Dem candidates form 'Blue Collar Brigade' to boost fundraising

Source: Politico

06/30/2026 05:55 AM EDT


A group of blue-collar Democratic House candidates is teaming up to bring in some green.

Five House candidates with ties to organized labor are launching a joint fundraising effort Tuesday to help bankroll their campaigns and amplify a populist, progressive message they believe can win back working-class voters frustrated by high costs, according to details shared first with POLITICO.

They’ve dubbed themselves the “Blue Collar Brigade,” borrowing from a Time magazine headline on working-class Democratic candidates. The group includes Bob Brooks, a firefighter union chief running against GOP Rep. Ryan Mackenzie in Pennsylvania, and Randy Villegas, an educator and teachers’ union member who defeated national Democrats’ preferred candidate to take on GOP Rep. David Valadao in California. Both seats are top Democratic targets.

Other members include ironworker and former union organizer Brian Poindexter, who’s vying to unseat GOP Rep. Max Miller in Ohio, and union leader and former smokejumper Sam Forstag, who’s running in an open district in western Montana — two blue-collar seats that President Donald Trump won by double digits in 2024. Minnesota state Rep. Kaela Berg, a flight attendant and former leader of her local union who’s locked in a competitive primary for an open Democratic-leaning House seat, rounds out the roster.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/30/union-democrats-house-fundraising-00980980