DRIVING THE DAY: The LA Dodgers won the World Series last night, beating out the Yankees. Gov. Gavin Newsom cheered their victory as "California domination." THE BUZZ: (UNION) SISTERS DOIN’ IT FOR THEMSELVES — Male-dominated unions like the Teamsters, firefighters and port workers have snubbed Kamala Harris. But other factions of the labor movement, especially unions predominantly led by working-class women, aren’t having it. From California to North Carolina, unions led by so-called care-economy workers have redoubled their volunteer efforts in support of the Democratic presidential nominee in the final weeks of the election. It’s a clear effort to help Democrats shore up the party’s union support to counteract the bromance between former President Donald Trump and working-class men. As our colleague Blake Jones reports this morning, the wave of labor groups boosting Harris includes canvassing armies of volunteers, many of them women. The 310,000-member California Teachers Association, for example, doesn't usually canvass for presidential candidates, but it recently dispatched hundreds of teachers to help turn out independent voters in the neighboring swing state of Nevada. Its leaders can’t remember a time when the union deployed members to campaign in a presidential race. “Unions should not shy away from having deep political conversations,” said CTA President David Goldberg during an interview in Reno earlier this month. He argued that falling membership in churches and community groups has closed off important channels for political dialogue. “Unions are one of the last places where we actually can do this. We have an obligation.” The hospitality union UNITE HERE, meanwhile, is aiming to knock on 3.5 million doors before Election Day — one of the largest displays of union muscle this cycle. “This was important to us, regardless of the Teamsters and the firefighters,” said UNITE HERE President Gwen Mills. “We all have members in our unions who took to Trump, but as a majority, we don't.” Among the other groups joining the fray: The National Education Association of teachers has funded digital ads and canvassed union households in eight swing states. The AFL-CIO’s members (domestic workers, school employees and others) have spoken with more than 3 million voters. The Service Employees International Union (health care and building service workers) has bussed members from Los Angeles to Nevada and Arizona to knock on doors. Union leaders still in Harris’ corner argue that the average union member has an ethos that can sway fellow blue-collar voters who have boosted Trump in past elections — if they can engage them in one-on-one conversations. “That contact is more important than it has ever been due to the cynicism in the American electorate,” said AFL-CIO spokesperson Steve Smith. The more conservative-leaning unions declined to endorse anyone in the presidential race this year — that includes the Teamsters, firefighters and port workers. But those unions have been less central to the Democratic Party’s ground game in past elections (even when they endorsed Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton). And the unions backing Harris generally have larger memberships. “The labor unions that turn people out are usually the teachers, the service employees” and unions representing health care employees, said Doug Herman, a Democratic strategist and Obama campaign alumnus. But though Harris enjoys support from many union leaders, the Trump campaign argues it's the rank-and-file members who make a difference — and will prove key in voting. "While union leadership has been fully entrenched in Democrat politics for decades, the workers who comprise unions are supporting President Trump because they have paid the price for Kamala's failed economic policies,” said Trump campaign spokesperson Karoline Leavitt in a statement. GOOD MORNING. Happy Halloween! Thanks for waking up with Playbook. You can text us at 916-562-0685 — save it as “CA Playbook” in your contacts. Or drop us a line at lkorte@politico.com and dgardiner@politico.com, or on X — @DustinGardiner and @Lara_Korte. WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.
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