ALBANY, New York — The Big Apple’s largest municipal workers union helped sink the New York State AFL-CIO’s endorsement of Democratic House candidate Brad Lander.
The union’s president, Henry Garrido, said in an interview Thursday that Lander’s audit of New York City’s Health Insurance Stabilization Fund as city comptroller was a factor in the opposition to his endorsement. The report, which recommended the fund’s dissolution, angered the union.
“Our members were really upset about that,” Garrido said.
Lander has also been at odds with the union after the group backed moving retirees to a Medicare Advantage Plan, which the then-comptroller opposed.
Lauren Hitt, a spokesperson for Lander’s campaign, pointed to his efforts as the city comptroller to support workers at companies like Starbucks, Amazon and eBay as well as hotels across the country. He also plans to support a federal bill in Congress meant to address unfair labor practices and make it easier to unionize.
“Brad is a relentless supporter of workers’ rights to organize and bargain collectively,” Hitt said. “In just the last few months, Brad joined food service workers, nurses, residential building workers, bartenders, researchers, teachers, and many others on their picket line, demanding union recognition and fair contracts.”
The potential endorsement of another Democrat, socialist Darializa Avila Chevalier, is considered to be on hold. Garrido said he expects to meet with Avila Chevalier, whose insurgent left-wing candidacy toppled influential Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat. DC-37 endorsed Espaillat’s reelection earlier this year as well as that of Rep. Dan Goldman, who Lander defeated in the June primary.
“I don’t know the young lady,” Garrido said. “I hear good things. I want to meet her; I want to talk with her.”
Avila Chevalier’s campaign did not immediately comment.
Declining to endorse two Democrats considered shoe-ins to win their deep blue districts concerned some labor leaders eager to present a united front ahead of the November elections.
“We want a New York delegation elected in November that will fight and do things for worker pay and embody the fighting spirit we need across the nation,” said PSC-CUNY Vice President Jen Gaboury, whose union represents public higher education workers.
Garrido, though, disputed that his union was solely responsible for sinking the endorsements, noting that Lander would still have struggled to win over the full New York State AFL-CIO, a federation of some 3,000 unions of varying political stripes. To win an endorsement, candidates needed to get backing from two-thirds of the unions that fall under the AFL-CIO umbrella.
As the umbrella organization met in Albany this week, Lander received support from unions that backed Goldman during the primary, his spokesperson said. His campaign also pointed to endorsements during his successful primary from a range of labor groups including the United Auto Workers, 32BJ SEIU and the Communications Workers of America.
Both Lander and Avila Chevalier are part of a surging left-flank that won upset races against establishment-backed Democrats in June — losses that shook New York City’s political establishment and highlighted Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s kingmaker role in predominantly left-leaning districts.
Joe Anuta contributed to this story.
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