Teachers’ unions wield their power like a blunt instrument against their opponents and their own members. The National Education Association (NEA) and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) stand at the forefront of this struggle, their checkbooks ready, their liberal resolve unwavering they roll over or through anybody who stands in their way.
In the 2021-2022 election cycle, they spent $4.1 million on federal candidates. Ninety-six percent of that went to Democrats. The math is simple. They favor the blue.
By 2024, the NEA spent $3.1 million, with nearly all of it—98.96%—going to liberal candidates. It is like a game of Monopoly, with one side monopolizing the whole board while others are stuck on Baltic Avenue.
The AFT, meanwhile, claimed $12 million, with $9 million finding its way into super PACs that support Democrats. They compete for dominance in donations while calling themselves advocates for education. They lobby hard, pushing their agenda, while the actual representation of teachers becomes an afterthought.
And the kids in our schools don’t even rise to an afterthought. I was told by a Tennessee union leader years ago in a brief moment of clarity and honesty that they would start focusing on school children “when they start paying union dues.”
At the state level, they poured $145 million into local politics in 2021-2022. They solely support candidates who align with their left-wing beliefs, occasionally backing Republicans when it suits their need define some level of political cover. It is a calculated strategy, one that would make Machiavelli proud. If you cannot beat them, buy them. Or at least rent them for a legislative session.
The chart below uses data from the 2021-2022 election cycle, where teachers’ unions’ PACs contributed $4.1 million to federal candidates, with 96% ($3,936,000) to Democrats and 1% ($41,000) to Republicans. For simplicity, I allocated the $4.1 million based on the NEA’s $3.1 million total in 2024 (scaled proportionally for 2021-2022) and AFT’s $12 million raised, with $1.2 million estimated for direct candidate contributions (based on their 98.6% Democratic split).
Green is used for Democrats and Red for Republicans. That bar chart makes it impossible to ignore the huge disparity between teacher union donations nationally to Republicans versus Democrats.
And then there are local school board elections. In California, the California Teachers Association spent $1.8 million on 287 candidates across the state. They gained majorities in school boards that were won with relatively small investment but large, unfulfilled, promises of reform and academic gains. In Tennessee the unions proclaim themselves champions of education, but only if they champion items that align with their progressive goals.
Teachers are not a monolith. Half of NEA members identify as conservative, the other half as liberal. Many are pro- life, gun owners, and believers in social conservative values, yet they dutifully pay their union dues to those who find their views abhorrent. The unions pursue only the Democratic path, ignoring the ideological diversity of their members. They act as if they know what is best, silencing and bullying those they claim to represent.
Critics say the unions care more about political power than education. With only 9% of the NEA’s budget devoted to actual teacher representation, it is clear what their actual priorities are focused upon and it is hard to argue against that criticism. Follow the money!
Their membership rolls are dwindling—400,000 lost since 2009. You would think they’d focus on keeping their teachers instead of financing the next progressive campaign. But year after year, election cycle after election cycle, they ignore their members and derail actual efforts to improve academic achievement, while focused on perpetuating their partisan political priorities.
In the end, the teachers’ unions are still a formidable force in American politics. Their story is tangled and complicated. They are not fighting for students or teachers. They are securing an education system that aligns with their political beliefs and un union leader agenda. And the results are devastating to yet another generation of school children.
As they dance the political waltz, we can only hope their members might eventually force the union leaders to realize that education should be about more than politics. Sadly, there is no indication that this may happen anytime soon.
And pay careful attention as some Republicans cozy up to the teachers union in order to pick up the scraps of 1% to 2% in political donations rather than fighting against their “woke” agenda. Conservatives should hold them accountable for selling out our school children for the meager funds the unions use to curry favor. When it comes to the teachers unions and Republicans, there is clearly an enemy outside the gates. But there are also enemies within.
Steve Gill is Publisher of TriStar daily and is a political commentator and analyst nationally and international.
