2024 General Election Voter's Guide

The 2024 election is here and union members are “all in” this election season supporting candidates who support the values and actions needed to produce real solutions for working families. AFT has endorsed in the presidential and federal congressional election. AFT-Oregon has endorsed in the statewide election and Oregon Legislature. Read more about our endorsement process.

At AFT-Oregon we focus our electoral work on state level candidate endorsements, primarily state representative and state senator positions. The Oregon State Legislature is where important budget decisions are made, such as how much money our schools, community colleges, and universities receive from the state from year to year to fund our students' educations and the jobs of most of our members. Beyond the education budget, the issues affecting members’ lives daily decided by this state body are numerous: healthcare, housing, transportation, climate mitigation and adaptation, and so much more. We make sure our voices are heard in Salem by working with elected officials along with labor and community partners to develop strong education agendas for Oregon Legislative Sessions.

AFT Presidential Endorsement 

(AFTvotes.org)

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are fighting for real solutions for working families including support for public education; an economy that works for all; access to affordable, high-quality healthcare; and fighting for our freedoms. You can read more about how the current Biden-Harris administration has delivered for Oregon working families here. 

Vice President Harris “fully embraces America’s role in the world as a country that leads with democracy and fundamental freedoms, and our role at home to protect those freedoms—the freedom to make healthcare decisions about our own bodies, to live safe from gun violence, to love whom we want, to breathe clean air and to vote,” said AFT President Randi Weingarten. (AFT Is ‘All In for Harris-Walz’)

“Gov. Walz is a proud educator who drew on his experience in the classroom to show Minnesotans what a pro-education, pro-labor administration can look like. He is from a small town, served in the military and has consistently given back to his community. He believes the essence of America is to be kind to your neighbor and to help those around you thrive. And he is a former AFT member,” said Weingarten. (AFT’s Weingarten on Kamala Harris’ Selection of Tim Walz as Her Running Mate)

AFT Endorsed Federal Congressional Candidates

Congressional District 1

Congressional District 3

Congressional District 4

Congressional District 5

Congressional District 6

 

AFT-Oregon Endorsed Statewide Candidates

Secretary of State

Attorney General

Treasurer

AFT-Oregon Endorsed Statewide Ballot Measures

• ✅ Yes on Measure 116 - Creates an independent commission that sets the pay for statewide elected officials (voteyeson116.org)

  • AFT Oregon supports The People’s Independent Commission because it will put everyday Oregonians in charge of setting pay for elected officials, and bring more fairness and accountability to our government. Oregon legislators earn $32,839 annually for full-time work and this low pay keeps many people, including our union members, from serving. Qualified legislators have even stepped down because they could not support their families. Voting Yes on 116 will make our democracy more accessible and more representative.

• ✅ Yes on Measure 117 - Ranked Choice Voting Statewide - (yeson117.com)

  • Right now, voters are frustrated with politics. Between increasing polarization and limited choices on our ballots, voting often feels like choosing between the lesser of two evils. And if you do vote for the candidate you actually like best, it can feel like throwing away your vote if they have no chance of winning. AFT-Oregon supports Measure 117 because it gives you more power to vote for who you want and how you want, and it helps to ensure that our elected leaders are supported by a majority of Oregonians.

• ❌ No on Measure 118 - Oregon People’s Rebate (Read: Oregon Center for Public Policy Opposes Measure 118) 

  • The Oregon People’s Rebate, would increase the state corporate minimum tax to 3% on business sales of more than $25 million in Oregon. The revenue raised from the measure would be distributed equally to all Oregon residents. On its face, this seems like a sensible policy AFT-Oregon would support, however, its enactment would likely trigger several unintended, damaging consequences like reducing the funding available for education, health and human services and public safety. We recommend voting No on measure 118. 

• ✅ Yes on Measure 119 - Enshrining the freedom of cannabis workers to form a union (voteyes119.org)

  • Some cannabis employers are exploiting a legal loophole to deny their workers the right to form a union. AFT-Oregon supports Measure 119 because it would ensure that Oregon cannabis workers have the same freedom to unionize that nearly every other American worker has. When Measure 119 is passed, workers will be able to collectively bargain for workplace conditions, and enforce safety and product standards through their union contract.

AFT-Oregon Endorsed State Legislature Candidates

The following Oregon House and Senate candidates have performed strong in the Oregon Legislature and proactively built relationships with AFT-Oregon and nurtured our advocacy in Salem. Many of them were endorsed by our federation in 2022, 2020, or even earlier. We are enthusiastic to support them in the general election.

To find your legislative districts, click this link.

Oregon House of Representatives

House District 7

House District 8

House District 10 

House District 14

House District 16 

House District 20

House District 21

House District 25

House District 26

House District 28

House District 29

House District 30 

House District 35 

House District 36

House District 37

House District 40

House District 41

House District 42

House District 43

House District 44

House District 45

House District 46

House District 47

House District 48

House District 49

House District 50

 

Oregon Senate

Senate District 12

Senate District 14

Senate District 18

Senate District 22

Senate District 23 

Senate District 25

Local Matching Endorsements

AFT-Oregon also approves matching financial and organizational endorsements for our locals' political action at their request. This year we matched endorsements to uplift city and county candidates and bond measures endorsed by your fellow locals PCCFFAP, HCU, UECGCC, and SWOCCFT.

Portland Community College Federation of Faculty and Academic Professionals

Portland Mayor

• Carmen Rubio, CarmenForPortland.com

Portland City Council District 1

• Candace Avalos, Candace Avalos
• James (Jamie) Dunphy, Jamie Dunphy
• Steph Routh, Steph4EastPortland.com 

Portland City Council District 2

• Marnie Glickman, MarnieGlickman.org 
• Jonathan Tasini, Jonathan Tasini
• Sameer Kanal, Sameer Kanal

Portland City Council District 3

• Tiffany Koyama Lane, Tiffany Koyama Lane 
• Angelita Morillo, AngelitaForPortland.com 
• Jesse Cornett, CornettForPortland.com 

Portland City Council District 4

• Mitch Green, Mitch4Portland.com 
• Moses Ross, Moses4pdx.com 

Clackamas County Chair

• Craig Roberts, RobertsForClackamas.com 

Hillsboro Classified United

Hillsboro Mayor

• Beach Pace, ElectBeachPace.com 

Hillsboro City Council, Ward 1

• Saba Anvery, SabaAnvery.com 

Hillsboro City Council, Ward 2 

• Jake Mead, WeNeedMead.com 

United Employees of Columbia Gorge Community College

• ✅ Yes on Measure 33-111, the CGCC Bond Measure 

Southwest Oregon Community College Federation of Teachers

• Jessica Engelke for Mayor of North Bend, ElectEngelke.com 

Endorsement Process 

The Politics, Policy, Legislation, and Solidarity (PPLS) Advisory Council, a group of fellow AFT-Oregon members from across the state, has established processes to vet and endorse new legislative candidates while we also continue to build relationships with known champions of education. Our endorsement questionnaire and interviews informed candidates about the issues our members care about including the adjunct crisis, public university funding and governance, K-12 workplace funding and safety, PERS climate investments, tax justice, and livable wages, and we asked their thoughts and strategies regarding how they would work to address them. We considered if and how candidates worked alongside union members in bargaining, such as signing solidarity letters for our locals bargaining good contracts (like PSUFA and GTFF). We also considered incumbent candidates' histories of supporting core education issues such as SB 273, HB 2708, and HB 4125 in the Oregon legislature. 

To learn more or get involved in your PPLS Council, click this link

To sign up for our activist and first-alert email list, click this link