Mamdani Wins Backing of Major Health Care Union That Had Endorsed Cuomo

New York Times

2 days ago

Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the upstart democratic socialist who convincingly won the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City, was endorsed on Friday by the city's powerful health care union, Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union.
Since his win last month, Mr. Mamdani has quickly coalesced much of the city's organized labor behind him, receiving endorsements from unions representing millions of teachers, hotel workers and nurses, among other professions.
Many of these unions, including Local 1199, had endorsed former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, who is now running in the general election as a third-party candidate.
The health care union's initial support of Mr. Cuomo was seen as a sign of the longtime alliance between the former governor and the union's former leader, George Gresham. The two had a tight relationship going back to Mr. Cuomo's time in office, when he influenced state policies to aide Mr. Gresham and his members.
But with Mr. Gresham voted out of office this spring, the union's executive board voted on Friday to endorse Mr. Mamdani, with the recently elected board president, Yvonne Armstrong, lauding Mr. Mamdani's 'plan to ensure frontline caregivers can continue working and living in our city.'
'Working people across New York City are uniting to defend our neighborhoods and our city from unprecedented attacks from extremist politicians and their billionaire donors who are taking away health care, ripping families apart and endangering our democracy,' Ms. Armstrong added in a statement.
'We are proud to endorse Zohran Mamdani who will fight side by side with us to ensure New Yorkers get the services they need, build affordable housing and create safe communities,' she added.
The contest to run the union, which has a budget of more than $200 million and 450,000 members on the East Coast, was defined mostly by a need for fresh leadership and allegations of self-enrichment against Mr. Gresham. It was a rare instance in which a leader of one of New York's large, politically powerful unions was toppled by a challenger.
'I'm leading with openness, urgency and purpose,' Ms. Armstrong said in a recent interview.
During the primary, Mr. Cuomo had the backing of a number of unions, whose organizing firepower he had hoped would propel him to victory. Now running as an independent, that support has disappeared.
Just days after the primary, two unions who had endorsed Mr. Cuomo — Local 32BJ and the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council — flipped to Mr. Mamdani. Both said they liked the state assemblyman because he had focused so much on affordability and working people while campaigning.
The unions promised to invest in boots-on-the-ground campaigns to help him beat Mayor Eric Adams, who won the endorsements this week of 13 law enforcement unions. Mr. Mamdani, Mr. Cuomo and Mr. Adams are joined on the ballot by Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee, and Jim Walden, a lawyer. Mr. Adams and Mr. Walden are running on third-party lines.
Though there are some influential politicians who have yet to endorse a candidate, Local 1199's backing represents yet another example of the institutional pillars of the Democratic Party falling in line behind Mr. Mamdani.
Over the last month, former backers of Mr. Cuomo like Representative Adriano Espaillat and Assemblywoman Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn, the chairwoman of the Brooklyn Democratic Party, have endorsed Mr. Mamdani.