AFT Executive Council Recommends Endorsement of Barack Obama
1.4 million-member union to vote on mobilizing around candidacy of Illinois senator

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Citing his commitment to take on the key challenges facing AFT members and our nation as a whole, the 42-member executive council of the American Federation of Teachers Monday voted unanimously to approve a motion recommending that delegates to the 2008 AFT national convention endorse the candidacy of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for president of the United States.

 The 3,000-plus delegates are scheduled to convene July 11-14 at Navy Pier in Chicago.

“The executive council agreed that Sen. Obama offers the best solutions to the important issues facing the country today,” said AFT President Edward J. McElroy. “When the AFT’s delegates meet in convention in July, we will ask that they accept the council’s recommendation and place the AFT’s full support behind electing Sen. Obama the next president of the United States.”

During the primary process, the AFT turned out a record number of members in 14 key states with an unprecedented political and mobilization program on behalf of Sen. Hillary Clinton that involved door-to-door contact, mail, and personal member-to-member telephone outreach. These efforts will now be continued and increased during the general election campaign in support of Sen. Obama, McElroy said.

“We’re proud of our member-driven, grass-roots campaign efforts during the primary, and we look forward to mobilizing an expanded effort on behalf of Sen. Obama,” McElroy said. “AFT members are an electoral force to be reckoned with, and we will prove it again by helping elect Barack Obama the 44th president of the United States.”  

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