Plans begin for Election 2022 work with an increased focus on member activism and engagement

Education Minnesota is beginning preparations for its Election 2022 work, which will once again focus on member activism at educators’ worksites and member engagement throughout the process.

Elections taking place in 2022 include Minnesota’s governor, state auditor, secretary of state, attorney general, the entire state Legislature, the federal House of Representatives and many local races, such as school board and district levy elections.

Education Minnesota knows the importance of these elections as it relates to our union’s priorities of winning full funding for education, to provide students and staff with the resources they need to succeed, and racial equity proposals to make sure our schools are welcoming to students, no matter what they look like or where they come from. This election is also vitally important to the protection of our union and collective bargaining rights, as we have seen those stripped away by anti-union legislatures and governors in Iowa and Wisconsin.

At the statewide level, Education Minnesota’s Political Action Committee, made up of members from throughout the state, voted to continue with the new, transparent and member-focused endorsement process.

For the gubernatorial race, all candidates will be invited to participate in a process that requires them to:

• Participate in a candidate forum, held virtually in January, which all members will be invited to attend.
• Spend a full- or half-day shadowing educators at work.
• Engage in roundtable conversations with educators.
• Complete a candidate questionnaire, created by educators, that will be shared publicly, and
• Participate in a screening interview with the Education Minnesota PAC board.

Members are invited to begin to submit questions for the candidate questionnaire, which will also be used in the legislative and local races. If you have ideas or questions, please email public.affairs@edmn.org or watch for a formal submission website to be shared on Education Minnesota’s social media channels.

Members will also be able to submit their worksite for consideration to be the site candidates visit as part of the endorsement process.

Education Minnesota will also be starting its worksite action leader program again, with members taking the lead on sharing voting information at their worksites and in their locals. Any interested member should reach out to their Education Minnesota field staff. Multiple opportunities for trainings and conferences on how to do this work and why it is important will be available to members in 2022.