Teamster Election 2012 Update

More results and analyses from yesterday's election are trickling in. There's plenty of good, some bad and some in-between.

In the good column, we'll start with Missouri: We're happy to report Bob Burns, a retired beer truck driver at Local 600 in St. Louis, won his race to represent Missouri's 93rd District in the state House of Representatives. Congratulations! Gov. Jay Nixon, a good friend to working people, won re-election, and Democrat Jason Kander won his race for secretary of state. That's an important win because loony extremist anti-worker billionaire Rex Sinquefield put a boatload of money behind his opponent.

Sadly, another Teamster local 600 candidate for Missouri state representative -- Terry Lesinski, a 30-year ABF member -- didn't make it.

Minnesota Local 320 secretary-treasurer Brian Aldes called the election a "blow-out" for the state's working families. Minnesota voters faulted anti-worker extremists for failing to govern responsibly during the last session, he wrote. Many were voted out of office. Reports Aldes:

Here in Minnesota, 68 percent of Teamsters Joint Council 32 D.R.I.V.E. endorsed candidates won election. Most important of all, D.R.I.V.E. endorsed candidates now have majorities in both chambers at the Statehouse. With Gov. Dayton in control of the executive branch, and the DFL in charge of the legislative branches, I can say with confidence that the Freedom of Employment Scam (right-to-work) is dead... 

We won’t face the type of anti-labor agenda from legislators that we faced in the last Session. So, again I thank all of our volunteers for their hard work to get out the vote!

In Maine, Gov. Paul LePage's nutty wings got clipped. Democrats retook the majority of both Houses in Maine. That means the secretary of state, treasurer, attorney general and auditor will be elected by a joint ballot of the Legislature. (Maybe they'll return the labor mural.)

Another New England wingnut we won't be hearing from is New Hampshire's island-dwelling Speaker of the House, Bill O'Brien. Democrats won back the state House of Representatives, so O'Brien loses his speakership. He also loses the ability to push anti-worker legislation like right-to-work-for-less. (Winning the governor's race was a big plus, too, as a candidate who pledged to be "Scott Walker on steroids" was defeated.)

In Montana, it looks like victory (but we're not sure yet) for gubernatorial candidate Steve Bullock, the friend of Teamsters and foe of misclassification.

Other sort-of good news: Democrats picked up three seats in Pennsylvania's state senate, which will force the anti-worker extremist members of the Republican Party to moderate their tone and their agenda. And Democrats picked up two seats in the Florida Senate, which takes away the GOP's supermajority and may, just may, make it easier to fight the next prison privatization battle should it arise.

A couple of anti-worker crazies in the U.S. House of Representatives were also defeated. In Illinois, U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh lost to veteran Tammy Duckworth after churlishly complaining she's "not a true hero" (she lost both legs in Iraq). And Florida's Allen West, an anti-union kook, looks to lose to a 30-year-old accountant.

Now, the bad news: In Ohio, Republicans are likely to pick up a seat in the House, which will make it that much easier for corporate stooge Gov. John Kasich to ram through a privatization of the Ohio Turnpike. In Wisconsin, Scott Walker's party retook the majority in the Senate, which will allow him to kill more jobs (unless he's indicted). And in Indiana, Gov.-elect Mike Pence is likely to cause trouble for working people, especially as his party may gain a supermajority in the House.

Finally, we're not quite sure what's happening in Michigan. Prop 2 failed, sadly, and 33-year UPSer Gary McDowell is trailing by a a tiny margin in his race for Congress. It also isn't clear what the final makeup of the Michigan House will be.