Thread by @unitehere

📢 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 📢

The Democrats’ “secret weapon” to help win the Senate:

UNITE HERE’s 1,000 union canvassers

A Thread 🧵⤵️

Hitting an astounding 1.5 million doors—laid-off hospitality workers joined the Georgia team that turned Georgia blue to help deliver come-from-behind wins in Georgia Senate races.

Today hospitality workers with UNITE HERE join Democrats in Georgia and nationwide to celebrate a definitive win for @ReverendWarnock and a promising lead for @Ossoff in the Georgia Senate run-off races.

#GASen #GARunnoff

UNITE HERE—a union of hospitality workers known for its impressive ground game that was key to turning Nevada and Arizona blue—credits conversations at the door for the historic gains in Georgia.

UNITE HERE led a program with 1000 of its members, mostly laid-off workers hit hard by the pandemic, to reach 1.5 million doors in the six weeks leading up to Election Day in Georgia.

UNITE HERE’s effort was one part of a statewide coalitional effort that in all hit an unprecedented 9 million doors.

Over 1,000 of UNITE HERE’s union housekeepers, cooks, dishwashers and airport concessions workers—who are mostly women and people of color—canvassed full-time in the Atlanta metro area and Columbus.

UNITE HERE knocked on over 1.5 million doors as part of a larger 9 million-knock statewide effort to get out the vote for Rev. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.

Each day, union members had 15,000 face-to-face conversations with Georgians about the runoff race.

UNITE HERE ran the largest union field program in Georgia.

UNITE HERE identified and made voting plans with 250,000 voters who supported the Democratic candidates.

76% of the Georgia voters UNITE HERE identified were Black; 87% were people of color.

A relic of Jim Crow-era policies aimed at diluting the influence of Black voters, GA's runoff elections have historically favored the GOP.

Dems have struggled in previous GA runoffs to maintain participation among Black voters & other voters of color critical to their success.

Members of UNITE HERE supercharged a program to reach those voters directly by mounting the largest door-to-door canvassing operation in its history, becoming a central figure in the multi-racial statewide effort that delivered the win for Dems by hitting 9 million doors total.

In convos with voters, UNITE HERE canvassers stressed the urgent need to take back the Senate. As a result of the pandemic, workers across GA have dealt with unprecedented job losses, a gov't response that has been “too little, too late,” & loss of employer-provided healthcare.

"After being laid-off I put my mortgage on hold not knowing when I would be able to get back on my feet and provide for my family, but this victory gives me hope that change is coming."

—Joyce Roberts, @unitehere23 canvasser, laid off from the Hyatt Regency Atlanta after 34 yrs

After COVID-related shutdowns resulted in 98% layoff rates earlier this year, UNITE HERE hospitality workers like Joyce took to electoral politics, organizing the largest union door-to-door canvassing operation in the country for the presidential election.

This effort on the ground in Nevada, Arizona, Pennsylvania, and Florida knocked on the doors of over three million voters, helped drive the unprecedented turnout of the 2020 presidential election, and made a critical difference for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

UNITE HERE quickly pivoted after the general election to join coalition partners in standing up the largest door-knocking operation in Georgia’s history.

PRESS RELEASE for Wednesday, January 6

Hitting an astounding 1.5 million doors—laid-off hospitality workers joined the Georgia team that turned Georgia blue to help deliver come-from-behind wins in GA Senate races

#GASen #GARunnoff #TakeBackTheSenate unitehere.org/press-releases…