Union-Backed Democrats Launch ‘Blue Collar Brigade’ To Woo The Working Class

Democrats are betting a slate of union-backed House candidates can help the party reconnect with working-class voters and donors as it heads into the 2026 midterms facing mounting financial challenges.

Five Democratic congressional candidates announced Tuesday the launch of the “Blue Collar Brigade,” a joint fundraising effort aimed at boosting their campaigns while promoting a populist platform centered on lowering costs, strengthening organized labor, and combating government corruption.

The coalition includes Bob Brooks, a firefighter union chief challenging Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R-PA); Randy Villegas, a teacher and union member taking on Rep. David Valadao (R-CA); ironworker Brian Poindexter, who is running against Rep. Max Miller (R-OH); former smokejumper and union leader Sam Forstag, competing in Montana’s open western district; and Minnesota state Rep. Kaela Berg, a flight attendant and former union leader seeking an open House seat.

The candidates say they are pooling resources because they lack the wealthy donor networks often available to more traditional political candidates.

“As a union ironworker, my network of folks is very small,” Poindexter told Politico. “My very first call time, I called one of my fellow ironworkers and asked for $50, and he was laid off at the time.”

“That’s when I had the understanding of what we’re really up against when campaigns like my opponent can spend millions of dollars and here I am trying to represent workers in Washington and scraping together $50 bills.”

The fundraising alliance arrives as Democrats continue searching for ways to rebuild support among blue-collar voters after President Donald Trump expanded his coalition with working-class Americans during the 2024 election.

It also comes as the Democratic Party struggles with fundraising.

The RNC currently reports roughly $116 million cash on hand, while the DNC has approximately $13.8 million and carries more than $18 million in debt.

Those financial struggles have fueled growing frustration among Democratic donors, many of whom remain dissatisfied with how the party spent its record-breaking fundraising haul during Kamala Harris’ unsuccessful 2024 presidential campaign.

Several longtime Democratic donors have publicly criticized DNC Chairman Ken Martin for slow-walking the release of the full post-election autopsy he promised after taking office. The frustration has reportedly pushed some major donors away from the national party altogether.

“I don’t see Ken as a leader,” one longtime Democratic donor told ABC News. “The DNC reached out to me probably six months ago, and I told them to take me off their list.”

Against that backdrop, the Blue Collar Brigade represents an attempt to build a different kind of Democratic fundraising operation. Tuesday evening’s virtual fundraiser is being co-hosted by current and former leaders of several major unions, including the AFL-CIO, Communications Workers of America, Association of Flight Attendants, Iron Workers, and the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners.

Reps. Chris Deluzio (D-PA), Nikki Budzinski (D-IL), and Val Hoyle (D-OR), all of whom maintain close ties to organized labor, are serving as honorary chairs.

“When you’re a Democratic challenger and you’re someone who comes from the labor movement … you don’t have the same Rolodex as someone who can self-fund millions for their campaign,” Deluzio said. “These folks are going to do the hard work to win their races, but they’ve got to raise money.”

The coalition is also attempting to reshape the Democratic Party’s image after years of criticism that it has become disconnected from working-class voters. Villegas argued Democrats can no longer rely solely on opposition to Republicans.

“It’s important to actually center working-class candidates and invest in them and make sure that we are prioritizing working families’ issues,” he said. “These victories across the country are showing that we can’t just offer people ‘not Trump’ or ‘not the Republican incumbent.’ We have to be willing to offer people a vision for something more.”

That message reflects soul-searching within the Democratic Party after Trump’s gains among union households and non-college voters accelerated trends that have reshaped American politics over the past decade.

At the same time, the Blue Collar Brigade highlights an irony facing Democrats. While the candidates present themselves as outsiders battling the political establishment, they remain deeply tied to one of the Democratic Party’s most influential institutional allies: organized labor.