AFT-Oregon members engage in political and legislative advocacy on behalf of our federation, our communities, and our professions.
Stay engaged by signing up for our Political and Legislative Activist Email List.
What does AFT-Oregon’s political team look like?
AFT-Oregon’s political team includes a number of individuals and groups.
- The AFT-Oregon Politics, Policy, Legislation and Solidarity (PPLS) Council is the principal deliberative body for our federation and consists of members from across our locals. The PPLS Council builds political power through across-the-state political communication and coordination in order to imagine new possibilities, develop member leaders and activists, elevate the political consciousness of membership, establish relationships with key office holders and political candidates, take political action, and foster working class relationships and solidarity across unions and community groups. Any AFT-Oregon member can join our PPLS Council. To learn more, please fill out this form.
- The Vice President for Political Action is the chair of the PPLS Council and of our Political Action Committee (PAC).
- The AFT-Oregon Executive Council votes individually on every PPLS Council recommendation that moves forward to them, most importantly as a system of checks-and-balances for organizational endorsements and campaign contributions.
- AFT-Oregon also has political and legislative staff to help members achieve their goals.
How does AFT-Oregon endorse candidates and ballot measures?
An endorsement is an official statement of support from AFT-Oregon for a particular issue, ballot measure, or candidate running for office in Oregon. It means that the issue, measure, or candidate has been vetted and is greatly aligned with AFT-Oregon’s strategic political, legislative, and community goals.
AFT-Oregon’s political team develops questions which address issues such as union rights, education spending, healthcare, and civil and human rights. This questionnaire is provided to all candidates. Once a candidate has completed and returned a questionnaire, the PPLS Council invites the candidate to a follow-up interview either in-person or on Zoom. The PPLS Council deliberates and makes formal recommendations to the Executive Council.
How can a candidate or campaign get in touch with AFT-Oregon for consideration?
For the 2024 General Election, AFT-Oregon will be developing a Candidate and Measure Intake Form to be linked on this website that you may submit for consideration. This is expected to be finished by or before July 23rd, 2024.
For other matters, please contact our Vice President for Political Action Hollie Oakes-Miller at hollieom@aft-oregon.org or our staff Political and Legislative Organizer Andrea Haverkamp at andreah@aft-oregon.org with any questions or requests.
What is the difference between an endorsement and a contribution?
An endorsement of a campaign means that AFT-Oregon supports the campaign. We provide our logo and permission to use our name and image. A contribution to a campaign is a monetary donation from AFT-Oregon to that campaign. Endorsements usually precede contributions (i.e., we would show general support for a campaign before we would give money to the campaign). An endorsement may lead to a monetary contribution, but does not need to. An endorsement could lead to other forms of support, such as time volunteered by our members or an advertisement of the campaign through our communications channels. The ways in which we show support for a campaign is up to the members of our union and the leaders of the campaigns we decide to support.
Why should our locals get involved in candidate endorsements?
Other groups have their voices heard in elections–union members should too! Unions can make sure that labor issues are at the forefront of elected officials’ minds.
How can locals get involved in candidate endorsements?
1. Form a Political Action/Education Committee
Political action/education committees can be used to decide 1.) which candidates to endorse, 2.) which pieces of legislation to support/oppose, and 3.) whether to contribute money to a campaign. They can also help with the political education of your membership and get-out-the-vote (GOTV) campaigns. Some locals call their committees the “Committee On Political Education” (COPE). AFT-Oregon calls ours the “Politics, Policy, Legislation and Solidarity Council” (PPLS). You can call yours whatever makes the most sense for your local.
Having a political action/education committee helps to ensure fair decision-making regarding candidate endorsements. Your committee can have any number of individuals on it, but it should ideally represent the differences present among your members. If your local has a VP in charge of political action/education, they should head this committee. It may also help to have your Treasurer on the committee, in case you decide to make contributions to a political campaign.
2. Find Out Where Your Members Are
This is important for organizing generally, but especially for political organizing! Knowing where your members are can help you to 1.) learn whose constituents they are, 2.) learn what pieces of legislation will affect them, and 3.) manage political-issue and get-out-the-vote (GOTV) campaigns. If you don’t already have your members mapped out, AFT-Oregon can help!
3. Find Out What Offices Serve Your Members
Your members are served by all sorts of elected individuals: US and Oregon Congress, district courts, county boards of commissioners, city councils, mayors, sheriffs, school boards, and more. Your local can–and should–be involved in all of these races in some capacity. The Oregon State Legislature publishes a lookup tool that maps districts out, and also allows individuals to enter their address and find out which legislators represent them.
4. Create a Candidate Endorsement Process
You can choose to model your local’s endorsement process after AFT-Oregon’s (questionnaire, interview, committee decision); or you can create a whole new process! Whatever you decide, be sure to apply it in the same way to all of the candidates in any race you decide to take part in. That way, neither your members nor any outside individuals can claim that your local has acted unfairly or unethically.
5. Get in Touch with Candidates
Find out who is running for the offices that serve your members. Reach out to them to include them in your endorsement process. To ensure that your local does not appear unfair, if you reach out to one candidate in a race, make sure that you reach out to all candidates in that race.
6. Announce Your Endorsements
Keep the electoral timetable in mind when you begin your endorsement process. There are various dates that are important to remember, including:
- Deadline to file to run for office
- Voters’ pamphlet due date
- Primary and general election days
If you want your endorsements to be included at a certain part of the electoral process, make sure to have your decisions made by that point. Be sure to let AFT-Oregon know of your endorsements–it may help AFT-Oregon with our decision-making and/or could elevate your endorsement to a higher level.