Since the launch of the NYSUT Pipeline Project, which encourages and supports members running for office, more than 300 NYSUT members have won elections for everything from local school board to the state Senate and Assembly. And more are needed.
“We want more teachers, more SRPs, more higher education professionals … we want (NYSUT members) to run for office because our voice needs to be heard in Albany and Washington,” said NYSUT President Melinda Person, who shared that contributions to VOTE-COPE, the union’s political action fund, are on the increase since falling during the pandemic. More than 190,000 members made voluntary donations to the fund in 2023. Those donations are important because NYSUT does not use any dues dollars to support its impressive — and effective — political operation.
“VOTE-COPE is how we win in Albany … and it’s how we win at the ballot box,” Person said.