwame Raoul
Secretary of State: Alexi Giannoulias
Comptroller: Susana Mendoza
Treasurer: Michael Frerichs
Illinois Senate And house of representatives
COUNTY OFFICES
Regional PEOPLE committees are in the process of finalizing county-level recommendations.“