Labor Family!

It’s the day after the 2026 November Midterms and boy has it already become transformational for the nation’s labor movement. Whether it be the historic election by our brothers and sisters in Maine in sending the first ever rank-and-file union member to the U.S Senate, or the historic flipping of states like Texas and Kansas for their first pro-labor wins in decades, there has been much celebration across the U.S, including in Florida.

While the Sunshine State’s final votes continue to be tallied, and while the headlines are busy pondering and prostelytizing about the political implications of last night, your working families staff are taking a much deserved beat to rest, recover, and take a full count of the night’s events. In the meantime, we wanted to make sure you got a quick (unofficial) recap of just some of the highlights from last night and the work behind it.

Disclaimer: At the time of writing, ballot tabulation and analysis for this year’s election is still ongoing. As such, this piece does not seek to constitute a comprehensive or definitive look at all of our Labor 2026 races.

Highlight 1: Florida’s Voters Turned OUT

The first noteworthy news of the night was that Florida Voters turned OUT this election in mass numbers, sending a message nationwide about the frustration and formidable strength of its working families. 60% of Florida Voters cast a ballot this election, a massive increase in participation compared to our last mid-terms where only 48% of voters showed up. This effort is thanks in no small part due to the incredible work of our Labor 2026 staff and volunteers, who put out record numbers in terms of voter contacts heading into this election.

For example, while we are still counting the sum totals of our efforts over the course of the last several months, just in the election’s closing days, our working families put in an incredible amount of work to deliver:

• +30,000 Mail Pieces
• +15,000 Doors Knocked
• +100,00 Phone Calls
• +90,000 Texts

As you’ll see below, those contacts have made all the difference in the world for some of these races, where the winners were decided by the thousands, or even hundreds, who showed up.

Highlight 2: Florida Was Extremely Competitive

We’ve heard about it for years: pundits proclaiming that Florida is a) uncompetitive or b) not worth the time and attention of national groups and parties, but as the night rolled along, Florida’s working families showed that our votes were anything but an easy call. Take a look at the statewide numbers!

Though these numbers do preserve a one-party trifecta for Florida’s executive, the numbers are an incredible reminder that our votes are not to be taken for granted, as the differences between these candidates are far closer than the 14+ point difference recorded just four years ago. That said, despite the statewide results, Florida Labor did take home some serious victories last night in a huge way….

Highlight 3: Florida Labor puts Patience and Procedure back in the Legislature by Ending the Supermajority

No government functions for the people on un-checked power, which is why one of our main goals this election was to put back policy and procedure over party politics in the Florida Legislature. Part of that goal meant ending the one-party supermajority in our legislative chambers, a goal handily achieved last night when our labor-endorsed candidates won across the ballot and ended the supermajority in the Florida House. This is a huge step in putting back checks and balances on a rampant Florida House that has brutally and swiftly passed anti-worker legislation like HB 995/SB 1296 and was at the forefront of the property tax issue that now faces our state.

As we mentioned, the votes are still being tallied, but such was the momentum of our working families that not only are our labor-endorsed candidates set to end the supermajority in the House, but also the Senate, as Labor-endorsed Candidate John Lowndes appears* (at the time of writing) poised to defeat Senator Jason Brodeur and potentially end the supermajority of the Florida Senate as well.

Highlight 4: Union Members Successfully Defend (and Pick Up) their Seats in the Florida Legislature!

It wasn’t just Labor-endorsed candidates that performed well last night, and in fact we were pleased to watch the successful outcomes of a number of races where union members themselves were on the ballot and came out on top.

One noteworthy example was the successful defense of Senate District 14 by IBEW Brother Brian Nathan, who continued to fight off challenger Josie Tomkow, proving that the strength of working family values is not just reserved for special elections. Elsewhere, in Central Florida’s House District 37 current UFF (FEA) Educator Jane Aman proved that union values make for just as good an offense as they do a defense when she flipped back control of the seat back into the hands of working people. These are just some of the growing list of union-affiliated candidates who have delivered a fantastic and powerful performance this election and affirm the truth behind the maxim, that when we fight, we win.

A Brief Moment of Thanks

Before we depart for a break (as all of our campaigning working families should), a brief moment of thanks to all of the incredible staff, volunteers, families, partners, pets, and more who have helped us put together and make possible the Labor 2026 movement across the entire FL AFL-CIO.

A huge thank you to the FL AFL-CIO Staff who have put in countless hours this election season, phone banking, canvassing, door-knocking, data collection, designing, and more for Labor 2026 including:

• Danielle Thomas & the North Florida Region
• Dana Shumate & the South Florida/Broward Regions
• Alec Wilcosky & The West Central Florida Region
• Trevor Sweet & The Central Florida Region
• Billy Lawson & President Kim Holdridge
• Stephan Rahmdor & the Palm Beach/Treasure Coast and South Florida Regions
• Jessy De La Pascua & the National AFL-CIO’s election release staff.

And massive thanks to the leadership of Rich Templin and Andy Madtes, for helping coordinate our members statewide as well as the endless list of volunteers in every single one of our central labor councils and unions, from teachers to servers to electrical workers, engineers and everyone else in between, who have dedicated their time and effort to turning out our vote and fighting for a better Florida.

This year’s results will be profound in the years to come, and though there wasn’t as massive a wave on the Sunshine State’s shores as the nation writ large, there was more than enough sea change to wrestle power back into the hands of our Working Families, and as we look forward to the sessions and elections to come, we are encouraged by the unwavering resiliency and passion of the Florida Labor movement to make sure that while we have the opportunity, real change is made.