WASHINGTON–After having raised and contributed nearly $6 million as part of the just-concluded election cycle, CUNA reported that candidates its Credit Union Legislative Action Council (CULAC) backed won 96% of their races.
Similarly, NAFCU reported that candidates backed by its PAC won 97% of their races.
As a result of this coordinated work, CUNA said in a statement, the 115th Congress will, in fact, hold a pro-credit union majority
“This multilayered and dynamic campaign to elect a pro-credit union congressional majority owes the entirety of its success to a strong CUNA/league system and our member credit unions,” said Jim Nussle, CUNA president/CEO. “With more than 34,000 individual donors—including credit union employees, volunteers and credit union members—CULAC’s incredible performance this year showed us, yet again, just what we can accomplish when CUNA, the leagues and credit unions work together.”
According to CUNA, nearly three-dozen credit unions joined CUNA and six state leagues in partisan communication campaigns, where more than 200,000 households with registered credit union member-voters received more than 1.1 million mailers touting the benefits of electing credit union-backed congressional candidates in their states or districts.
CUNA reported that CULAC this year became the fifth-largest trade association PAC in the United States and the ninth largest overall, an accomplishment only matched by the PAC’s commitment to bipartisanship, as CULAC contributed 51% of funds to Republican candidates and 49% to Democratic candidates.
CULAC funded nearly $3 million in paid voter communications, including television and radio ads, direct mail, campaign microsites, GOTV emails, and even digital ads on new media platforms like Pandora.
A map listing the candidates CULAC supported this election cycle can be found on CUNA’s elections website.
For a listing of which candidates backed by CUNA won and lost, go here.