Other Group

Communications Workers of America (CWA) Working Voices

Website:

cwa-union.org/cwa-working-voices

Location:

Washington, DC

Type:

Union Super PAC

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Communications Workers of America Working Voices (CWA Working Voices) is the Super PAC of Communications Workers of America (CWA), one of the most left-leaning labor unions in the United States. CWA is also a member of the secretive, left-of-center Democracy Initiative.

CWA Working Voices contributes millions of dollars every election cycle to Democratic committees and makes independent expenditures in favor of Democratic candidates and opposed to Republican candidates. In the 2020 election cycle, CWA Working Voices spent $4.8 million, making it the 9th largest labor union financial contributor in American politics. 1

Funding

CWA Working Voices is funded solely by the Communications Workers of America labor union. From 2012 to 2020, the CWA has contributed at least $1,316,172 to CWA Working Voices in each election cycle. In the 2020 election cycle, CWA Working Voices raised $4,221,103. In the 2018 cycle, the organization spent $4,233,960, and in 2016, it spent $3,989,226 in various elections. 2

Political Expenditures

In the 2020 election cycle, CWA Working Voices spent $4.8 million1 in total political expenditures and spent similar amounts in the 2018 and 2016 cycles. 3

Committee and Party Contributions

The majority of CWA Working Voices’s political expenditures go to other left-of-center political action committees to support Democratic candidates. In the 2020 election cycle, CWA Working Voices gave $917,294 to Union 2020, $500,000 to the Senate Majority PAC, $500,000 to the House Majority PAC, $350,000 to the Movement Voter Project, $350,000 to Priorities USA Action, and $300,000 to the Working Families Party National Committee. 3

In the 2016 cycle, CWA Working Voices gave $1 million to For Our Future, a left-of-center issue advocacy PAC. 3

Independent Expenditures

Since 2010, CWA Working Voices has spent $1,499,832 on independent expenditures exclusively in favor of Democratic candidates or opposed to Republicans. 4

In the 2020 election cycle, CWA Working Voices spent $247,830 on independent political expenditures. CWA spent $218,333 in favor of Democratic candidates and $29,497 in opposition to Republican candidates. 4 The greatest beneficiary was Jessica Cisneros, on whose behalf CWA Working Voices spent $112,950 supporting. Cisneros ran for Texas’s 28th Congressional District but lost in the Democratic primaries to incumbent U.S. Representative Henry Cuellar (D-TX), despite raising more money. Cuellar is one of the only remaining Democratic congressmen who opposes abortion, while Cisneros ran as a far-left candidate with endorsements from U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Cuellar won the general election against Republican candidate Sarah Witten. 5

CWA Working Voices’s second greatest beneficiary in the 2020 election cycle was Democratic Presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden. The organization spent $66,390 in support of former Vice President Biden. CWA Working Voices spent $38,993 to support Royce West in his race for the United States Senate. West lost in the Democratic primary election to Mary Jennings Hagar. Hegar lost in the general election to U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX). 6

Outside of Texas, CWA Working Voices spent $15,255 and $14,242 to oppose the reelections of U.S. Senator Cory Gardner (R-CO) and U.S. Senator Martha McSally (R-AZ). Both were defeated by Democratic challengers. 6

In the 2018 election cycle, CWA Working Voices spent $307,669. The organization’s largest beneficiary was incumbent U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH), who won reelection. 6

In the 2016 election cycle, CWA Working Voices spent $597,333. CWA Working Voices gave its largest contributions to support Georgia U.S. Senate candidate Deborah Ross, who lost in the general election. The organization also spent $124,856 in support of Sen. Bernie Sanders in his Presidential primary campaign,6 making the CWA the largest labor union to support Sen. Sanders. 7 CWA Working Voices later spent $21,718 to support Democratic Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and spent $1,182 to oppose then-Republican candidate Donald Trump. 6

References

  1. “Labor: Top Contributors, 2019-2020.” Open Secrets. Accessed November 22, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus.php?Ind=P.
  2. “Communications Workers of America Working Voices: Donors.” Open Secrets. Accessed November 22, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/contrib.php?cmte=C00488486&cycle=2020.
  3. “Communications Workers of America Working Voices: Expenditures.” Open Secrets. Accessed November 22, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/expenditures.php?cmte=C00488486&cycle=2014.
  4. “Communications Workers of America Working Voices: Summary.” Open Secrets. Accessed November 22, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=C00488486&cycle=2020.
  5. Fang, Lee. “Jessica Cisneros, A Progressive Favorite, Loses To Incumbent Henry Cuellar.” The Intercept. March 4, 2020. Accessed November 22, 2020. https://theintercept.com/2020/03/04/jessica-cisneros-texas-28-henry-cuellar-congress-primary/.
  6. “Communications Workers of America Working Voices: Targeted Candidates.” Open Secrets. Accessed November 22, 2020. https://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/recips.php?cmte=C00488486&cycle=2020.
  7. Varney, James. “Do Reporters Know They’re Giving Money to Sanders and Clinton.” Politico. April 5, 2016. Accessed November 22, 2020. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/04/bernie-sanders-hillary-clinton-cwa-politics-213795.
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Communications Workers of America (CWA) Working Voices


Washington, DC