SEIU members make the difference for Obama!

After months of knocking on doors and talking with voters throughout Illinois and Indiana, the hard work of SEIU Healthcare members brought home a victory for Barack Obama in Indiana, and a number of pro-worker candidates in Illinois.
   For three months before the election, hundreds of home care, child care, nursing
   home and hospital workers knocked on doors in our neighboring battleground
   state of Indiana to register voters and get out the vote, made thousands of phone
   calls and hit the streets in record numbers on Election Day, and targeted voters in
   two Illinois Congressional districts.

   With just over 24,000 early vote ballots cast in Lake County, Indiana, and over
   20,000 of those voting for Obama, our aggressive early vote work made up the margin of victory in the state. We not only turned Indiana blue once and for all, we also secured a win for Obama that meant a decisive victory for the president-elect.


“Our work to turn out early voters really made the difference in Indiana.
 We were out there every weekend making sure that people were registered
 and then we got them to the polls when they didn’t have rides or lines were
 long. I think we really gave working people in Indiana a voice. They were
 finally heard."  - Opal Williams, MPO, Roseland Hospital Worker


In Illinois’ 11th congressional district, the hard work of our MPOs meant victory for State Senator Debbie Halvorson on November 4th. Along with Halvorson, we worked to build support for the following Illinois congressional candidates who won their races:



Our victories this election will mean real change for working families in Illinois, Indiana and across the country – we will make sure of it! Now that SEIU members, voters and elected officials have seen our political power in action, we’re taking it to the next level with our 100 Days of Change.
 

100 Days of Change
SEIU members are committed to making the most of our election victories by holding our newly elected officials to their campaign promises. That’s why we’re extending our fight for working families beyond the election to keep national issues like workers’ right to form a union and health care reform at the top of the priority list for our new president and new Congress. In Illinois and Indiana, we’re fighting to protect and improve quality care for working families so that each and every citizen has access to the affordable health care and child care they need and deserve.


  “It was so exciting to see Obama win Indiana and the election after all
  our hard work. We’ve really proven our political strength, and we’re
  going to make the most of it by holding all the people we helped to elect
  – including President Obama – accountable for the promises they made on
  the campaign trail.”    - Gilda Brown, MPO, Home Care Worker


To get the most up-to-date information on our fight for change for working families, text the letters “SEIU” to 77007. Standard text messaging rates apply.