The AFL-CIO is among the principal backers of For Our Future, which aims to raise at least $70 million to support organizing efforts in at least six battleground states with U.S. Senate or governor's races this year. | Paul J. Richards/AFP/Getty Images Giant labor-backed group plans $70M midterm blitz

The massive pro-Democratic political group created by a coalition of labor unions in 2016 is planning a comeback for 2018’s midterm elections, and it’s hoping to make even bigger investment this time around.

For Our Future is aiming to raise at least $70 million to support organizing efforts in at least six battleground states, the group’s new leader told POLITICO. That’s an increase of at least $10 million over what the group — which has a super PAC and a nonprofit arm — spent in 2016 against Donald Trump and other Republicans.


“We all know there is a huge difference between turnout in presidential years and in midterms,” said Justin Myers, a veteran Democratic strategist who took over as For Our Future’s CEO last December. But he said his team of organizers is seeing a shift among the low-propensity voters they speak with every day.

Now, he said, “we want to capitalize on the enthusiasm that’s already out there."

The group was formed and funded in 2016 by the labor giants the AFL-CIO, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Education Association — as well as NextGen America, Democratic mega-donor and activist Tom Steyer’s political outfit.

Each of those organizations remains behind the group as it aims to play a major role in Senate races in Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, Nevada, and Virginia, as well as the gubernatorial races in five of the six states — excepting Virginia, which held its contest last year.

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Myers said the group — which will likely expand past those six states as it hires up, and the political landscape shifts — will also be active in House races and down-ballot contests, depending on the local need.

Most of the group’s money goes toward its on-the-ground organizing, though some may eventually go to digital and mail advertising, Myers said. The organization's model is to fund permanent staffers in communities all across the country.

Already, that investment has started to pay off, the group says. For Our Future already had a permanent organizer on the ground in a Republican-held, western Wisconsin state Senate district last year and added three other operatives in the run-up to this week's special election. The victory by Democrat Patty Schachtner led Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker to sound the alarm to fellow Republicans across the country.

“The permanent presence is something that sets us apart from everyone,” said Myers.