CBTU Statement on the Election of

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris

With joy and pride, the Coalition of Black Trade Unionists congratulates President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who have crossed the threshold of 270 Electoral College votes to win the 2020 presidential election. While the final tally is still come, the outcome is certain: Joe Biden will be America’s 46th President and Kamala Harris will be the first woman vice president.

This hard-earned victory was packaged and delivered by Black voters, especially Black women who turned out in historic proportions. In the decisive battleground states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, Black voters carried Biden across the finish line. And in Georgia, sweet, sweet Georgia, Black people organized and delivered a record turnout that delivered the sunbelt state to the Biden-Harris ticket. CBTU was all hands-on deck in turning out this vote and our labor paid off.

We should not mistake our joy today for a triumph over Trumpism. More than 70 million people voted for four more years of Trump. That sobering reality must inspire us to continue our civic engagement work as we seek to heal a fractured nation. We now need to shift our work to pushing the incoming administration to be bigger and better than our own expectations. We need to hold them accountable to ensure their promises of affordable health care, climate change action, and attacking systemic racism are all carried through to fruition. There is still work to do.

In 2019, CBTU members made it clear in a straw poll that a Biden-Harris ticket would be the winning ticket in 2020 for the Democrats and for America. We were first and we were right. So, we take special pride in the celebrations erupting across the nation today. When Black labor leads, the people’s interests are front and center. CBTU will stay on the battlefield because our work is not done. But how sweet it is to say, “Donald Trump, you’re fired!”