The Communication Workers of America (CWA) District 1, one of New Jersey’s most prominent left-leaning unions, is weighing in on two of the state’s hotly contested Democratic primaries two months out from primary day.
In the competitive 7th district, where four Democrats are competing to challenge Rep. Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield), CWA District 1 will support Rebecca Bennett, a former Navy helicopter pilot and first-time candidate.
The endorsement aligns the union with most of the 7th district’s Democratic establishment, since Bennett won party support in the district’s four largest counties. Still, Bennett’s foes still have plenty of local support of their own, and all four candidates have a huge amount of money to fight out the remaining two months of the primary.
“Rebecca Bennett is the strongest candidate to flip this seat in November,” CWA District 1 official Billy Gallagher said in a statement. “She has real swing-voter appeal, a strong campaign infrastructure, and a message centered on affordability and healthcare that speaks directly to the concerns of working families.”
And in the deep-blue 12th district, where Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) is retiring, CWA District 1 is supporting Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D-Trenton) over her 12 Democratic primary foes.
At least two of those foes, former NJ-7 candidate Sue Altman and Plainfield Mayor Adrian Mapp, have gotten CWA’s support for past campaigns, and other candidates like Somerset County Commissioner Shanel Robinson (D-Franklin) and East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen have long histories in Democratic political circles. (Altman in particular has close ties to CWA through her past leadership of the state Working Families Party, a progressive group intertwined with many of the state’s leftmost unions.)
The fact that CWA has decided to endorse Reynolds-Jackson instead, then, is a bullish sign for her campaign, which has earned strong support in her native Mercer County but which has not yet taken off among Democratic donors.
“CWA District 1 has a long-standing relationship with Verlina Reynolds-Jackson, a labor ally who has consistently demonstrated strong leadership on healthcare affordability, higher education, and workers’ economic security,” said Anna-Marta Visky, CWA District 1 New Jersey’s political and field director.
CWA District 1, which covers most of the Northeast and has 70,000 members in New Jersey, has now made endorsements in nearly every Democratic-held congressional district in the state; the union is also backing Reps. Donald Norcross (D-Camden), Herb Conaway (D-Delran), Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), Rob Menendez (D-Jersey City), Nellie Pou (D-North Haledon), and LaMonica McIver (D-Newark) and Analilia Mejia, the Democratic nominee for the 11th district. It has not yet made an endorsement in Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-Tenafly)’s 5th district or in the GOP-held 2nd or 4th districts.
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