Portside

Frustrated with the lack of working-class voices in politics, these three candidates are taking matters into their own hands.

Recent elections have fueled growing frustration among working-class voters who feel that political parties do not adequately represent their interests. Politics is dominated by the wealthy. Thanks to the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, wealthy donors have more influence in American elections than ever. In 2025, federal elections in the United States saw the highest levels of billionaire spending in history, with $2.6 billion, or 20 percent of all federal election spending, originating from billionaires.

Workers are also severely underrepresented in elected offices in the United States. An analysis by political scientists Eric Hansen of Loyola University Chicago and Nicholas Carnes of Duke University found that workers — defined as those whose current or last primary occupations were manual labor, service industry jobs like restaurant servers, clerical jobs Iike receptionists, or positions working for labor unions — constitute only 10 percent of city council members, less than two percent of state legislators, and two percent of Congress. The numbers are only slightly better in Canada, with about four percent of its legislators coming from the ranks of the working class.

Class matters

Carnes also wrote a book, The Cash Ceiling: Why Only the Rich Run for Office–and What We Can Do About It, that details how the lack of working-class voices in government affects public policy, especially on economic issues. When working-class people are underrepresented in government, their views and needs are often excluded from decision-making, leading to stingier social safety nets, weaker business regulations, regressive tax policies that benefit the wealthy and corporations, and fewer protections for workers.

Workers representing workers 

In 2026, three people from the ranks of the ILWU: Local 13 member Vivian Malauulu, Local 13 casual Shannon Ross, and ILWU Canada President Rob Ashton, have been running for elected office. They are part of a small but vital group of working-class voters and union members who, instead of waiting for politicians to effectively represent labor’s interests and voice, have chosen to bypass the middleman, run for office, and demonstrate that workers can be their own best advocates.

Ashton runs for NDP Leader

Earlier this year, ILWU Canada President Rob Ashton ran to lead Canada’s New Democratic Party (NDP). The NDP is a social democratic party with politics to the left of Canada’s Liberal Party. The NDP leader is the highest-ranking official in the federal party, serving as its public face, primary spokesperson, and strategic visionary.

Ashton’s campaign highlighted his working-class roots. “I’m not a politician,” he stated on his campaign website. “For most of my life, I’ve been a worker. I know what it means to put in a hard day’s work, to worry if the paycheck will stretch far enough, and to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with others to take on the boss and win.”

Although Ashton’s bid was unsuccessful, he put forward an agenda focused on Canadian workers, which included a Workers’ Power Plan. This plan proposed worker representation on corporate boards, making it easier to join a union, and protecting the right to strike. His economic proposals focused on income tax reform to lighten the tax burden on the working class, funding public services through a wealth and corporate tax, and implementing a jobs guarantee that ensures every Canadian seeking work would have access to a unionized job with fair wages and protections. Additionally, Ashton campaigned on affordability measures, advocating for price caps on essentials such as food and telecommunications to reduce living costs.

Malauulu for Long Beach City Council 

Local 13 member Vivian Malauulu has served on the Long Beach Community College District Board of Trustees for the past ten years. She was the first Latina elected to that position.

Malauulu was part of the 1997 LA/LB hiring. With almost three decades on the waterfront, she has held a variety of marine cargo roles at the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles and has seen the industry evolve amid technological change, economic shifts, and political challenges.  Malauulu said that she learned early in her career that the ILWU is not simply a workplace. It is a culture rooted in shared principles and collective strength.

She is currently running for Long Beach City Council District 7. District 7’s connection to the Port of Long Beach is one reason she says this race matters so much to the ILWU. The district includes the port itself, and decisions made at City Hall can directly affect port development, surrounding neighborhoods, public infrastructure, and the long-term future of the harbor area. She explained that her experience working on the waterfront and the ILWU core values she would bring to the city council make her the best candidate to represent the port district.

“The values of this union — solidarity, fairness, and respect for working people — are the same values I want to bring to City Hall,” she said.

With election day on June 2 approaching, Malauulu emphasizes that the membership’s support will be essential. She faces two opponents in the race and recognizes that every vote matters. For her, the campaign is an opportunity to ensure that the voices of waterfront workers continue to be heard, not only on the docks but also in decisions about the future of Long Beach and the longshore industry.

Ross for CA State Assembly 

Shannon Ross has been a Local 13 casual since 2018. She is running for California State Assembly in District 66. In addition to being a longshore worker. Ross has deep roots and a long family history with the ILWU. Her husband is a member of Local 94, and she also has uncles, cousins, and a son-in-law on the docks. She maintains a strong connection to the waterfront, which drives her dedication to protecting and expanding waterfront jobs she views as essential to community stability in Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Dave Arian was a major influence on her decision to get involved in politics. “He really was a mentor of mine. He said, ‘I think you should run for office one day. I think that you would be a really good voice.’ Having a lot of conversations with him had a really big impact early on in my political career,” said Ross.

She has been active in the Democratic Party for more than a decade. She currently holds two elected positions in the Democratic Party: Regional Vice Chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party and, at the state level, she serves as a convention delegate. Ross helped pass a resolution at the state party convention opposing automation. The resolution serves as a permanent record of the party’s position against automation, informing future elected officials.

“When we elect a new governor or new leadership, we can always point to this and that the party took this position against automation,” Ross said.

She is running for a seat in the State Assembly because she believes that legislation passed in Sacramento is critical to securing jobs and ensuring worker safety. She also believes she would be an effective representative who understands the working class because she is a member of it.

“I believe the working class needs a voice. No one understands better how to represent workers than someone from a working-class family. The ILWU and harbor-area workers will be better represented when they have someone of their own to speak for them in Sacramento,” Ross said.

Workers rising

Ashton, Malauulu, and Ross are part of a new crop of working-class candidates running for office, which also includes several candidates for federal office such as Dan Osborn, a mechanic and former Local 50G president of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers, and Grain Millers Union, who is running for U.S. Senate in Nebraska; Kaela Berg, a working flight attendant and AFA-CWA member, who is running for Congress in Minnesota’s 2nd Congressional District; and Nathan Sage, a mechanic who was running for U.S. Senate in Iowa until he stepped out of the race in February, partly due to difficulties raising enough money to be competitive.

There are many barriers for workers seeking office, including the extraordinarily high cost of running a campaign and the challenges that working-class candidates face in persuading political gatekeepers to endorse their candidacies over salaried professionals who are more familiar to the political class. But when workers do run, they are far more likely to have a platform that puts forth a progressive economic agenda, including minimum wage increases, job protections, strong support also existed for union protections and public investment, and expanding Social Security and Medicare spending—policies that continue to be supported by large majorities of working-class voters, according to recent national polling and analysis (Center for American Progress, 2025; Social Security Works, 2022).

Millionaires are only 7% of the U.S. population, but make up half of Congress. It’s long overdue for the workers who create the wealth to have the same opportunity to govern.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) represents tens of thousands of men and women.