MIDWEST — Across Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, the 2026 governor’s races have taken on a familiar Midwestern dimension: what does each candidate’s record and agenda mean for working people, unions and the skilled trades?
The three states have different political histories, but the contrast is becoming increasingly clear. Democratic nominees Jocelyn Benson in Michigan, David Crowley in Wisconsin and Amy Klobuchar in Minnesota have each secured significant support from organized labor.
Their Republican opponents — John James in Michigan, Tom Tiffany in Wisconsin and Lisa Demuth in Minnesota — have records that include positions or votes that organized labor has opposed and cause paychecks for construction workers to shrink.
Below is a state-by-state breakdown of each race:
Michigan: Jocelyn Benson vs. John James
Jocelyn Benson
Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson enters the general election with broad support from Michigan’s labor movement.
The Michigan AFL-CIO endorsed Benson in June, saying her agenda includes raising wages, protecting workplace safety and expanding apprenticeships through additional funding for “earn-while-you-learn” programs.
Her labor coalition also includes the United Auto Workers, the Michigan Laborers District Council, the Northern Midwest Regional Council of Carpenters, SEIU and a majority of Michigan Teamsters locals.
For the building trades, the apprenticeship component is particularly significant. Benson has pledged to expand union apprenticeship opportunities and create additional pathways into skilled-trades careers without requiring workers to take on traditional college debt.
John James
Republican nominee John James has a substantially different record on labor policy.
James has campaigned on restoring Michigan’s right-to-work law. Michigan repealed right-to-work in 2023 after more than a decade of right-to-work after the most recent Republican governor put it in place in 2013.
For union members, the distinction is important. A right-to-work law does not prohibit unions or collective bargaining, but it prevents contracts from requiring workers covered by a union agreement to pay union dues or fees as a condition of employment. The practical effect is that workers can receive the benefits of a collectively bargained contract without contributing financially to the union negotiating it.
That is particularly relevant to the building trades, where unions use dues to finance apprenticeship programs, organizing, contract negotiations and representation.
John James has also supported legislation to eliminate clean energy projects. The BlueGreen Alliance reported in July that federal changes to clean-energy incentives had contributed to approximately $83 billion in delayed or canceled investments across 223 clean-energy and manufacturing projects, affecting more than 111,000 potential jobs nationally.
The Bottom Line in Michigan
The two candidates have major policy differences when it comes to supporting the skilled trades. Benson supports more training, more job opportunities and higher paychecks. James supports policies of the past that would lower wages, lead to fewer training opportunities and end clean energy construction projects.
Wisconsin: David Crowley vs. Tom Tiffany
Wisconsin offers perhaps the clearest contrast over construction policy.
David Crowley
Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley has received endorsements from major labor organizations, including the Wisconsin AFL-CIO, Wisconsin Laborers’ District Council, IBEW Wisconsin State Conference, Operating Engineers Local 139 and the Northern Midwest Regional Council of Carpenters.
Crowley’s relationship with the building trades also has a very tangible example: the Milwaukee Brewers stadium agreement where Crowley helped negotiate the bipartisan deal that kept the Brewers in Milwaukee through 2050. Labor leaders say the agreement also helped secure union work connected to ongoing maintenance and improvements at American Family Field.
Crowley has also campaigned on restoring Wisconsin’s prevailing-wage law, project labor agreements and expanding apprenticeship programs.
Those policies matter directly to construction workers because prevailing-wage requirements establish wage standards on qualifying public projects, while project labor agreements can establish union labor and workforce standards for major construction projects.
Tom Tiffany
Republican nominee Tom Tiffany has taken a markedly different approach to labor policy.
Tiffany has said he supports repealing the federal Davis-Bacon Act, which requires prevailing wages on covered federal construction projects and led the way as a state senator to repeal prevailing wage in Wisconsin. The impact would be massive, with the United Brotherhood of Carpenters reporting that Davis-Bacon supports over 40% of all its member’s work hours.
The Bottom Line in Wisconsin
The Wisconsin race presents voters with a fairly direct policy contrast: Crowley is promising to restore prevailing-wage and project-labor policies, while Tiffany has supported eliminating the federal prevailing-wage requirement contained in Davis-Bacon.
Minnesota: Amy Klobuchar vs. Lisa Demuth
Minnesota’s race features two candidates with extensive public records but very different views on supporting union workers.
Amy Klobuchar
U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar won the Democratic primary with nearly 90% of the vote and will face Republican House Speaker Lisa Demuth in November.
The Minnesota AFL-CIO endorsed Klobuchar and Ben Schierer for governor and lieutenant governor.
AFSCME Council 5 also endorsed the Klobuchar-Schierer ticket, while SEIU Minnesota has endorsed Klobuchar and highlighted her support for workers and unions.
The United Steelworkers endorsed Klobuchar in July, saying workers have historically been able to count on her support.
For the Minnesota labor movement, the Klobuchar campaign represents a continuation of the state’s recent Democratic Farmer-Labor agenda.
Lisa Demuth
Republican nominee Lisa Demuth brings a legislative record that provides a number of direct comparisons.
Demuth opposed Minnesota’s 2019 wage-theft law, saying at the time that she believed the law was overly broad and should be reformed.
Demuth also voted against paid family and medical leave, labor standards for refinery and warehouse workers and the state’s child tax credit. Her position on paid leave remains relevant in the 2026 campaign. In August, while unveiling an affordability agenda, Demuth described paid family and medical leave as a mandate and said she wanted to give businesses, schools and local governments more flexibility.
The Bottom Line in Minnesota
Both candidates for governor have extensive records but while Klobuchar has a long history of supporting labor, higher paychecks and more jobs, Demuth has a history of voting against bills to protect paychecks, stop wage theft and support workers.
Three States, One Major Question
The three races are different, but they share a common question for union households:
Which candidates support the skilled trades?
The Democratic candidates have each received substantial support from organized labor and have emphasized policies involving wages, apprenticeships, workplace protections or collective bargaining.
The Republican candidates offer a different approach, including positions involving right-to-work, prevailing wages, paid leave and federal labor standards.
For Michigan’s building trades, the choice includes a debate over right-to-work and apprenticeship investment.
In Wisconsin, it includes a direct debate over prevailing wages, project labor agreements and the future of union construction.
In Minnesota, the record centers more heavily on wage-theft protections, paid leave and workplace standards.
None of those issues exist in isolation. They affect how workers are trained, how construction contracts are awarded, how wages are established and how much bargaining power workers have when they sit across the table from an employer.
And that is why working people should pay close attention to all three races.
