Texas AFT’s Committee on Political Education (COPE), our union’s political arm, is proud to announce its first round of endorsements ahead of the March 5 primary. Our union’s political advocacy is funded solely by voluntary donations from our members across Texas and purchases from our online store.
Your children’s teachers, bus drivers, school nurses, adjunct professors, librarians, and more have generously put their checkbooks to work, trying to elect real public education allies to office.
It is our job as a state federation to steward those dollars and our endorsements with care and great consideration.
About Our Endorsements
For a candidate or incumbent to earn Texas AFT’s COPE endorsement, they must demonstrate a solid understanding of and commitment to our members’ priorities, including:
- Fully funded public schools
- Safe, sustainable working conditions
- Wages that reflect the worth of their work
- Rejection of privatization efforts, whether through vouchers or charters
- An end to excessive standardized testing
In deciding on our union’s endorsements, Texas AFT COPE (made up of educator-leaders from around the state) weighs several factors:
- Incumbent voting records on public education issues from the most recent legislative session and previous sessions
- Answers to our candidate questionnaire
- Perspectives from our labor siblings at the Texas AFL-CIO and regional labor councils
- Campaign contributions from individuals and PACs aligned with anti-public education or privatizer viewpoints
You can find a list of our first round of endorsements here.
We urge members and our allies to remember: Texas AFT does not endorse in all races. Our primary focus is on the Texas Legislature, the State Board of Education, and other statewide offices. Sometimes we also endorse congressional candidates.
AFT national endorses in the presidential election, where they have endorsed President Joe Biden for reelection, and our local unions may endorse candidates for their local school boards or other community offices.
About the March 5 Primary Election
Our members have told us that one of their biggest concerns is the lack of educator input into state-level policies like testing, school funding, licensure, and evaluation. And we have seen the results.
Teachers and school staff must participate in every level of the democratic process so they can have a voice at every table — at the school board, at the state Capitol, in the halls of Congress, and at the ballot box. Wherever decisions are made about us, they cannot be made without us.
We urge you to visit our Voter Education Hub at vote.texasaft.org to find election information, incumbent voting records, and ways for you as an educator to get involved in our advocacy.