Thousands of teachers, construction workers, factory workers and state service providers and many other working people took their turns making phone calls and knocking on doors to encourage people to participate this year. Those union workers contacted nearly 90,000 voters since the summer.

Labor 2018 produced:

· 90,000 voter contacts/conversations

· 92,000 door to door visits

· 700,000 mail pieces

· Early vote social media that was viewed more than one million times

· Get Out The Vote tele-town hall with nearly 10,000 participants

The effort paid off as JB Pritzker – endorsed in June 2017 by the Illinois AFL-CIO – won handily over anti-union incumbent Bruce Rauner. Rauner’s corporate agenda was dismissed by voters overwhelmingly Tuesday.

“Bruce Rauner’s solutions were old and tired when he put them out there four years ago,” said Illinois AFL-CIO President Michael Carrigan. “You can’t cut wages and worker protections as an avenue to prosperity. We are looking forward to working with JB Pritzker and the state legislature on investing in the Illinois workforce and rebuilding the middle class.”

Carrigan was named today as a co-chair on Governor-elect JB Pritzker’s Transition Committee.

While Pritzker’s win was the headline of election night, labor-backed candidates won throughout the ticket, including flipping two congressional seats from anti-union representatives in the 6th and 14th districts. Sean Casten unseated Peter Roskam (20 percent labor voting record) in CD 6 and Lauren Underwood defeated Randy Hultgren (22 percent) in CD 14.

In the State Legislature, both the Senate and House will have Democratic supermajorities with a handful of races yet to be decided.

“It’s time to move forward,” Carrigan said. “Illinois has been through a very dark time under Bruce Rauner. It’s time to get to work on policies and a functional government that works together on solutions to the issues we face.”