Labor Mobilization Against Republican Incumbents In Congressional Elections, 1996–2004

Labor political contributions significantly increased votes for Democrats challenging Republican incumbents, especially in 1996, but also in the three elections that followed, taking into account the major variables that matter in congressional elections. Those electoral victories yielded greater support for labor's legislative agenda, including regulations governing unionizing drives. But labor's electoral efforts lost effectiveness in the 2004 congressional elections, as labor made smaller contributions and targeted them less well, with smaller shares of the contributions going to competitive districts and to Democrats. Republicans who sometimes vote for union preferences funneled millions in labor contributions to staunchly antiunion Republicans, to whom labor also increasingly contributed directly. Labor resources should be shifted not necessarily between political campaigns and organizing drives, but away from ineffective or counterproductive contributions to Republicans toward Democrats, bringing serious challenges in favorable districts.