The Tennessee AFL-CIO Labor Council will focus on voting records, and not on political labels, as it evaluates candidates in coming state races. The council approved the change in March, President Gary Moore said.
“We’re going to look at and endorse candidates who support labor regardless of party affiliation,” he said.
That’s a shift for the council, which represents about 300 unions and affiliates with 60,000-plus members in Tennessee and has a history of heavily favoring Democrats. In the 2012 state legislative campaign, it endorsed 53 Democrats, one independent and one Republican.
