Unions draft expansive ‘Southern Strategy’ – The Hill – covering Congress, Politics, Political Campaigns and Capitol Hill | TheHill.com

“There’s huge potential in the South,” said Michael Podhorzer, the AFL-CIO’s political director, noting the rise of Hispanic voters in the region. “It’s Florida, North Carolina. That is changing the equation in all of those states.”

Democrats are eyeing Texas and will be working with unions to expand into the state. Snatching the deep red state from the Republicans would be a coup for Democrats, but union officials laid out timelines of several years — not 2014, the next election year — before one could expect to see blue victories.

“This is really the beginning of a long-term strategy of building union power in the South,” Podhorzer said, noting the AFL-CIO would invest political resources in the race against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) as well as in Florida and Texas this campaign season.

A big part of the political effort in Texas will be bringing labor’s much-vaunted voter turnout machine to the state. That will be tough considering the state’s voter ID law, which has led to a Justice Department lawsuit.

“For us, what we are doing is following where the companies have brought the work,” said Maria Somma, assistant organizing director for the United Steelworkers (USW). “We get contacts daily from workers in Southern states who say come in and help us.”

via Unions draft expansive ‘Southern Strategy’ – The Hill – covering Congress, Politics, Political Campaigns and Capitol Hill | TheHill.com.