Summary of SEIU Florida's efforts on behalf of the Kendrick Meek for U.S. Senate campaign

SEIU Florida members applaud the hard fought victory of U.S. Senate candidate Kendrick Meek

On February 16, 2009, SEIU Florida was the first organization to endorse Kendrick Meek's bid for the U.S. Senate. Over the course of the campaign until Kendrick Meek's win last night in the Florida Democratic Senate primary, more than 1,000 volunteers engaged in grassroots efforts across the state to support him.

These dedicated volunteers...

* Distributed nearly 50,000 workplace flyers.

* Sent 200,000 independent expenditure mail pieces to 50,000 targeted households throughout Florida.

* Made 432,527 volunteer and independent expenditure phone calls to primary voters.

* Knocked on about 3,700 doors.

* Donated $100,000 to Florida Is Not For Sale and $5,000 to Kendrick Meek for Florida.

* Members led petition collection teams across the state to help Meek become the first U.S. Senate candidate to qualify for the ballot by petition.

* Rallied in support before debates and against billionaire candidate smearing Kendrick and his family.

* Participated in meetings in Washington to discuss healthcare and Wall Street reform legislation and town halls across the state as part of the campaign's summer bus tour.

Congressman Meek poses with CIR/SEIU members at Miami Jackson Memorial

During the campaign, Meek joined SEIU members on the job to discuss:

improving our healthcare safety net at Miami's Jackson Memorial Hospital
retirement security in Orlando
creating jobs in Fort Myers
strengthening Social Security in Palm Beach Gardens
strengthening resident care in West Palm Beach nursing homes.

He also met with members in Venice, Brevard County, Jacksonville, Tampa and St. Petersburg.

"SEIU Florida was the first organization to endorse Kendrick Meek's bid for the U.S. Senate because of his consistent and unapologetic record of standing with working families, despite the political risks," said SEIU Florida State Council President and Executive Vice President of 1199 SEIU Monica Russo.

"Hundreds of our members engaged in grassroots efforts across the state to support Kendrick at phone banks, canvasses, worksite visits and rallies and thousands more made voluntary contributions to our Political Action Fund to ensure that Kendrick and other working families champions had the resources to wage successful campaigns versus well-financed opponents."

What's next? Meek will face Marco Rubio and Charlie Crist on November 2nd.