Since early 2011, Cheryl Randecker and her co-workers have known their jobs making electronic sensors at a factory in Freeport, Ill., would be lost to China. Some even were asked to train their replacements, who were flown in from overseas.

But with the presidential election campaign in full swing, workers at the Sensata Technologies plant came up with a novel idea, a Hail Mary pass to save their jobs: Ask Mitt Romney for help.

Sensata is owned by Bain Capital, the private equity investment firm that the Republican presidential candidate once led and that has been the subject of a campaign debate about jobs and outsourcing. Romney had long since left his leadership position at Bain when Sensata bought the plant in 2010, but the Freeport City Council recently passed a unanimous 8-0 resolution calling on him to come visit and help keep the jobs in town. The workers have written him directly.