With a new endorsement by the American Federation of Teachers, Anthony Guardia, has now been endorsed by three major Massachusetts unions, the others being the SEIU/NAGE National Association of Government Employees, and the BTU / Boston Teacher’s Union in the race for the Fifth Middlesex State Senate seat (Malden, Melrose, Reading, Stoneham, Wakefield, and Winchester (precincts 1,2,3 and 8) vacated by Katherine Clark.
Guardia has been endorsed by these unions despite the fact that he has only been running for the seat for six weeks; despite the fact that he is running against two incumbents replete with endorsements from fellow legislators; despite the fact that he has never come close to matching the funds available to his supposedly progressive opponent; and despite the fact that he does not have a state-level record upon which the unions could base their decision.
Why have these unions endorsed Guardia? It may be because they see in him a new generation of Massachusetts public servants who are anxious to bring new and innovative ideas to the table and to collaborate with the union movement in new and more mutually productive ways to benefit the lives of ordinary workers.
Fred Rich LaRiccia, Guardia for State Senate Committee, Campaign Chair
I received a flyer from SEIU 1199 endorsing Jason Lewis. So I went to his web site, and saw that he is endorsed by SEIU, several locals of the Laborer’s union, the Mass Teachers Association and the United Food and Commercial Workers.
Just to piggy back on the point daves made, Jason Lewis has by my count 12 major labor endorsements, which can be seen here:
http://electjasonlewis.com/endorsements/
The other point I would make is that most of these labor endorsements for Lewis were not last minute, which has given many of these unions, the MTA most notably, plenty of time to advocate on his behalf via email and flyer mailings and phone calls to their members and voters generally.
So while 3 union endorsements for Guardia is not insignificant, most of them came late and it pales in comparison to the hefty list of endorsements that Lewis has racked up.
Finally, having a split in union endorsements in a democratic primary is to be expected. Witness the split in labor endorsements in the recent Congressional primary that Katherine Clark won. If memory serves, almost every candidate in that race had some respectable portion of union endorsements. So it’s not surprising that the same has happened in this race. But if you total it up, it’s hard not to argue that Jason Lewis has won the vast majority of union endorsements in this race, especially from the unions that traditionally do the work of actually trying to get out the vote for their endorsed candidate.
Education is another key area where it’s obvious Guardia is the most progressive as he keeps racking up teachers unions endorsements and has a record of sustaining strong public schools as Wakefield School Committee chair. It’s time we had younger leadership willing to try out of the box ideas instead of giving tired excuses. Only candidate focusing on college affordability which hits middle class families and hobbles recent grads like Anthony and myself with unsustainable debt right when we enter the workforce. Adopting an OR style repayment reform-like Anthony is proposing-is just one of the many progressive reforms MA should be leading the way. Time to stop following and start leading. Time for Guardia.
Chris Fallon has been endorsed by the Professional Fire Fighters of Massachusetts, locals of the Laborers Union and police local unions according to his website. Organized Labor is clearly divided in this race.
While I am not surprised by endorsements received by Reps Lewis and Fallon – after all they have legislative records that would warrant endorsements – Guardia’s Union endorsements stand out as interesting and outside the norm. Both Lewis and Fallon will return to the Legislature after this election (in one of the two chambers). Endorsing against both of them signals that Guardia has broken through both his positions and potential to win (at least IMO).
My main point is that some of Guardia’s supporters depict him as the sole progressive, the candidate of labor, etc. As you state, labor is divided.
Lots of momentum building especially at the last stages of the campaign. He has worked tirelessly for this and built a growing network of support.
Links for the endorsements here
That’s a relief. Best of luck to all candidates.
Special election season is never over around here 😉 Surprised, seeing how Boston based a lot of the posters are, we have heard less about the Revere and Dorchester leg vacancy elections.
But I do suspect you are right that posters on the 5th Middlesex will have less to talk about (since presumably none of us are backing Medeiros) after tomorrow. She does have a decent base of support in Melrose and shouldn’t be underestimated, but I strongly suspect the Dem nominee will have an easier time going into the next one then in this competitive primary. Healthy for democracy and for the party. I do wish it was IRV though, a lot of the acrimony and the urge for defensive voting would’ve been mitigated.
the Democrats on this site will all be on the same side come 8 PM tomorrow night. Elections I don’t mind. Endless sniping among progressive Democrats, though…