Who Endorses?

In the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), the Delegate Assembly (DA) endorses candidates for political office. I know of two exceptions:

• First, when the race is essentially statewide, New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) sometimes endorses. Or when the race is national, sometimes the American Federation of Teachers has endorsed, and the UFT has accepted that endorsement.
• And second, if the Delegate Assembly is not in session (from mid-June to mid-October) and primary results will necessitate summer endorsements, then the June Delegate Assembly will pass a resolution (kind of a “continuing resolution”) authorizing AdCom (the Administrative Committee) to make endorsements over the summer. Sometimes this is done with the promise that AdCom will not endorse for a particularly interesting race.

Which is why this morning’s news – UFT Endorses Brad Lander’s Opponent – is so surprising. (that’s the Yahoo link, which is open. The NY Daily News link is behind a paywall, but this NYDN link might work).

This is not the summer. There is no “continuing resolution” authorizing AdCom to bypass the Delegate Assembly. And NYSUT did not endorse a candidate in NY-10.

I guess the DA could have endorsed – if the leadership had not moved the date. The DA was scheduled for May 13 – but they moved it to May 20. Why? I don’t know; they didn’t say. Maybe it was about budget negotiations at City Hall or in Albany. Or maybe it was to avoid moving a potential endorsement, and letting delegates debate?

Debate can be a pesky thing for our union’s leadership. Since in normal years it controls the Delegate Assembly, in normal years they need to set up the debate in advance, and they can give their rising loyalists experience making motions and giving speeches. What a drag it is for them (they’ve already made their decision – why all this extra work?) – but at least they get something out of it.

But these are not normal years. Retiree Advocate defeated Unity for leadership of the Retired Teachers Chapter in 2024. And 300 Retiree Advocate delegates, independent-minded, replaced 300 Unity loyalists.

Does that mean the retirees control the agenda? No. Can the retirees, at will, defeat resolutions from the leadership? No. Retirees make up less than 10% of the DA. But Unity lost a pile of loyalists who voted as they were told, and Retiree Advocate replaced them with delegates who make up their own minds. And that changes the numbers enough – Unity used to never lose votes. Post-pandemic, they rarely lost votes (and when they did, it was news). But now, with Retiree Advocate’s delegates seated, Unity sometimes loses votes, and contested votes are closer than they used to be.

Is Unity aware of this? You betcha. Mulgrew calls on almost only preplanned hands in a preplanned order during “Motions Directed to the Agenda” – and controlling the agenda is what he is after. He goofed last month, called on a young woman he didn’t know, and ended up with a “Block the Bombs” resolution (that I’m thinking he didn’t want). But she may be the first random hand he’s called on in a year and a half. And lately he’s manipulated the time so that only one resolution can come up each meeting. He just doesn’t want to risk votes Unity does not control.

Would Unity have lost a vote on Goldman? Maybe. NY CD-10 has a lot of UFT members in it. And they are generally as left/liberal/progressive or moreso than their neighbors. Brad Lander is extremely popular (these are voters who ranked #1 Brad, #2 Zohran last year). This is his home base. Goldman released an internal poll this week – an internal, you know, the kind of poll that favors whoever releases it – and he was trailing Lander by 5%. And Goldman’s the incumbent.

And you probably know bits of the backstory: Goldman only won initially because of a badly split field – he got like a quarter of the vote. He’s self funding, with a huge fortune. He is an heir, and has the wealth to live anywhere in the district. And he’s the AIPAC candidate. And he didn’t endorse Mamdani.

Brad Lander is popular in the district. He has built up progressive credentials. He was part of the election strategy that used rank choice to get Zohran the nomination (and essentially sacrificed his own candidacy to promote the greater good.) DSA will support him. The WFP loves him.

And the District is the Financial District, Battery Park City, Chinatown, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, and places in between and beyond.

Would Unity have lost a vote against Lander? Maybe. I think so.

Is the “endorsement” official without a Delegate Assembly vote? No.