Press Release

Florida AFL-CIO Releases First Slate of Candidate Endorsements for Labor 2026!

Daniel Diaz |

Following the conclusion of this weekend’s COPE 2026 Endorsing Convention, the Florida AFL-CIO is proud to announce its first slate of endorsements for candidates running for elected office across the state of Florida in 2026!

Thank you to the over 200 member delegates from across all of our Central Labor Councils who made their voices heard as part of our biennial endorsement process. We are excited to put our weight behind these candidates who best reflect the experience, commitment, and will to fight for Florida’s working families!

Candidates backed by the Florida AFL-CIO are made part of one of Florida’s largest and longest running organized volunteer political mobilizations in the state. This program includes volunteers in every corner of the state making phone calls, knocking on doors and sending mail to the approximately 1.3 million active union members, retirees and their families from all walks of life. The Florida AFL-CIO provides an infrastructure that utilizes the most up to date tools and data to spread the word about those candidates who have committed to improve the lives of working families, union and non-union alike.

NOTE: The following races do not constitute the full list of all races considered by the FL AFL-CIO or its Central Labor Councils. For races that continue to be deliberated or that are unlisted, candidates are encouraged to contact the Central Labor Councils that covers the region of their sought after seat to find out more.

An (EE) designation demarcates a candidate early endorsed by the FL AFL-CIO through its Friends of Labor endorsement process.

Statewide Office

For statewide office, the FL AFL-CIO proudly endorses the following candidates on behalf of Florida’s working families:

Governor: David Jolly / Gwen Graham

Attorney General: Jose Javier Rodriguez (EE)

Congressional Office

For Congressional Office, the FL AFL-CIO proudly endorses the following candidates on behalf of Florida’s working families:

Congressional District 2: Amanda Marie Green

Congressional District 5: Rachel Grage

Congressional District 8: Jennifer Jenkins

Congressional District 9: Darren Soto

Congressional District 10: Maxwell Frost

Congressional District 13: Leela Gray

Congressional District 14: Kathy Castor

Congressional District 16: Kelly Kirschner

Congressional District 20: Debbie Wasserman-Schultz

Congressional District 22: Pia Dandiya

Congressional District 23: Lois Frankel

Congressional District 26: Mario Diaz-Balart

State House

For office in the Florida House of Representatives, the FL AFL-CIO proudly endorses the following candidates on behalf of Florida’s working families:

House District 9: Allison Tant (EE)

House District 13: Audrey Gibson

House District 15: Chadd Charland

House District 22: Amy Trask

House District 33: Dan McDow

House District 37: Jane Aman

House District 38: Michelle DeJesus

House District 39: Jarod Dwany Fox

House District 40: RaShon Young (EE)

House District 41: Bruce Hadley Antone (EE)

House District 42: Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet

House District 43: Samuel Vilchez Santiago

House District 44: Jennifer “Rita” Harris (EE)

House District 45: Leonard Spencer (EE)

House District 46: Jose Alvarez (EE)

House District 62: Kyandra Darling

House District 63: Jacqueline Coffie-Leeks

House District 64: Luis Salazar

House District 65: Karen Gonzalez Pittman (EE)

House District 67: Luis Viera

House District 77: Cornelious Fowler

House District 78: Cindy Banyai

House District 87: Emily Gregory

House District 88: Jervonte “Tae” Edmonds (EE)

House District 89: Debra Tendrich (EE)

House District 90: Rob Long

House District 95: Christine Hunschofsky (EE)

House District 96: Dan Daley (EE)

House District 98: Mitchell Rosenwald

House District 99: Daryl Campbell

House District 100: Michael Ferguson

House District 101: Todd Delmay

House District 103: Robin Bartleman (EE)

House District 104: Felicia Robinson (EE)

House District 105: Marie Paule Woodson (EE)

House District 106: Lucilla Baez-Geller

House District 107: Wallace Aristide (EE)

House District 108: Dinah Escarment

House District 113: Gloria Romero Roses

House District 117: Kevin Chambliss (EE)

State Senate

For office in the Florida State Senate, the Florida AFL-CIO proudly endorses the following candidates on behalf of Florida’s working families:

Senate District 5: Tracie Davis (EE)

Senate District 6: Jason Bellamy-Fults

Senate District 10: John Lowdnes

Senate District 14: Brian Nathan

Senate District 15: LaVon Bracy Davis (EE)

Senate District 16: Fentrice Driskell

Senate District 17: Carlos Guillermo Smith (EE)

Senate District 24: Mack Bernard

Senate District 25: Kristen Arrington (EE)

Senate District 26: David Silvers

Senate District 32: Rosalind Osgood (EE)

Senate District 36: Ileana García (EE)

Senate District 34: Ashley Gantt (EE)

Florida AFL-CIO Debuts Labor 2026 Campaign With Endorsement of Jose Javier Rodriguez for Attorney General

Staff |

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 27th, 2026

Contact:

Daniel Diaz, Communications Coordinator

ddiaz@flaflcio.org // media@flaflcio.org

(850) 755-4123

Florida AFL-CIO Debuts Labor 2026 Campaign With Endorsement of Jose Javier Rodriguez for Attorney General

The Committee on Political Education (COPE) of the Florida AFL-CIO unanimously voted to endorse Jose Javier Rodriguez for Florida Attorney General

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – On Tuesday, May 26th, The Florida AFL-CIO Committee on Political Education (COPE) proudly kicked off their electoral endorsement season by unanimously voting to endorse Jose Javier Rodriguez for Florida Attorney General.

Shortly after the endorsement vote, Florida AFL-CIO President Kimberly Holdridge issued the following statement:

“The process behind this endorsement represented input from all facets of our movement and Florida’s labor force, and it comes with the determination and dedication of hundreds of thousands of our members to ensure that Jose Javier Rodriguez is elected to serve as Florida’s next Attorney General.”

FL AFL-CIO Director of Politics and Public Policy Dr. Rich Templin said of the endorsement:

“JJR has one of the strongest and most proven records of service for Florida’s working families.  He was a staunch ally and champion in the Florida House and Senate and as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training of the United States and as an accomplished lawyer in his professional career defending thousands of workers in the courts. Florida’s workers and consumers couldn’t ask for a more qualified or principled Attorney General.”    

JJR’s early endorsement arrives ahead of the Florida AFL-CIO’s 2026 COPE Endorsing Convention on June 14th, where member delegates from across Florida’s working class will gather to consider, and vote on the congressional, statewide, and state candidates and resolutions that best reflect the priorities of working families this election season. 

The full slate of FL AFL-CIO endorsed candidates will be announced soon after the convention’s conclusion. Candidates and campaigns interested in participating can visit our convention page or email media@flaflcio.org to learn more.

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Florida AFL-CIO Slams Federal Government Shutdown that Supports Billionaires

Staff |

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 1, 2025

Contact: Rich Templin, (850)566-4348, rtemplin@flaflcio.org

Tallahassee – Today, as hundreds of thousands federal workers are forced to stay home from work and are questioning their families’ futures, the Florida AFL-CIO released a statement on the shutdown that will impact almost 100,000 Florida workers and their families. 

Kimberly Holdridge, President of the Florida AFL-CIO said, “Floridians need to know that this shutdown is all about devastating cuts to healthcare access in order to provide tax cuts for the richest, most powerful individuals and corporations in America.  As millions of our most vulnerable lose healthcare, a basic human right, mansions will be built, mega yachts will be purchased, and the unjust wealth gap will explode.  That is what this shutdown is all about.  It is not about politics or parties; it is about people.  Donald Trump and his billionaire buddies can end this now by allowing congressional leaders to negotiate and return basic healthcare access to everyday Americans.”  President Holdridge also said, “our hearts go out to all the workers who are devastated that they can’t do their jobs and to the Floridians who rely on their service.  We will stand with them and support them every step of the way.” 

This shutdown will lock out hundreds of thousands of federal employees from doing their jobs while forcing hundreds of thousands of essential workers—like TSA officers, VA caregivers, and Border Patrol agents—to work without pay. That reduces access to services and pulls billions out of local economies.

The Florida AFL-CIO will be mobilizing its 1.3 million union members, retirees and their families to flood congress with calls and emails demanding that Republicans in Congress step away from extremist Trump and negotiate for the American people.  Hundreds of thousands of worker’s jobs and access to healthcare for millions is on the line. 

AFL-CIO Launches the Department of People Who Work for a Living

Staff |

If Elon Musk can make up his own government department, so can workers.

Today, the AFL-CIO has launched the Department of People Who Work for a Living (DPWL), a new campaign to hold Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, accountable and make sure the federal government is responsive to working people and not just to the whims of an unelected CEO like Musk.

“The government can work for billionaires or it can work for working people—but not both,” said AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler. “Elon is just getting started. And he has already tried to force workers doing essential services—including at the FAA and air traffic controllers even after the tragedy at Washington National Airport—to retire, gained access to the Treasury Department’s payment system with everyone’s private data, and is declaring entire government agencies like USAID shut down and blocking workers from accessing the building and their email. We will hold DOGE and Elon Musk accountable because we are certain that the people who keep our food and medicine safe know more about how to make government efficient than an outsider whose companies benefit from the very agencies he is infiltrating.”

Billionaire Elon Musk formed DOGE—an unaccountable pseudo-government department supposedly created to make the federal government work more efficiently—but for whom? Ideas floated by the DOGE so far would slash government services working people depend on like meals for children in need, roll back protections for workers, and cut programs like Social Security and Medicare. Everything seems to be on the chopping block, except the government contracts and programs that personally benefit Musk. 

The DPWL will report on proposed DOGE cuts and their impact on working people. And DPWL will provide its own recommendations for how the government can work more efficiently, proposed by the people who are the backbone of America’s economy: America’s workers.  

BACKGROUND

Working people have seen this movie before: so-called efficiency experts who come into the workplace without background knowledge and cut the workforce to make more profit. That model might work in the private sector, but government services aren’t lines on a spreadsheet—they have real world impacts on actual people in communities across the country.

Yet Congress has formed a DOGE caucus and established an official subcommittee to entertain DOGE ideas. The White House has renamed the U.S. Digital Service as the U.S. DOGE Service, and has given Musk free run of the White House and every agency. 

The Department of People Who Work for a Living will look out for the interests of hardworking taxpayers and the people who make our government and economy run. The DPWL will defend programs like Veterans Affairs benefits, Medicare and Medicaid that millions of Americans rely on and the more than 1 million union members—including over 600,000 veterans—who work hard every day to implement them. Policymakers in Congress and the White House will be presented with stark choices between these departments, and they will have to show the world which side they are on.

Media Advisory: Florida AFL-CIO Strongly Supports Build Back Better Framework

Staff |

The Florida AFL-CIO expresses its full support for the Build Back Better framework. These critical investments into our infrastructure and the American people will empower working families, expand America’s workforce, and build a brighter future for the American people.

“Those of us in organized labor have always known that President Joe Biden has our backs, and the Build Back Better framework shows his deep commitment to lifting up workers across our country,” said Florida AFL-CIO President Mike Williams. “The announcement of this framework makes clear that President Biden is dedicated to lowering costs for families, creating good-paying union jobs that provide economic security for workers, and investing in our infrastructure for generations to come. We stand in solidarity with President Biden and the Democrats in Congress who have worked extensively on legislation that will improve the lives of workers throughout our nation.”

These policies and investments into America’s workforce and infrastructure will put America on the right track to emerge out of the COVID-19 pandemic stronger than before.

The Florida AFL-CIO represents over one million union members, retirees, and their families in the state of Florida.

For more information, please contact Michael Newberger, Communications Director for the Florida AFL-CIO, at Mnewberger@flaflcio.org or at 850-570-9953.

It’s Time to Pass the PRO Act!

Staff |

The Protecting the Right to Organize Act or PRO Act is a game-changer for America’s working people. After decades of attacks on our right to organize, if passed, this bill would level the playing field between employers and working people. The bill will empower workers to advocate for improved safety standards, wages, and an economy that works for all.

Last year, the PRO Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives but was stifled by Mitch McConnell and his anti-worker allies. This year the bill has passed the House of Representatives once again, and we have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pass this monumental legislation.

Join us in telling the Senate to vote yes on the PRO Act. Click here to sign the petition in support of the PRO Act. Click here to call your senator and tell them to pass the PRO Act.

Across the Sunshine State, members and leaders are continuing to advocate for the passage of the PRO Act.

Florida AFL-CIO President Mike Williams wrote a guest column for the Orlando Sentinel about the importance of this legislation. You can read it here.

North Central Florida Central Labor Council President Lanny Mathis’s op/ed in support of the PRO Act was published in the Gainesville Sun. You can read it here.

As part of a national week of action by the AFL-CIO, Florida’s Central Labor Councils held events calling on Florida’s senators to vote yes on the PRO Act.

The Space Coast AFL-CIO hosted a digital press conference, which you can watch here.

The West Central Labor Council hosted a press conference in downtown Tampa featuring U.S. Representative Kathy Castor, Florida State Senator Darryl Rouson, Florida State Representatives Susan Valdes and Dianne Hart, and local labor leaders. You can watch the live stream of the event here.

The Central Florida also hosted a press conference calling on our senators to pass the PRO Act in Orlando along with State Representative Anna Eskamani. Click here to watch the live stream.

In Miami, State Senator Annette Taddeo joined the South Florida AFL-CIO for a rally outside of Senator Marco Rubio’s Miami office. After the rally and press conference, union members delivered postcards and local ordinances in support of the PRO Act to the Senator’s office.

The North Florida Central Labor Council hosted a rally and press conference outside of Senator Rubio’s Jacksonville office.

You can join us in sending a message to Senators Rubio and Scott by signing the petition here and calling our senators by clicking here.

Honoring Those We Have Lost: A Workers Memorial Day Message From Florida AFL-CIO President Mike Williams

Staff |

Today, Tuesday, April 28th, we will remember those who have lost their lives at the workplace in honor of Workers’ Memorial Day. Every year, working people needlessly lose their lives on the job due to a lack of safety standards and precarious working conditions.

This day is particularly solemn in the wake of further roll backs of safety standards across the nation. Working people in all manners of industries and careers are on the front lines of keeping our communities safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, unfortunately, they are met with some of the lowest safety standards we have seen in generations.

In 2018, 332 working people died on the job in the state of Florida, marking a ten-year high. Nationwide 5,250 fatal work injuries occurred, a two percent increase from 2017 and over 50,000 workers lost their lives due to the long-term effects of work-place hazards.

Safety standards across the country have drastically declined as a focus on maximizing profits over the well-being of working people has continued. It has been decades since the Occupational Health and Safety Act, or OSHA, was passed, the last major legislation protecting workers to be put into law. In the last few years, OSHA has been purposefully weakened, the administration is currently without a director and nationally, we have the fewest workplace inspectors in a generation.

Workplace injuries and fatalities can occur in all manners of jobs, not just the traditional image of dangerous construction sites and factories. Across all industries we have seen an increase in risk of workplace violence. Our medical workers are at risk of violence and disease every day, across Florida we have seen an increase in injuries and even death for transit workers, and first responders are increasingly met with violence on the job. This legislative session, the Florida Legislature heard multiple bills that would increase the protections for our state’s transit and mental health employees, unfortunately, they were not passed.

Safety on the job has become even more critical in the face of the current public health crisis we are experiencing. Across the nation, we have heard the horror stories of nurses and healthcare workers having to perform their jobs without access to the proper safety materials to help prevent the spread of the disease. They are not the only ones at risk to the virus. Essential workers in the industries that keep our communities running, like grocery workers and delivery workers, are also in harm’s way.

It’s absolutely critical that our elected officials, both at the national and state level, work to enact policies that protect our working people both during this crisis and after. Each one of these losses is a tragedy.  Working people should feel safe knowing that they will make it home from work every day.

Mike Williams is the President of the Florida AFL-CIO which represents over one million union members, retirees and their families in the state of Florida.

Florida AFL-CIO Endorses Andrew Gillum for Governor

Staff |

On Thursday night, the Committee on Political Education of the Florida AFL-CIO unanimously voted to endorse Andrew Gillum for Governor. President of the Florida AFL-CIO, Mike Williams issued the following statement following the vote:

“The over one million union members, retirees, and their families of the Florida AFL-CIO stand united to elect the next Governor of Florida, Andrew Gillum.

For too long Florida’s working people have been left behind by corporate special interests in Tallahassee. We need a Governor that will boldly fight for the issues that affect workers every day.

Raising the minimum wage, making healthcare more affordable for all, investing in our teachers and public education, ensuring the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share in taxes and rolling back the decades long attacks on workers’ rights are the only way we turn around a state economy that has almost half of Florida working families barely making ends meet.

Andrew Gillum understands what workers are going through, and we believe he is the bold leader we need to build a better Florida for all working people. Florida’s union teachers, bus drivers, electrical workers, building trades, hotel workers, and all of the members of our state’s labor movement will be hitting the ground running with a laser-focused member outreach program that will build the grassroots momentum to win in November.”

Florida AFL-CIO Statement on SCOTUS Janus v. AFSCME Decision

Staff |

Following the 5-4 decision reached by SCOTUS on the Janus v. AFSCME case, Florida AFL-CIO President Mike Williams issued the following statement:

“Florida workers already understand the disastrous implications of the Supreme Court’s Janus v AFSCME decision. In right-to-work states like Florida, workers live this decision everyday through a system that not only undermines their freedom to have a voice on the job, but ensures that our state’s workers continue to be paid less, have less access to healthcare, and less opportunities to retire with dignity.

With this decision, SCOTUS has checked off another box on the wealthy special interest wish list. This ruling will continue our nation’s decades long race to the bottom for workers rights, increase economic inequality, and make it even more difficult for America’s workers to make ends meet.

The Florida AFL-CIO with its over one million union members, retirees, and families, will continue to stand together with Florida’s working people who, even when the decks are stacked against them, will continue to join together in unions and fight for a stronger, fairer America.”

RELEASE: An Agenda for Florida’s Workers

Staff |

For Immediate Release: June 7, 2018
Contacts:

Elbert Garcia, New Florida Majority, Elbert@NewFloridaMajority.org or (718) 930-9497

David Fernandez, Florida AFL-CIO, dfernandez@flaflcio.org or (850) 570-9953

Anna Susman, Berlin-Rosen, anna.susman@berlinrosen.com or (646) 200-5285

As Florida Governor’s and Legislative Races Heat Up, Worker Groups Release Bold Agenda to Bolster Workers’ Pay, Jobs

With economy growing but paychecks flat, groups say next governor must stand with working people or face political peril

With a high-stakes election around the corner, groups representing Florida’s workers — including the Miami Workers Center, the Florida AFL-CIO, New Florida Majority, Organize Florida and the Farmworker Association of Florida, among others — today released a Florida Workers’ Agenda calling on the next governor and the legislature to take bold action to improve jobs, wages, and working conditions for the state’s workers.

While Florida’s economy has been growing under Rick Scott, pay has been flat and living costs have been rising, leaving millions of families just a missed paycheck away from economic crisis. According to the United Way, 45% of Florida households can’t afford basic necessities. Orlando has the lowest median pay of any metropolitan area in the U.S. And in South Florida, poverty-wage jobs and rising housing costs are squeezing families hard.

Weak worker protections are a big part of the problem. Florida’s minimum wage is just $8.25 an hour, and has increased only 90 cents since 2009. And workers who are cheated in their paychecks, injured on the job, or laid off are left stranded. Florida has no state wage enforcement agency. Its unemployment insurance program is the stingiest in the U.S. And its workers comp protections for injured workers have been declared unconstitutionally inadequate by the Florida Supreme Court.

The Democratic gubernatorial candidates are meeting to debate in St. Petersburg on June 9 and in Miramar on June 11. The Republican candidates are debating in Tampa on June 28.

The Florida Workers’ Agenda outlines key reforms that the next governor—or the governor together with the legislature—should take to protect working families. The recommendations include:

  • Backing a 2020 ballot initiative to gradually raise Florida’s minimum wage to $15 an hour
  • Fighting attempts by the legislature to tie the hands of cities and counties from addressing worker needs
  • Getting the state back in the business of fighting wage theft by establishing state wage enforcement programs at the Department of Economic Opportunity and attorney general’s office
  • Fixing the state’s stingy unemployment insurance and workers’ compensation systems, which no longer provide meaningful safety nets for jobless and injured workers
  • Tackling the health and safety threats facing Florida’s workers, especially farmworkers
  • Promoting access to jobs for qualified workers with arrest or conviction records by “banning the box” in state hiring
  • Defending workers’ right to organize and join unions, and promoting decent pay for public servants like teachers and airport workers
  • Protecting immigrant workers
  • Fighting for workers’ civil rights and fighting forced arbitration of worker complaints
  • Opposing a ballot proposal to require a supermajority vote of the legislature to raise revenue in the future

“All Floridians deserve wages and conditions that reflect the value of their hard work and gives them the financial freedom to achieve their dreams,” said Moné Holder, senior program director for policy, advocacy & research at New Florida Majority (NewFM). “Working class families, especially communities of color that have been systematically kept at the margins, demand fair economic policies and lawmakers who will fight for our basic human rights and support an agenda that protects Florida’s workers.”

“The Florida AFL-CIO supports this worker agenda because it transcends the usual glittering generalities and broad attacks typically seen during elections season. The policies outlined in this agenda provide a framework for Florida’s struggling workers to meaningfully participate in our economy and hold decision makers accountable,” said Rich Templin, director of politics and public policy with the Florida AFL-CIO. Templin continued: “Florida’s workers and our economy deserve an unemployment insurance system that isn’t the worst in the nation, a workers’ compensation system that puts workers and employers over insurance profits, and local governments that are empowered to do what’s needed in their communities without the burdens of legislative preemption. The policy solutions in this agenda are vital for our state’s future and must be a part of the public discourse during this pivotal election season.”

“Workers are on the front lines of serving our communities’ needs every single day. They need to be the priority to ensure a thriving state with healthy families. It’s far past time elected officials stand with women and families and deliver for those making Florida work,” said Debbie Soto, board president, Organize Florida.

“Farmworkers do the essential work of feeding us.  They endure sweltering heat, biting insects, exposure to toxic agricultural chemicals, and dangers from accidents with unsafe farm equipment and hazardous workplace conditions, all in order to provide us cheap, affordable food in our grocery stores.  For the work they do, they deserve decent, livable wages; strong health and safety protections; and freedom from harassment, abuse, threats and retaliation.  Their lives and our food depend upon it,” said Tirso Moreno, general coordinator of the Farmworker Association of Florida.

“As an organization that defends the rights of low-wage and immigrant workers, Community Justice Project is in full support of this important agenda. We know all too well that workers in our communities are dealing with low wages, widespread wage theft, unjust work conditions, and continuous attacks on their right to organize. We need and deserve an economy that works for all of us,” said Oscar Londoño, Skadden Fellow & attorney with the Community Justice Project.

“From wage enforcement to unemployment insurance to workers comp, Florida’s protections for workers are today some of the weakest in all the 50 states,” said Paul Sonn, director of the National Employment Law Project Action Fund. “Florida’s working families deserve a governor who will fight for them by promoting good jobs with fair pay and safe workplaces for the state’s eight million workers.”

The groups releasing the agenda include:

Advocacy Partners Team

Community Justice Project

Farmworker Association of Florida

Florida AFL-CIO

Florida Immigrant Coalition

Miami Workers Center

National Employment Law Project Action Fund

New Florida Majority

Organize Florida

South Florida Interfaith Worker Justice

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