Until now, major political forces including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, county Democratic organizations and unions have supported state Sen. Jeff Klein and other former IDC lawmakers. | AP Photo/Mike Groll IDC challengers gain backing

ALBANY — A union that once pushed for peace between warring state Senate Democrats has endorsed Alessandra Biaggi’s challenge to state Sen. Jeff Klein, a move that Klein’s allies say contradicts the pact by which his Independent Democratic Conference was dissolved.

The endorsement by 32BJ SEIU comes as more politicians line up behind challengers to the former IDC senators as the challengers were emboldened by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s insurgent primary victory over Rep. Joe Crowley (D-Queens).


In addition to the union, this week New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson and City Comptroller Scott Stringer, both potential mayoral candidates in 2021, announced their endorsements of Senate challengers.

Until now, major political forces including Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Queens and Bronx county Democratic organizations and state Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins (D-Yonkers) as well as unions like the Hotel Trades Council, Correction Officers' Benevolent Association and RWDSU have supported Klein and other former IDC senators.

Most cite the dissolution of the IDC, which since 2011 was allied with the chamber’s ruling Republicans and in some instances gave the GOP the votes it needed to control the chamber. They also point to Klein’s activity on progressive causes like raising the minimum wage and extending tuition subsidies to undocumented immigrants, the DREAM Act.

But 32BJ Vice President Alison Hirsh said those past actions must have a cost.

“There’s no way to ensure that it won’t just happen again if there isn’t any level of accountability,” she told POLITICO. “You can express verbal support for an issue or sign on to a bill, but if you’re not willing to actually use any leverage to make that bill gets on the floor or if you make it so the leader of the Senate is someone who will never put those issues on the floor, then the verbal commitment and support is not real.”

Johnson, standing on the steps of City Hall, said he was endorsing the candidates in the hopes they would “shake up Albany.”

“Whether it’s in Washington, D.C., or in Albany, the status quo isn’t working and that is why I’m here today in supporting four amazing candidates,” Johnson said. “They are Democrats, they are progressive Democrats, they will caucus with the Democrats and they will support all the issues that Democrats support.”

Johnson is the second citywide official to endorse the challengers. Stringer announced his support for them this week although he has not yet endorsed Zellnor Myrie, who is looking to unseat state Sen. Jesse Hamilton (D-Brooklyn).

Johnson stood with Biaggi, Myrie, Jessica Ramos, who is challenging state Sen. Jose Peralta (D-Queens), and former Council Member Robert Jackson, who is challenging state Sen. Marisol Alcántara (D-Manhattan).

Johnson dismissed questions about the timing of his endorsement, which came just 36 hours after Ocasio-Cortez beat Crowley in an upset that has caused a tectonic shift in the political dynamics of the city and state.

“I had been talking about doing this for quite a while, I had been having conversations about making endorsements in state Senate races, so you know my decision on this arrived long before the Tuesday night election results,” he said.

Klein spokeswoman Barbara Brancaccio said, “People here know that Jeff shows up and delivers for his community. Senator Klein will continue to work on behalf of the men and woman of 32BJ."

Noting Johnson’s support for Crowley over Ocasio-Cortez, Brancaccio stated: "Frankly we are surprised that our opponent would accept the endorsement of such a radioactive figure coming on the heels of his endorsement of Joe Crowley. We are sure that Johnson will do for this challenger, exactly what he did for Joe Crowley.”

Héctor Figueroa, president of 32BJ, was one of four signatories to a November letter outlining an agreement for Klein and Stewart-Cousins to eventually re-unify as “co-leaders” of the Senate. Among other things, signatories called for the two sides to “refrain from participating in primary challenges against incumbent senators.”

Cuomo’s team helped broker that agreement. On April 4, after Cynthia Nixon made Cuomo’s support for the IDC a key part of her Democratic primary challenge to him, the governor announced the IDC would dissolve entirely.

The announcement came after a meeting involving leaders of key unions — including 32BJ — where state Sen. Diane Savino (D-Staten Island) said the parties agreed to remain neutral.

“They’re disingenuous individuals,” Savino said. “They asked for something, they received what they wanted and they’re still not happy.”

Leaders of other unions, including the United Federation of Teachers, 1199SEIU, Communications Workers of America, Transport Workers Union and the Building and Construction Trades Council of Greater New York sent a May 4 letter saying, “Now more than ever, primaries against members of your own conference waste valuable resources.”

32BJ did not sign that letter, and Hirsh said it never committed to neutrality. A Cuomo aide noted that Figueroa signed the November letter not with his union title, but as a member of the Democratic National Committee.

“We were explicit with the governor and his folks that yes, we wanted to see unification, yes we would participate in that process but no, we would not make neutrality in primaries a condition of that,” Hirsh said. “We are not the Senate Democratic conference. We have an issue agenda for working people that we’re trying to push, and we were very clear in April that we were not going to take primaries off the table.”

Johnson was never a party to either agreement, but his promotion from representing parts of Lower Manhattan in the Council to running it as speaker would not have been possible without the support of Crowley, chairman of the Queens Democratic Party, and the Council delegation he shepherds.

Mike Reich, the Queens organization’s longtime secretary, said it was backing two former IDC members in the county — Jose Peralta and Tony Avella.

“When we commit to something, we stick to it,” he said.

Johnson said Thursday he did not discuss his endorsement with Cuomo or anyone in his office and he downplayed the impact that the Queens County organization had on the challenges facing former members of the IDC, saying the county had never been in support of the IDC to begin with.

“The Queens County organization was never supportive of the IDC. The reunification deal ended up happening but they were never supportive of what Tony Avella and Jose Peralta did leading up to that,” Johnson said. “I was invited to participate in those reunification meetings, which I did not participate in because of my feelings related to the IDC.”

Hirsh said 32BJ was evaluating future endorsements of other challengers to former IDC as part of a “member-driven process.”