News

Major Turnout Effort Yielded Major Wins for Workers in This Year’s Elections

18 Nov, 2025

Unprecedented times call for unprecedented dedication — and that’s exactly how CWAers stepped up and turned out to impact this year’s elections across New Jersey and New York, including several key races for legislative positions that will have a direct impact on our membership.

New Jersey

New Jersey held one of just two Governor’s races in the country this year, making it one of the biggest and most central pieces of the entire electoral map this year. With 40,000 NJ State workers in our ranks, the State of New Jersey is one of the biggest employers within CWA nationally — making a victory in the Governor’s race vital not just in shaping our communities and laws that impact workers, but in selecting the “boss” that our members will face at the bargaining table and work alongside to address ongoing healthcare cost increases.

And, recognizing this essential opportunity as well as the tough road to November 4th, CWAers stepped up — in record numbers. Over the course of the last several months, our massive volunteer operation included:

3,526 total volunteer shifts (blowing past our goal by 121%!)
311 phone bankers
5,582 text messages sent to union voters

Our efforts paid off bigtime: our endorsed candidate for Governor, Mikie Sherrill, won handedly, and nearly every one of our endorsed candidates for NJ State Assembly who have committed to working with us to address NJ’s healthcare affordability crisis won their races as well, putting us in strong position going into next year to fight for bill A5903, the Health Insurance Accountability and Transparency Act.

"Our members built this victory—one door, one phone call, and one text at a time," said Billy Gallagher, CWA District 1 Assistant to the Vice President. "They knew what was at stake for working families. By standing up for union rights and worker protections, we’ve proven that organized labor is the driving force for a better future. Governor-Elect Sherrill's win is a testament to that power."

New York

CWA members teamed up with the New York State AFL-CIO, local Central Labor Councils, and other unions up and down the state to knock on thousands of union doors over the past several months for pro-labor candidates.

In New York City, CWA joined a huge NYC Central Labor Council operation to help elect Zohran Mamdani as Mayor in a decisive victory and a campaign centered on making the city more affordable for working families and ensure that basic needs are met so that we can afford to live in the city in which we work. CWAers also helped secure two victories in key NYC City Council races, including labor leader Shirley Aldebol in the Bronx.

CWAers turned out to help secure a resounding victory for longtime friend and ally Sean Ryan as the next Mayor of Buffalo — and one of our own will be helping lead his transition to the office! CWA District 1 Area Director Deb Hayes was tapped to be the Labor Relations Vice Chair on Mayor-Elect Ryan’s Transition Team, along with CWA Local 1168 member Denise Abbott.

CWA Local 1109 members canvassing on Election Day in Suffolk County, NY