TO:Interested Parties
FROM:Bill Cheney, President/CEO CUNA
DATE:November 7, 2012
RE:The 2012 Election Results and Credit Unions
Credit unions had an outstanding night last night. Through CULAC and CUNA’s Political Activities Fund (PAF), CUNA, the leagues, and credit unions spent more than $4 million on behalf of 388 pro-credit union candidates on the ballot for the U.S. House and Senate, yesterday. Fully 96% of them were elected to the 113th Congress, including 26 out of 27 Senate candidates receiving financial support.
CULAC donated more than $2.9 million to federal candidates and committees for the 2012 election, a total that was split almost exactly down the middle with 51% donated to Republicans, 47% to Democrats, and 2% to independents. In fact, CULAC is the most bipartisan PAC among the twenty largest PACs in terms of candidate giving (as tracked by the Center for Responsive Politics at
Opportunity Races
Beyond campaign contributions, however, we continued our use of independent expenditures and partisan communications to advertise to voters—and in the case of partisan communications, credit union members—on behalf of pro-CU candidates. We sometimes refer to these as “opportunity races” because they provide credit unions with an opportunity to significantly impact the outcome of a hotly contested race on behalf of a credit union friend.
This year we spent more than $1.1 million on nine races, starting with the Alabama primary in March on behalf of House Financial Services Chairman Spencer Bachus (R-AL). For the general election, we engaged in six races and won four.
This year we had no higher priority than returning Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT), our champion for credit unions on interchange reform, to the U.S. Senate. To ensure Sen. Tester’s reelection, we worked with the Montana Credit Union Network and Montana credit unions on a “total campaign,” including everything from fundraising to door knocking and phone banking, to partisan communication mailers to credit union members. In the end, while it was very close, Sen. Tester prevailed.
Elsewhere, the Credit Union Association of New York took the bold step of endorsing two pro-credit union challengers, one from each party. With assistance from CULAC independent expenditures in the form of radio advertising, direct mail, and online advertising, both former Rep. Dan Maffei (D-NY-24) and businessman Chris Collins (R-NY-27) successfully unseated incumbents.
CULAC also conducted independent expenditures on behalf of two candidates endorsed by the Iowa Credit Union League: Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA-3), who defeated fellow incumbent Rep. Leonard Boswell (D) and former Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack (D), who unfortunately came up short in her bid to unseat Rep. Steve King (R-IA-4).
Lastly we conducted a partisan communications campaign with the North Carolina Credit Union League and its credit unions in support of credit union champion Rep. Larry Kissell (D-NC-8), who unfortunately came up short in a heavily redistricted seat.
Overall, we won three out of four independent expenditure campaigns, and one out of two partisan communications efforts in the general election.
Other Races of Note
We view both open seats and those deemed particularly competitive as real opportunities for credit unions to have an impact on electing credit union friends. In that regard, we participated in 50 races for open or new House seats (created due to redistricting). The credit union candidate won 44 of those contests, an 88% success rate. Similarly we backed candidates in 45 of the 54 seats deemed by the respected nonpartisan Cook Political Report as “Lean” or “Toss-up,” winning 74% of those as well.
In addition to the challengers backed in New York and Iowa with independent expenditures, we supported credit union friend Cheri Bustos (D) in her successful defeat of incumbent Rep. Bobby Schilling (R-IL-17).
We also assisted the campaigns of a number of incumbent credit union champions facing stiff challenges, including Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH); Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) in his open U.S. Senate campaign; Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), notable due to his being the only Senator to cosponsor both Member Business Lending legislation as well as our interchange delay bill last year; and Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), co-author of our supplemental capital bill who won a hard fought and expensive race against a fellow Democratic incumbent. Lastly, two co-sponsors of our House supplemental capital bill, Reps. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM), won open U.S. Senate races.
While some House races remain uncalled, it is hard not to call our political efforts in the 2012 elections a success for credit unions. Thank you for your financial support of CULAC and the CUNA Political Activities Fund (PAF), as well as your efforts and those of your credit union on behalf of credit union friendly candidates throughout the country.