McAuliffe’s attacks on Right to Work may cost him election

OPINION:

Opposing a policy favored by eight in 10 Americans is a risky political strategy. If anyone understood that, you’d think it would be professional politicians like Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe. Yet, the former governor has openly stated that he favors forcing Virginia workers to pay union bosses to keep their jobs.

Polls show eight in 10 Americans believe in the Right to Work principle that no worker should be forced to choose between staying employed and funding a union hierarchy they may bitterly disagree with. Virginia, for its part, has protected this basic freedom for workers for well over 70 years, and an overwhelming majority of Old Dominion residents backed Right to Work in a poll last year.

Yet, as surveys show a virtually tied race with pro-Right to Work rival Glenn Youngkin, Mr. McAuliffe still hasn’t taken back his April statement that if a Right to Work repeal bill reached his desk as governor, “sure, I’d sign it.” In saying so, Mr. McAuliffe broke with his position spanning decades that Virginia was a “great Right to Work state” and should “never change.”

While Mr. McAuliffe might have concluded that the millions of dollars Big Labor operatives showered on his campaign right after he reversed course on Right to Work would sufficiently counteract the votes he would lose over the new position, history suggests that calculation is wrong.

Consider what happened in Kentucky during the 2020 state House of Representatives races. House Minority Leader Angie Hatton, a Democrat, praised union bosses and told a reporter repealing the state’s Right to Work law would be “an amazing way to thank them.”

Kentucky voters did not share Ms. Hatton’s enthusiasm for giving forced-dues powers back to Big Labor as a thank you gift. They handed her party a decisive Election Day loss, giving the heavily pro-Right to Work state GOP a 75-25 supermajority in the state House of Representatives.

Also, during the 2020 cycle, West Virginia AFL-CIO President Josh Sword confidently predicted a political budget of $5 million of members’ dues money would get “a number more [Big] [L]abor endorsed candidates elected to our state Senate,” only to see every Big Labor-backed Senate candidate lose.

Perhaps the Democrat McAuliffe thinks the wind is at his back because Virginia, traditionally a swing state, has trended reliably towards his own party as of late. But, his Right to Work opposition, alongside other baffling moves like siding with national union officials against parents when it comes to parental input into their children’s public school education, calls even that calculation seriously into question.

Michigan, another swing state whose governor and senators are all Democrats, should serve as an example. Democrats hoping to take control of the state Legislature in 2018 made repealing Right to Work a central issue during their campaigns. Representative Brian Elder, the would-be Speaker of the House, made it clear: if his party took control of the Legislature, “The very first bill we will pass will be a repeal of the Right to Work law.”

While this agenda brought the party vast Big Labor support, Michigan Democrats remained at a deficit in Michigan’s House and Senate – and yet still doubled down on opposing Right to Work.

The Michigan Democratic Caucus endorsed two bills that would repeal Right to Work in 2019. What happened in 2020 should by now, come as no surprise. Despite Joe Biden winning the state by roughly 154,000 votes, Michigan Democrats failed to gain any ground in the state Legislature.

All of this shows that Mr. McAuliffe’s newfound aversion to Right to Work puts him on very shaky ground. But even more astounding than Mr. McAuliffe’s apparent lack of historical awareness is his willingness to sell out Virginia workers’ individual rights to cozy up to his union boss political allies.

Virginians, who by and large support workers’ right to decide freely whether union bosses have earned their support, deserve better. Taking a hard line against worker freedom might have helped Mr. McAuliffe secure Big Labor campaign funds. Still, it puts him at odds with the overwhelming majority of Virginia voters who will decide if he gets another term as governor.

• Mark Mix is president of the National Right to Work Committee.