House GOPers score labor endorsements in key swing NY districts

Major unions are breaking from Big Labor in New York and backing GOP incumbents over Dem challengers in local tight House races — giving Republicans a better chance of keeping a majority in the chamber.

The New York State AFL-CIO leadership is backing Democrats in all seven of the most competitive local House races — including five challenging first-term Republicans in swing districts — but that only tells part of the story.

John Samuelsen, president of the 155,000 National Transport Workers Union who serves on the AFL-CIO Leadership Council, is backing the re-election of two embattled first-term Republican representatives in the Hudson Valley: Mike Lawler in the 17th District and Marc Molinaro in the 18th.

Rep. Mike Lawler has been endorsed by National Transport Workers Union head John Samuelsen. CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

Samuelsen emphasized that he backs Republicans as well as Democrats who are responsive to his members, who include mechanics, car cleaners, baggage handlers, bus and train operators, ramp agents and flight attendants.

He said both of the Republican pols he’s supporting have proven they are allies of his members. 

“Democrats have to earn an endorsement. They don’t have an entitlement to a TWU endorsement,” Samuelsen said Sunday.

Lawler has racked up 37 labor endorsements — 15 from law enforcement and 22 from construction and trades unions, including key affiliates of the 2.5 million member AFL-CIO, and from firefighters unions.

He also won backing from unions representing carpenters, steamfitters, plumbers, electrical workers and operating engineers and the building and construction trades council.

Samuelsen said that Democrats are not entitled to an endorsement from his union. Stefan Jeremiah

Many of the same unions or their locals backed Molinaro as well.

“I think what you’re seeing within the rank and file of these unions is that the membership has moved to the right,” Lawler told The Post on Sunday while campaigning in Putnam County.

“Certainly I think Republicans should be the party of working families and should be fighting for good paying jobs.”

Lawler’s rival, ex-Democratic Congressman Mondaire Jones, has the backing of more than a dozen unions — including the potent teachers unions and health-care unions including 1199 SEIU and the NYS Nurses Association, as well as the AFL-CIO.

The most recent Emerson College poll released last week showed a virtual dead heat between the pair, with Lawler getting support from 45% of likely voters and Jones 44%.

Samuelsen of the TWU said Lawler won his union’s endorsement partly for opposing airlines’ efforts to shift jobs of maintenance workers offshore and for backing other measures supporting airline attendants and rail safety.

He and other labor leaders were infuriated when Jones was quoted in an article saying their endorsements “cannot possibly be based on policy” and accused them of “turning their backs on pro-labor candidates.”

“Mondaire Jones is an entitled, spoiled, nervy bastard,” Samuelsen fumed.

The Post obtained copies of two videos that the union delivered to its members accusing Jones of being a “no-show” on their issues.

Samuelsen has also endorsed Rep. Marc Molinaro. Michael Brochstein/SOPA Images/Shutterstock

The Jones campaign rep shot back, “It’s unfortunate that John Samuelsen is engaging in petty insults because he can’t identify a policy-based reason not to support the only pro-labor candidate in this race.

“While Mondaire was in Congress, he passed the American Rescue Plan Act, which TWU praised for its significant investment in the transportation sector. This legislation saved thousands of union jobs. Mondaire also played a key role in passing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,” the representative said.

Molinaro, a former Dutchess County executive, has racked up 35 labor endorsements from building trades and law enforcement, including the national border patrol council as the border-migrant crisis has raged and become a major issue in his tough rematch race against Democrat Josh Riley.

Molinaro says he’s worked to pull in union support during his past two years in Congress.

“I’ve built a relationship with the men and women of the trades over the course of the last 15 years,” he said at an event last week outside Binghamton.

This time around, Molinaro also has won the backing of Local 43 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which endorsed his opponent Riley in 2022.

“We don’t care if you’ve got an R or a D or an I in front of your name. If you support Labor and Labor’s issues, we’re going to do everything we can to support you. And if you don’t, we’ll do everything we can to unseat you,” said Al Marzullo, the IBEW Local 43 business manager with 1,500 members.

In Long Island’s South Shore 4th District, first-term Rep. Anthony D’Esposito has won the endorsements of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and the local chapter of the Civil Service Employees Association representing thousands of workers.

D’Esposito is locked in a tough race in a rematch against former Democratic Hempstead Supervisor Laura Gillen.