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From January 2001 NASW NEWS By Corinna Vallianatos, NEWS Staff There are now two social workers in the U.S. Senate and four in the U.S. House of Representatives, as Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.) joins Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) in the Senate and Susan Davis (D-Calif.) joins Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Ed Towns (D-N.Y.) and Ciro Rodriguez (D-Tex.) in the House. According to Katherine Levy, NASW political action associate, more than 70 percent of the House and Senate candidates who got contributions from NASW's Political Action for Candidate Election (PACE) won. "The races for president, Senate and House were extremely close. Some of our targeted races were won or lost by only a few hundred votes. It demonstrates that every vote matters, and if we come together as social workers our political voice is strong," said Pamela Huggins, former PACE chair. PACE field organizers, organized by Levy and NASW chapters, worked in nine chapters (California, Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York State, New York City, Virginia and Washington) in a voter mobilization program, primarily through get-out-the-vote phone banks. Seven of the eight Senate candidates in the states with field organizers won. Dave Dempsey, NASW government relations and PACE manager, said social workers have a professional obligation to get out the vote because they see how policies affect real people. Back to NASW NEWS Contents
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