FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Announcement Marks the Beginning of a Member-to-Member Mobilization That Will Engage More Than One Million Voting Households

NEW YORK, January 25, 2021 — The New York City Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO (NYC CLC), representing 300 unions and 1.3 million members, including more than one million registered voter households across New York City, this morning announced its first round of endorsements for the 2021 New York City elections. Today’s endorsements include 13 candidates vying for open seats in both special and primary elections.

“The NYC CLC is the largest and broadest labor coalition in the city, and we will engage more than a million voting households through our member-to-member outreach in support of endorsed candidates,” said NYC CLC President Vincent Alvarez. “We’re looking forward to working with our affiliates to turn out our members to elect City Council candidates who will work with us to address both the pandemic and the resulting economic crisis, revive hard-hit industries, protect jobs and critical city services, and grow our economy. We believe that the candidates we’re endorsing today have what it takes to win, and to take on the enormous challenges ahead on behalf of working families in New York City.”

Candidates seeking the NYC CLC’s endorsement participate in a rigorous process, beginning with a training on the New York City labor movement and the issues important to working people. Candidates then move on to an interview with a panel of affiliate representatives, and also submit a questionnaire before they are considered eligible for endorsement. Nearly 200 candidates have participated in the CLC’s endorsement program so far this cycle.

Council races with incumbent candidates, as well as additional open seats, Borough President and Public Advocate races will be included in the next round of endorsements scheduled for February 15th.

Today’s City Council endorsements are as follows; endorsements are for the June 22 Primary unless otherwise noted:

District 1: Jenny Low

District 3: Erik Bottcher

District 5: Julie Menin

District 10: Carmen De La Rosa

District 11 (Special Election March 23): Eric Dinowitz

District 14: Pierina Sanchez

District 15 (Special Election March 23): Ischia Bravo

District 18: Amanda Farías

District 19: Austin Shafran

District 29: Lynn Schulman

District 34: Jennifer Gutiérrez

District 35: Crystal Hudson

District 39: Briget Rein

Contact: Kate Whalen, 347-453-7131, kwhalen@nycclc.org

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The New York City Central Labor Council is a non-profit labor membership organization devoted to supporting, advancing and advocating for the working people of New York City. As the nation's largest regional labor federation, the NYC CLC brings together 300 local unions from every trade, occupation, public and private sector of the New York economy. We represent 1.3 million workers, including teachers, truck drivers, operating engineers, nurses, construction workers, electricians, firefighters, retail workers, janitors, train operators, bakers, and many more who are the backbone of today’s workforce. Learn more at NYCCLC.org.

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