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First elected to office in 2018, the billionaire heir to the Hyatt hospitality fortune seemed an unlikely figure of progressive hope — and yet, within months of his inauguration, Pritzker signed bills to raise the minimum wage to $15, legalize the recreational use of marijuana, ban so-called "right-to-work" laws designed to hobble trade unions and codify abortion protections into state law.

Among other provisions, the act would override state right-to-work laws, racist and anti-union statutes that are common in southeastern and heartland states.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., for example, says he wants to know how a Trump labor secretary could justify voting for "Democrat legislation" and whether she still believes state right-to-work laws — which undercut unions by allowing workers to reap the benefits of organized labor without paying any dues — should be preempted by federal legislation.

Additionally, labor leaders who have largely lined up behind Harris’ candidacy are alarmed by Kelly’s lack of support for the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, federal legislation that would expand unions’ ability to organize and collectively bargain, weaken states’ “right-to-work” laws and otherwise empower labor.

The vote opens the door to further votes and organizing drives across the region, where political leaders have kept unions weak in part through anti-union right-to-work laws — all 14 Deep South states, as well as 12 others, have those laws.