Yesterday, Illinois voted overwhelmingly for pro-education and pro-labor candidates endorsed by the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT). We congratulate the winners and appreciate all those who ran for office. For IFT-endorsed candidates who won, their victory is a victory for public education, labor rights, and working families.
We are especially proud of the IFT and Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) member and 1st district State Representative Aaron Ortiz, IFT Local 604 member and Senate District 49 candidate Meg Cappel; and SEIU Healthcare Illinois union organizer and 9th District State Representative candidate Lakesia Collins, who won their districts by uplifting the issues important to our communities. Illinois’ 3rd Congressional District chose progressive Marie Newman who will be a champion for women, labor and our working families. State Representative candidate Denyse Wang Stoneback in the 16th district was victorious against a charter school and voucher program supporter. To comply with CDC COVID-19 social distancing guidelines, engaged IFT members worked the phones from home this past week, including IFT President Dan Montgomery. As we await the results in the 3rd RD district, we would like to congratulate IFT and CTU member Nidia Carranza for running a bold campaign championing issues that are vital to our working families. Election 2020 will be an historic one. The March 17 primary election was the first step towards making our goals a reality. This November, we will have the chance to help elect a new president that shares our values and to pass a Fair Tax that fixes our state’s broken tax system and ensures the wealthy pay their fair share to fund schools and public services. Once again, we congratulate all the candidates and look forward to working together on our shared values on behalf of our working families, teachers, and communities. To view a full list of IFT-endorsed candidates please visit ift/aft.org/vote.