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.
Arizona’s Largest Political Field Operation
Election Day will Mark 800,000 door knocks for Arizona’s Largest Political Field Operation
300 canvassers operating out of five offices across greater Phoenix focused on winning Arizona for Biden/Harris, Mark Kelly for Senate, and pro-working-family candidates in state and local races
Phoenix, Arizona: In an Election Day push to get out the vote in Arizona, more than 300 canvassers with UNITE HERE Local 11 will launch their final door-to-door field canvass to elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and Mark Kelly. These efforts make the campaign the largest on-the-ground field operation in Arizona for the Biden/Harris presidential ticket and U.S Senate candidate Mark Kelly, as well as races to flip the state legislature in support of pro-worker candidates and to win the state-wide education funding measure Proposition 208.
UNITE HERE Local 11 and CASE Action project that their canvass will have yielded 800,000 door knocks and resulted in 200,000 in-person conversations with voters. They have also made over 2.5 million phone calls and talked to more than 60,000 voters on the phone. Key canvassers and campaign directors will be monitoring nation-wide election results at the campaign headquarters and will be available for in-person interviews.
Local 11 launched its canvass in July with community organizing partner CASE Action and has been knocking on 20,000 doors a day for Biden and Kelly, as well as state and local candidates and issues. UNITE HERE Local 11 was the first organization in the country to develop COVID-19 safety protocols that would enable political canvassers to safely return to the field. Since then, other campaigns across the country have looked to the union’s efforts and begun to use similar safety models.
UNITE HERE affiliates in the key swing states of Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Florida are also running the largest political field operations in their respective states. The union is committed to seeing the election process through and ensuring that every vote is counted.
Democracy is Essential Work
Over 1,000 UNITE HERE members—Arizona, Florida, Nevada, and Pennsylvania—are making the critical difference in key battleground states, doing the most important job of their lives: Removing Trump from office. Because democracy is essential work. We’re proud of our courageous members weathering tough conditions to lead the largest door-to-door union canvass operation in the country.
Dina Paredes
Dina Paredes works at the Westin Bonaventure in downtown Los Angeles. A native of El Salvador and mother of two US citizen kids, she has lived in this country for more than 20 years and is a recipient of Temporary Protected Status (TPS). Dina went to canvass to Arizona durong the 2020 presidential election to fight for her family and for all working immigrant women struggling to make ends meet.
Iris Acosta