State labor leaders have given Chris Donovan another reason to bow out of a third-party run for Congress — they won’t endorse him. The state AFL-CIO switched gears and finally got behind Elizabeth Esty Wednesday.
The Connecticut AFL-CIO endorsed Democrat Elizabeth Esty for the 5th Congressional District seat at a meeting in Farmington on Wednesday.
The federation of unions had previously endorsed Christopher Donovan, who lost to Esty in last week’s Democratic primary. Donovan is still on the November ballot as a third-party candidate, but Tuesday AFL-CIO President John Olsen said he would rather Donovan not remain a candidate.
“I have to believe he knows there’s no path to victory for him right now,” Olsen said.
The AFL-CIO’s decision to endorse Esty was reached by the required two-thirds vote of the federation’s committee on public education. That committee includes AFL-CIO executive board members and representatives from state associations, national unions and central labor councils.
The endorsement means that AFL-CIO will educate its members about the 5th District race by providing information that compares Esty’s record with her opponent’s record. Esty will face Republican Andrew Roraback in November.
“Based on her record and her commitment to stand up for the issues that working families care about, we believe Elizabeth Esty is the best candidate to be our U.S. Representative from the 5th Congressional District,” Olsen said in a prepared statement.
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8 Responses to AFL-CIO Votes To Endorse Esty, Donovan Silent
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A good move. I hope all Democrats in the 5th district can forget divisive campaign rhetoric (on both sides, admittedly) and move forward with a candidate who does have a good record on the issues we care about.
“…her commitment to stand up for the issues that working families care about…”
What does that mean? Did Bill Gates work for his success? Warren Buffet? George Soros? Harry Reid? Tom Cruise? Are those the workers she cares about?
sorta sounds like they had no choice and still prefer donovan. spending all that money(union dues) on donovan was like water down the drain. maybe now they can use the money to help his aids start a legal fund for the denfense of his friends going to jail
Actually PAul…it’s like hard-earned money going down the drain because union dues were used by union leaders to sell the rank and file a bill of goods….’right-to-work’ legislation in Connecticut would change that!
Losers all. They initially backed a loser and now they are doing so again.
Golly, Gee !!! Even the Unions are becoming a bit more sensible by finally seeing Donovan for what he really is – a worthless stooge who now has a bunch of un-electable baggage.
Good riddance, Chris.
Unions are quick to jump and try to cover over the fact that they backed a loser….hopefully the Esty campaign won’t be too tarnished by November due to this move….
She promised Donovan a good job. Keep an eye on that crook.