SEIU plans a $200 million effort to help Biden and Democrats

The Service Employees International Union said Wednesday it would spend $200 million to reach and mobilize working-class voters to support President Biden and other Democrats.

The union, which represents about two million health care, service and government workers, hopes to capitalize on the upswing in union activity not only among industrial unions such as the United Automobile Workers, but also among less traditional workers such as nurses, Hollywood workers writers and actors. students and employees of Starbucks.

The SEIU said it hoped to reach six million voters of color in the battleground states of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

“Workers walked the picket lines for better wages and better jobs, and we will vote for the same reasons,” the union’s secretary-treasurer, April Verrett, said in a statement. “Workers of all races know what is at stake in this election.”

The $200 million effort would be the largest investment ever for the union, which spent about $150 million in the 2020 presidential cycle. Mr. Biden has called himself the most pro-union president in history, as have some of his allies in organized labor, and Rocio Sáenz, the executive vice president of the SEIU, cited the fact that the president teamed up with the UAW to picket line and other efforts. to help unions as a reason to mobilize.

Working-class voters, especially Black and Latino workers, will be a key constituency in the upcoming presidential campaign. Mr. Biden believes his policies have benefited such voters, especially those in unions. But former President Donald J. Trump has made inroads into the traditional Democratic voting bloc, which has expressed frustration with inflation and could prove receptive to his anti-immigration message.

A number of groups have pledged financial firepower to Mr. Biden’s reelection efforts. That includes VoteVets, which supports veterans running for office, with a $45 million plan to support Mr. Biden and other Democrats. Future Forward, the main Democratic super PAC supporting Biden’s bid, plans to spend $250 million on advertising. And MoveOn has announced a $32 million program.