‘No one better to fight for us than one of us’: Minnesota flight attendant runs for Congress

When the Minnesota state legislature is not in session, Kaela Berg is working in the skies. Berg has spent the last six years doubling as a state legislator and a flight attendant, taking shifts when the legislature is on break. “Even as a state legislator, I still live paycheck to paycheck,” she said. “I have to have both of those jobs to make ends meet. I’ve gone without healthcare during the pandemic because I didn’t qualify through my employer. I know what it’s like to worry about medical bills, to not have healthcare .” A former union leader who has worked as a flight attendant for 30 years, Berg said she’s seen the Trump administration ’s attacks against the labor movement and wants to fight for her fellow workers in Congress, where those who know what it’s like to work and still struggle to afford basic necessities are vastly underrepresented. “These systems are designed to keep working people down.” Berg said. “There is no one better to fight for us than one of us, and working people have not been at the table.” Berg is one of a string of candidates from the labor movement running for Congress in the 2026 midterms and hoping to win back blue-collar workers. Other union leaders running campaigns include smokejumper Sam Forstag in Montana, ironworker Brian Poindexter in Ohio, organizer Clair Valdez in New York and firefighter union president Bob Brooks in Pennsylvania. …