The United Auto Workers tries to reassert political power in Michigan as it faces internal divisions

SHELBY TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Walter Usakowski was mowing his lawn in a northern suburb of Detroit when three canvassers from the United Auto Workers approached.

“I don’t even need to talk to you,” Usakowski said. As a retired member, he was already supporting the union’s slate of Democratic candidates in the Nov. 3 midterms.

But he is not sure how many of the other “guys in the shop” will vote for Democrats. He worked at Ford Motor Co.’s Sterling Axle Plant for more than 45 years, and he knows many members who backed Republican President Donald Trump.

The election-year canvassing was one part of the UAW’s efforts to reassert its political power in Michigan, a premier political battleground. Although the union generally backs Democrats, its membership is more divided over which party best represents working-class interests. It also is reckoning with past corruption scandals, a drop in membership and a lack of transparency that has eroded trust within its ranks.

“It’s not going to be an overnight thing,” said JJ Jewell, who is part of the UAW’s Community Action Program executive committee. “Even if this election goes fantastically, that’s not mission accomplished. That means we’re 1% of the way done.”

Internal divisions and distrust pose challenges

Jewell and others made the rounds on a recent sunny Saturday in Macomb County, where Trump won by nearly 14 percentage points in 2024. Many of the union members they met in a neighborhood of well-kept suburban houses were retirees, and while most said the cost of living was their top concern, they did not agree on whether Democrats or Republicans would better address it.

One resident, who said she blamed billionaires for the country’s problems, planned to vote for Democrats. Another street over, a couple said they both supported Trump and declined to take a flyer of the UAW-endorsed candidates.

In a microcosm of broader political rifts, union voters remain politically divided. Union voters have traditionally been seen as a Democratic-leaning constituency, but Trump made direct appeals to them with his anti-elite rhetoric and promises to overhaul international trade agreements that sapped factory jobs. In 2024, voters who were union members or were in a household with a union member split between Trump and Democratic nominee Kamala Harris, with more than half voting for the then-vice president and 44% for Trump.

Betty Anderson, a UAW member, thinks the organization is on the right track, but she is not confident about bridging internal political divisions. She said she is angry with members who voted for Trump, whom she sees as selling out the working class.

“I don’t think those people are ever going to be on our side,” Anderson said. “They think they have an opportunity to be in an elite class.”

Leaders hope to rebuild trust with transparency

Since 2017, more than 10 UAW officials have pleaded guilty in a corruption investigation that found millions of dollars of union dues were stolen. Members also faulted leaders for closed-door contract negotiations that they said destroyed trust in the UAW.

Shawn Fain was elected UAW president in 2023 on a platform of transparency, and victories in labor disputes with Detroit's three major automakers bolstered member support. Leaders hope this will translate into votes for its candidates.

“I think the UAW members now are starting to fall a little more in line,” said Usakowski, the retired axle plant worker.

Mark DePaoli, director for one of the UAW’s southeast Michigan regions, said the union hosted forums with candidates where any member could ask questions. The UAW endorsed progressive Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in the U.S. Senate primary even though rival Haley Stevens, a four-term congresswoman, worked as chief of staff on an auto bailout task force during the Great Recession, a position she frequently cited while campaigning.

“I don’t think anybody expected us to endorse him,” DePaoli said. In its announcement, the union referenced El-Sayed’s support for universal healthcare and criticism of corporate money in politics. El-Sayed wore a UAW pin during the first Senate debate with his Republican opponent, former U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers.

“The UAW’s backing of Abdul was critical in winning a historic primary despite being outspent by tens of millions of dollars, and will be just as critical in winning" next month, El-Sayed spokesperson Cole Wozniak said in a statement.

Rogers is emphasizing his opposition to controversial federal regulations under Democratic President Joe Biden that would have required automakers to ramp up production of electric vehicles, which some feared would lead to factory closures.

“Mike knows the challenges our autoworkers face, and he’ll be their champion in the U.S. Senate,” Rogers spokesperson Alyssa Brouillet said in a statement. “The same can’t be said for Abdul and UAW national leadership.”

The union needs to turn out the vote to be politically relevant

Robert Bruno, a professor in the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, said the UAW's strength relies on its ability to mobilize voters.

“You don’t win campaigns off of your endorsements,” Bruno said. “You win campaigns at the door, or at the bar, or at the union hall.”

In the 1980s, there were more than 600,000 active and retired UAW members in Michigan, according to the union. Today, that number hovers around 350,000. The UAW is still the largest union in the state.

UAW leaders are optimistic after a primary election campaign drive and what they see as better, more transparent leadership. The union said about 113,000 of its members voted early during Michigan’s August primary, and it has volunteers canvassing and calling voters before Election Day.

In September, the UAW hosted a conference of its Michigan political arm for the first time since 2018. Fain, who claimed reelection Friday based on preliminary results in the voting, told reporters at the Lansing event that the organization wants members to drive the direction of the union, focusing on issues like affordability.

“We are as active as we can be right now,” Fain said.

GaNun is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.