The Massachusetts SEIU is
endorsing Elizabeth Warren over Scott Brown for Senate. Though the answer may have been essentially a foregone conclusion, though, the 75,000-member union took the process seriously, holding a candidate forum last Saturday for members to assess the candidate up close. They would have gotten to assess candidates, plural, had Scott Brown bothered to show up or even answer the invitation.
Accepting the endorsement,
"I am delighted to receive the endorsement of SEIU's 75,000 members," Warren said. "I've worked closely with SEIU for years now - advocating for working families and fighting to get a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created. I look forward to continuing to work with them to improve the lives of working men and women here in the Commonwealth and across the country."
In making the endorsement, the union specifically cites Brown's vote for the "extremist Tea Party budget that would have cost Massachusetts 17,000 jobs and cut Pell Grants for 135,000 Massachusetts students," as well as his work to water down Wall Street reform.
While the SEIU has often run television advertisements in support of endorsed candidates across the country, they will presumably be bound by the agreement between Warren and Brown limiting outside ads, at least as long as it holds. However, the union can still educate its members and engage in get out the vote activities, both areas in which the SEIU excels.
Union endorsements are great for Warren, but she still needs our help. Please, contribute $6 to Elizabeth Warren on Orange to Blue.