This piece is published on Iowa Independent as well as OffTheBus.
Former Sen. John Edwards's campaign announced that it would receive an endorsement from Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Local 199, which represents all of Iowa, Monday morning. Campaign officials touted its support of the local's approximately 2,000 members as a "major victory" and an "enormous boost" in the state.
The campaign emphasized how hard Edwards worked earn the endorsement. "He has done something quite unprecedented," campaign manager David Bonior said, because he has "involved himself in organizing" SEIU members across the country. "He's just literally been quite astounding in the work he's done," Bonior continued.
Although this is good news for the Edwards campaign, the former senator had at one point hoped for an endorsement from the international SEIU. Last month, the international announced that it would not make an official endorsement and would instead leave endorsements up to individual state councils after powerful locals from the home states of Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama prevented Edwards from earning a sufficient super-majority in a straw poll of SEIU members.
In Iowa, SEIU primarily represents health care workers, with high concentrations in eastern counties like Johnson, Linn, Scott, and Dubuque. Although Iowa's Democratic Caucuses tend to diminish the benefit of support that is concentrated in a small number of areas in the state, Edwards State Director Jennifer O'Malley Dillon considers the SEIU's 2,000 Iowan members a significant group of caucus goers, noting that SEIU members can influence others in their households and neighborhoods. "2,000 households and families will make a great difference," she said.
Senior Edwards advisor Chris Chafe agreed. He said SEIU members "are leaders, and they know how to talk to their coworkers, their neighbors, and community."
But Edwards earned the support of more than just Iowa's 2,000 SEIU members. He was also endorsed by nine more of the union's state councils Monday, some of which represent significantly more members. All told, Edwards's endorsers represent over 930,000 SEIU members from states including California, Washington, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Oregon.
State councils that endorse Edwards will be able to send members to Iowa to campaign for their candidate, but state councils that endorse other candidates are prohibited from doing so by SEIU rules. This rule may be particularly inconvenient for Sen. Obama, who received the endorsement of SEIU's Illinois state council Monday, and for Sen. Clinton, who is expected to receive support from the SEIU in New York.
"Our understanding of the rules is very clear," said Chafe. SEIU locals that endorse other candidates "cannot come into Iowa, they cannot phone bank SEIU members, they cannot run advertisements with SEIU members, targeting SEIU members...Member-to-member contact is not allowed."