News & Commentary

November 11, 2016

Leora Smith

Leora Smith is a student at Harvard Law School.

Politico reported yesterday on the lack of union support for the Democratic presidential ticket, which outperformed the Trump campaign by only 8% in union households (households with at least one union member), which is the narrowest margin since 1984. Support among union members themselves was likely higher than that from union households, but some speculate that union members were put off by the Democrats’ strong support for free trade deals. Supporting that theory, United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams said yesterday that he would like to meet with President-elect Trump to dicuss cancelling or renegotiating NAFTA. Though he expressed alliance with Trump’s views on trade, Williams stated that the he and the union will continue to support progressive views on social issues.

And, in light of federal election results, California legislative leadership chose to draw a line in the sand. The state’s Senate President and Assembly Speaker put out a joint statement vowing to “defend its people” and to investigate the impact that Trump’s presidency might have on funding of state programs, trade and federal enforcement of laws. Other states are likely doing the same, though none have made similarly bold statements yet.

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