POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS

UNITE HERE Local 11 members fight for policies that benefit working families and immigrants, and for politicians who stand with our values. UNITE HERE Local 11 and our allies not only knock on hundreds of thousands of voters’ doors in each presidential election, we also activate voters for key legislative and city races and state propositions across California and Arizona.

Local 11 members are the cooks and servers, dishwashers and room attendants, baristas and cashiers who take the time to look a voter in the eye and ask them what kind of world they want to live in. We bring the same energy and drive to every election that we do to winning life-changing improvements in our working lives, and that energy affects outcomes. During the global pandemic of 2020, Local 11 ran the largest single canvass in Arizona, winning the state for for Joe Biden and Senator Mark Kelly, and helped deliver victory in the runoff election for Georgia senators Jon Osoff and Rafael Warnock.

In 2024, UNITE HERE Local 11 and our allies at Worker Power knocked on 1.3 million voters’ doors and had more than 250,000 conversations with voters. Local 11 members look forward to making the difference in upcoming local elections through to the 2026 midterms, and to remaining on the forefront in the fight for American democracy in 2028.

Protect Our Voting Rights

Raul Rosales on the Bus

UNITE HERE Local 11 Endorses Hugo Soto-Martinez for Los Angeles City Council District 13

Los Angeles, CA: Today, on behalf of UNITE HERE Local 11 members who live and work in Los Angeles City Council District 13, the union has announced its enthusiastic endorsement of long-time leader Hugo Soto-Martinez for Los Angeles City Council.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Hugo is a U.C. Irvine graduate who has committed his life to fighting for California families. He is an experienced, compassionate, and effective leader who knows how to get things done for the residents of CD 13.

As a server at the L.A. Grand Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles, Hugo led a successful union organizing drive. Since then, Hugo has dedicated the past 15 years to standing up for his colleagues and members: the room attendants, cooks, and bartenders who have built and sustain the vital tourism industry in Los Angeles. Hugo’s organizing victories in the workplace have improved the lives of thousands of Angelenos.

As a member of the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council, Hugo worked to reduce displacement, support the development of affordable housing, and help address our city’s homelessness crisis. As a leader of UNITE HERE Local 11, Hugo has played an instrumental role in efforts to mitigate the effects of illegal short-term rentals on the housing market.

Hugo has worked with leaders of the Democratic Party of California to advance the rights of everyday people across the state. Hugo has organized for immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship for our country’s undocumented people and has fought to resist federal policy that tears immigrant families apart. He has also led legislative campaigns to raise wages and protect workers from unsafe conditions.

Hugo has also worked with community groups across Southern California to increase transparency and accountability for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. He has been a leader of the movement seeking justice for Andres Guardado, the young man shot five times in the back by the Department in 2020.

On the City Council, Hugo will continue his work and fight to ensure that CD 13 is a vibrant community where everyone—regardless of background or income—can participate in the public decisions that affect their lives. “We need someone to represent this district that represents our values and also has Hugo’s experience bringing people together to make change,” said Liliana Hernandez, a seven-year member of UNITE HERE Local 11. “As a hospitality worker, mom, and resident of District 13, I am excited that Hugo is running to represent me.”

Pastor Cue on the Freedom Ride

Kurt Petersen on the West Hollywood Vote

Local 11 Co-President Kurt Petersen talks about the historical West Hollywood Hotel Worker Ordinance

West Hollywood Hotel Worker Ordinance Vote

Hotel workers and community allies in West Hollywood took to the street on the eve of the Hotel Worker Ordinance Vote.

Arizona Activists Descend on AZ Attorney General’s Office to Protest Republican Voter Suppression and Demand Federal Action to Protect Voting Rights

Phoenix, AZ – Nine people were taken into Phoenix Police Department custody after participating in a peaceful civil disobedience outside of Attorney General Brnovich’s office Thursday morning as part of a rally and picket line protesting his relentless attacks on Arizonans’ voting rights.

“We are telling Mark Brnovich, our Attorney General, that we will not just sit by and watch as our rights are stripped away. We deserve real national voting rights legislation and we will do whatever it takes to make that happen,” said Joshua Wells, a community organizer.

On July 1, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in support of Brnovich’s defense of two restrictive voting laws. The decision gutted Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, undermining historic protections against racial discrimination in elections. Additionally, the Arizona state legislature passed a flurry of anti-voter measures at the tail end of the session that concluded last week. One of those bills requires the Secretary of State to provide voter information, including’ date of birth and part of their Social Security number, to a third-party private vendor who could then remove them from the voter rolls.

At the same time, the Arizona legislature took the unprecedented move of removing powers from the Secretary of State and conferring them on the Arizona Attorney General, a move that coincides with the end of Secretary Katie Hobbs’ term. Attorney General Brnovich announced his intention to run for U. S. Senate in 2022 on June 10.

“We have brave freedom fighters here today who are going to demand justice from our Attorney General and demand that he stop attacking the freedom to vote. When you have a complicit governor, a complicit attorney general, [and a] complicit majority-Republican legislature, there’s only so much we can do here today,” said State Representative Athena Salman, addressing the crowd, “We need Senator Kyrsten Sinema and Senator Mark Kelly and President Joe Biden to stand up. We delivered for them and now they have to deliver for us. The number one thing, the foundation of our democracy, is protecting our freedom to vote.

More than 75 attended the action that highlighted the need for the For the People Act – federal voting rights legislation – to protect against the 350+ voter suppression bills introduced across 47 states since January 2021.

The same coalition recently completed a weeklong freedom ride to Washington D.C for voting rights.

Rebecca Jackson: I Did it For My Family