SEIU Forms Its Own Political Party
Apr 9, 2010 20 Comments ›› Pat Dollard
In a shot across the bow of Dems, the labor powerhouse SEIU is starting a new third party in North Carolina that hopes to field its own slate of candidates, part of an effort to make the Democratic Party more reliable on issues important to labor, I’m told.
SEIU officials setting up the new party, called North Carolina First, are currently on the ground collecting signatures to qualify as a state party, SEIU officials tell me, adding that there are around 100 canvassers on the ground right now. The goal: To have the party up and running so candidates can run in this fall’s elections.
It won’t be lost on political observers that three House Dems who voted No on reform are from the state: Heath Shuler, Mike McIntyre, and Larry Kissell.
The new project is an outgrowth of SEIU’s earlier vow to hold House Dems accountable for voting against heatlh reform and against labor’s interests in general. That said, presuming the party qualifies at all, it remains to be seen how much clout it will wield.
For instance, it’s unclear which districts the party might field a candidate in, and what the criteria for picking those districts will be. A lot of these things will be determined by availability of candidates and other local political concerns.
It’s also unclear what kind of cash SEIU national will put into this effort — which will also include SEANC, the state employees’ union — and what this will do to relations between labor and the national Dem establishment. But this challenge appears to be a serious experiment in reshaping the landscape of Democratic politics, and it bears watching.
Talking Points Memo:
It seems organized labor is no longer content to leave its political fortunes in the hands of its traditional ally, the Democratic Party. The SEIU announced today that the it’s launching its own political party in North Carolina, and it plans to to field candidates on the ballot this fall.
Union officials have threatened to take on Democrats who voted against health care reform in the past, but the usual tactic has been to endorse a Democratic primary challenger. But in North Carolina — home to several Democratic Representatives who voted against the bill — the SEIU says it will field candidates in the general election as part of what the what the group is calling the North Carolina First party.
“Families need a better choice, a better party – not just for health care, but for job creation and keeping bankers and corporations in check,” party spokesperson Chuck Stone said in a statement.
SEIU — and its local affiliate in North Carolina, SEANC — say that they have more than 100 people on the ground actively gathering the 85,000 signatures necessary to become a recognized political party in North Carolina with a ballot line.
But as Greg Sargent, who first reported the news, writes, the seriousness of the effort is still somewhat in doubt.
“[P]resuming the party qualifies at all, it remains to be seen how much clout it will wield,” Sargent writes. “For instance, it’s unclear which districts the party might field a candidate in, and what the criteria for picking those districts will be. A lot of these things will be determined by availability of candidates and other local political concerns.”
