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DETROIT — As results poured in from across the country Tuesday night and a blue wave began to form, United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain told Digital that Democrats’ sweeping midterm victories were no guarantee that working people would stick with the party in 2028.
“It makes me confident that the working class will back whoever supports them, who they see getting behind their issues. I say this all the time, look, we’re not Republicans, we are not Democrats, we aren’t independents. We support people that back us,” Fain said, speaking to Digital at the Michigan Democratic Party’s election night watch party.
“I just believe, you know, it’s a wake-up call to everyone that they better get behind workers and start supporting people because they’re tired of seeing, you know, $10 billion, $20 billion buyback deals for corporate leaders and for Wall Street while the people that create those profits can’t afford to live,” he continued.
POLL: MICHIGAN VOTERS SPLIT BETWEEN EL-SAYED AND ROGERS
Shawn Fain speaks to Digital at Tuesday night’s Democratic election party in Detroit. (Robert Schmad/ Digital)
Democratic Sen.-elect Abdul El-Sayed’s victory in Michigan stood in contrast to the GOP’s performance in the state during the 2024 general election, when President Donald Trump won voters without college degrees by approximately 10 percentage points, according to exit polling.
A pillar of the political realignment of the Trump era has been the defection of working-class Americans, particularly the White working class, to the GOP. In 2024, the Teamsters made national headlines by declining to endorse then-Vice President Kamala Harris amid polls suggesting that rank-and-file union members would break for Trump.
UNION BOSS STUNS WITH MAJOR REPUBLICAN ENDORSEMENT AS ELECTION NEARS
President of the United Auto Workers union Shawn Fain speaks during a midterm election night party for Democrat senatorial candidate Abdul El-Sayed at The Department at Hudson’s in Detroit, Michigan, on Nov. 3, 2026. (Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images)
These shifts have been particularly pronounced in Rust Belt states such as Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin — all three of which saw significant Republican defeats on election night, including major Democratic victories in Senate, gubernatorial and legislative races.
Fain argued that Democrats’ focus on kitchen-table issues facing working people helped propel them to commanding victories in Michigan and across the country.
VOTER POLL: HOW DEMOCRATS TOOK CONTROL OF THE SENATE
Abdul El-Sayed speaks during a midterm election night watch party at the Department at Hudson’s on Nov. 4, 2026, in Detroit, Mich. (Salwan Georges/Getty Images)
“I think it’s just a testament to Michigan here as a microcosm of what’s going on in this country right now. Working-class people have been left behind… these are some of the best times in the history of our nation… corporations are doing well, the rich are taking all the profits… and people are struggling to be able to afford to pay the bills,” he told Digital. “People come in, outside groups come in, they try to buy seats in Congress, they try to buy our electorate, and I think working-class people woke up to that and they’re fed up with this.”
For Fain, the focus on healthcare, living wages and retirement assistance helps explain the Democratic Party’s sweeping victories on Tuesday night.
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“Whatever party gets behind those things and supports those initiatives to take care of people, they’ll be in power for a long time,” said Fain.
