The New Jersey Building and Construction Trades Council is taking sides in a competitive State Assembly race in Monmouth County, backing two Democratic challengers over a pair of Republican assemblywomen.
The union group voted to endorse Margie Donlon and Luanne Peterpaul in the 11th district, where first-term lawmakers Marilyn Piperno (R-Colts Neck) and Kim Eulner (R-Shrewsbury) seek re-election.
The building trades group had skipped over the Assembly race in June when they made their initial round of endorsements, backing only State Sen. Vin Gopal (D-Long Branch) for a third term.
Some key Democrats protested loudly to Bill Mullen, the NJBCTC president, who quickly assured that Donlon and Peterpaul would get support when they met a month later. That happened without objection on Monday.
Still, it remains unclear why Mullen decided to skip the Assembly race in the first place. Mullen has not returned a call seeking an explanation.
It’s been a rough cycle for Mullen, who is facing considerable criticism for supporting Democratic non-incumbents against two top officials of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 825 in South Jersey legislative races: Latham Tiver for State Senate in the 8th and Matt Walker for Assembly in the 4th.
Mullen’s assistance to non-union Democratic candidates in those races resulted in Local 825, one of the state’s most politically potent labor groups, quitting the building trades council.
“Bill Mullen is having the worst endorsement season in living memory,” said Save Jersey’s Matt Rooney on Twitter. “(He) might want to sit the next one out.”
The 11th district is one of the most competitive in the state. Piperno and Eulner ousted three-term incumbents in 2021 by a razor-thin margin.