The Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the influential 800,000-strong union umbrella group, announced its legislative endorsements for the June primaries on Tuesday, giving a boost to several Democratic candidates in competitive races.
The labor group endorsed two Democrats in competitive Senate contests: Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (who is running against former Assemblywoman Fran Pavley) and Assemblyman Mervyn Dymally (who is running against former Assemblyman Rod Wright).
Among non-incumbent Assembly candidates in traditionally Democratic seats, the labor federation backed Bob Blumenfield, an aide to Rep. Howard Berman, for Assembly District 40, John Perez, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s cousin, for Assembly District 46, Isadore Hall, a Compton City Council member, for Assembly District 52, and Norma Torres, mayor of Pomona, for Assembly District 61.
Andrew Acosta, a Sacramento-based Democratic strategist who runs candidate campaigns, said the labor federation’s endorsement is “important” for Los Angeles-area campaigns. More important, however, is how active labor is in the campaign, he said.
“If it’s just a name on a piece of mail it might not have the same impact as it would if were followed by a knock on the door by a labor volunteer,” Acosta said.
The federation is known for its abilities to get volunteers to canvass districts, but the endorsements themselves do not indicate how involved the union group will be in a particular campaign.
The federation has said its top priority in June will not be a state house seat, but the contest for Los Angeles county supervisor, where Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas, who has the federation’s backing, is running against City Councilman Bernard Parks.
One notable endorsement made Tuesday was John Perez’s Assembly campaign.
One of Perez’s opponents, Arturo Chavez, an aide to Sen. Gil Cedillo, dropped out last week. A second, Ricardo Lara, an aide to the speaker, did not return repeatedly calls about rumors that he was leaving the race.
Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez himself denied that Lara had dropped out but said the labor federation’s backing would be a key indicator of who would win.
“It is a district that is dependent on union activity, (a) working class community. You can’t run away from that,” Núñez said of the seat.
The delegate body of the labor federation met on Monday night and announced the results of its vote on Tuesday.
The full list of endorsements has been reprinted below:
Federal
Congressional District 27 – Brad Sherman
Congressional District 26 – Russ Warner
Congressional District 28 – Howard Berman
Congressional District 29 – Adam Schiff
Congressional District 30 – Henry Waxman
Congressional District 31 – Xavier Becerra
Congressional District 32 – Hilda Solis
Congressional District 33 – Diane Watson
Congressional District 34 – Lucille Roybal-Allard
Congressional District 35 – Maxine Waters
Congressional District 37 – Laura Richardson
Congressional District 38 – Grace Napolitano
Congressional District 39 – Linda Sanchez
Congressional District 42 – Ed Chau
State Senate
Senate District 21 – Carol Liu
Senate District 23 – Lloyd Levine
Senate District 25 – Merv Dymally
Senate District 27 – Alan Lowenthal
State Assembly
Assembly District 36 – Jim Ledford
Assembly District 38 – Carol Luteness
Assembly District 39 – Felipe Fuentes
Assembly District 40 – Bob Blumenfield
Assembly District 41 – Julia Brownley
Assembly District 42 – Mike Feuer
Assembly District 43 – Paul Krekorian
Assembly District 44 – Anthony Portantino
Assembly District 45 – Kevin De Leon
Assembly District 46 – John Perez
Assembly District 47 – Karen Bass
Assembly District 48 – Mike Davis
Assembly District 49 – Mike Eng
Assembly District 50 – Hector De La Torre
Assembly District 51 – Curren Price
Assembly District 52 – Isadore Hall
Assembly District 53 – Ted Lieu
Assembly District 54 – OPEN
Assembly District 55 – Warren Furutani
Assembly District 56 – Tony Mendoza
Assembly District 57 – Ed Hernandez
Assembly District 58 – Charles Calderon
Assembly District 61 – Norma Torres
County of Los Angeles
District Attorney – Steve Cooley
Municipal – Council
City of Culver City (2 Seats) – Loni Anderson, Chris Armenta
City of Santa Clarita (2 Seats) – Maria Gutzit, Diane Trautman
City of Torrance (4 Seats) – Tim Goodrich, Cliff Numark, Gavin Wasserman
City of Cerritos (1 Seat) – Mark Pulido
Municipal – Measures
City of South Gate – YES on Measure P
Los Angeles Superior Court
Office 69 – OPEN
Office 72 – Hilleri Merritt
Office 82 – Cynthia Loo
Office 84 – Lori-Ann Jones
Office 95 – Patricia Nieto
Office 119 – Jared Moses
Office 123 – Kathleen Blanchard
Office 125 – James Bianco
Office 154 – Michael Jesic
Los Angeles County Democratic Party Central Committee
District 38 – Lyn Shaw, Jim Hilfenhaus
District 40 – David Hyman
District 42 – Alton Reed, Paul Koretz
District 47 – Jimmie Woods-Gray, Terrence Montgomery
District 49 – Matt Stadtler
District 51 – Joy Brown-Price
District 58 – John Perez
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