NextGen Climate, SEIU announce major election partnership 

Multi-million-dollar investment will drive voter outreach on economic, environmental, racial, immigrant justice

WASHINGTON and SAN FRANCISCO—Environmental advocacy organization NextGen Climate and the 2 million-member Service Employees International Union (SEIU) have launched a multi-million-dollar 2016 electoral partnership that will support massive voter outreach in key battleground states across the country. NextGen Climate President Tom Steyer and SEIU International President Mary Kay Henry announced the partnership during a media conference call this afternoon.

The investment, including $5 million from NextGen Climate, in on-the-ground voter engagement will drive the conversation on the issues that matter to working families — economic, environmental, racial and immigrant justice — in Colorado, Ohio and Pennsylvania. The partnership will expand into additional states in the coming weeks.

“Stopping the Party of Trump is our number one priority this year. That’s why our partnership with SEIU is so crucial as we work to empower working families to make their voices are heard this November,” said Steyer.

Steyer added,  “Week after week Trump continues his racist, xenophobic and hateful campaign for the highest elected office in America. Whether it’s on climate change, economic opportunity, or racial justice, a Trump presidency would be a disaster for working families. We need to stop Dangerous Donald—and there’s only one way to do it: register, and vote.”

“This partnership means we’ll be having one-on-one conversations with voters from now till Election Day about raising wages, environmental justice, ending anti-Black racism, a path to citizenship for immigrant families,” said Henry. “Donald Trump takes us backward on all of those issues. Hillary Clinton embraces them and can deliver on them.”

Henry added, “Environmental justice is a key concern for us. It’s our members — in low-resource and vulnerable communities, in communities of color — that are often first affected and most affected by pollution. If you’re an underpaid person of color living in the shadow of a power plant, racial justice can’t come without economic and environmental justice. It’s a natural fit for us to be talking about this.”

The partnership will include targeted voter outreach to communities of color — Black, Latino and Asian American voters who will have a decisive impact on the election. These civic engagement efforts will get out the vote in November as well as help build a permanent infrastructure for supporting an agenda for working families.