Dive Brief:

• Despite setting new records for midterm campaign spending, The American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association failed to get the results they desired.
• The nation's two biggest teacher unions spent unprecedented dollars in the hopes of replacing Republican governors and keeping the Democratic majority in the U.S. Senate.
• The most obvious areas where the unions failed to win were the gubernatorial races in Michigan and Florida.

Dive Insight:

The NEA spent over $40 million and the AFT spent over $20 million, according to Education Week, which also interviewed representatives from each organization to find out what they thought went wrong. AFT President Randi Weingarten told Education Week that she blamed the midterm results on public frustration with President Obama, while NEA Political Director Karen White said the disappointing outcome was a result of a "negative national mood" around policies that limited rights to vote and hindered increases in the minimum wage.