About Us

Labor and our progressive allies in many ways fell short of the mark in the 2020 elections. While we re-elected pro-Labor incumbents Governor Cooper, Attorney General Josh Stein, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, and State Auditor Beth Wood, we fell short in two of our priority races - the Commissioner of Labor and NC State Supreme Court Chief Justice. We did however maintain a pro-Labor majority in the state courts, a particularly important achievement due to current redistricting litigation.

In the NC General Assembly, we lost 4 seats in the NC House and gained 1 in the NC Senate. In both chambers, we fell short of the majority needed to reach our top strategic political goal of positioning Labor to impact redistricting. Nonetheless, the same strategy holds for the coming decade. This coming year is a chance to reassess the terrain, defend champions in the NCGA, prioritize critical local and statewide races, and build our strength for the years ahead.

Because of delays with redistricting and municipal elections, 2022 will be an important year at the federal, state, and local levels. Laser focus will be needed in our priority down-ballot races in order to ensure that we have the resources needed to win our priority statewide elections and build capacity for 2024.

The following are the NC State AFL-CIO’s top political priorities in 2022:

• Pick up a US Senate Seat.

• Elect Labor-endorsed Congressional candidates to two open seats.

• Protect pro-Labor majorities in the State Courts.

• Protect Governor Cooper’s veto by preventing an anti-worker supermajority in at least one legislative chamber.

• Re-elect union candidates to the Charlotte City Council.

There are 170 seats in the NC General Assembly - 120 in the NC House and 50 in the NC Senate. Currently Republicans hold a majority in both chambers. In 2018 Democrats were able to stave off a supermajority, meaning they can now uphold a veto by Governor Cooper.

On November 4, 2021 state legislators approved new congressional and state legislative maps for the coming decade. All three maps have already been challenged in court for both racial and partisan bias.

Early analysis suggests that 21 seats in the NC House could be considered competitive - 8 leaning Republican, 9 tossups, and 4 leaning Democratic. In the NC Senate, 7 districts are considered competitive - 3 leaning Republican, 2 tossups, and 2 leaning Democratic.

While everything is subject to change pending the ruling of current redistricting court cases, the focus is in the NC Senate where just four seats are crucial to fending off a super-majority and upholding a gubernatorial veto. The seats that are most likely in play are in Granville, Mecklenburg, Wake, and New Hanover. A map redraw could dramatically change this calculus.

On even years, NC’s 100 counties, 115 school boards, sheriffs, and others hold their elections, Due to delays with the census and redistricting, 35 municipalities also postponed their elections until 2022. Most will hold their potential primaries and runoffs to coincide with statewide election dates. Raleigh City Council’s election however will be November 8, 2022.

Over the last several cycles, union members have been standing up and running for office. Two priority races in which we want to re-elect union members are the city council races in Charlotte and Fayetteville. Braxton Winston III (IATSE) ran and won a Charlotte City Council seat in 2017 and 2019. He will be running again in 2022. One of our Executive Board Vice Presidents, Yvonne Kinston (CWA), won the seat for District 9 on Fayetteville’s City Council in 2019 and is seeking re-election. GOTV in both of these municipalities will play a critical role in turnout for our statewide priorities.

Several other union members have run and won in smaller municipalities from River Bend to Younsgville to Canton and many other places in between. In 2022 we’ll work to protect these union incumbent candidates and hopefully elect more to the ballot.

For more information about 2022 local elections visit the NC State Board of Elections Local Voter Tool: https://www.ncsbe.gov/voting/upcoming-election/local-voter-tool