By Alex Robinson
State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) won a big ally in his re-election campaign Tuesday when Mayor Bill de Blasio endorsed the two-term incumbent.
De Blasio made the endorsement in the wake of an agreement between the Independent Democratic Conference, which Avella is a part of, and mainline Democrats to form a new governing coalition in the state Senate.
The mayor also endorsed Sen. Jeff Klein (D-Bronx), who heads the IDC and is facing his own challenge from former state Attorney General Oliver Koppell.
“Throughout this past session, Sen. Jeff Klein and Sen. Tony Avella worked tirelessly on behalf of the residents of New York City and helped make progress on issues that had been stalled for far too long,” de Blasio said in a statement. “With their leadership, we secured a record increase in funding for universal pre-K, a fair budget for New York City, needed property tax relief for victims of Hurricane Sandy and the changes we need to save lives and improve street safety.”
On the same day, the Working Families Party also walked back its endorsement of Avella’s Democratic challenger, John Liu weeks after it announced its support of the former city comptroller and slammed Avella and his IDC colleagues for sharing power of the Senate with Republicans.
“The party voted to stay neutral in both the Klein-Koppell and Avella-Liu primaries so it could focus its resources on beating Republicans and winning a strong Democratic majority in the Senate,” a WFP spokesman said.
Avella also scored the first union endorsement of his re-election bid last week when the Communications Workers of America District One, which represents 175,000 laborers across the Northeast, announced they were backing the two-term incumbent.
Avella, who bolted to the IDC in February, had not collected any endorsements or even officially kicked off his campaign before the announcements from the mayor and CWA, even though Liu had already held a number of fund-raisers and amassed a string of endorsements in his active campaign.
The five-member IDC holds the balance of power in the Senate and has ruled the body in a coalition with Republicans. Klein, however, put a halt to that arrangement at the end of June, when he declared a new alliance would be formed with Democrats in the fall.
Three potential Democratic challengers to IDC incumbents have since called off their campaigns, but Liu has persevered. Koppell has also vowed to stay in his race against Klein.
“CWA is thrilled that Sen. Avella and the other members of the IDC have agreed to help forge a new Democratic majority in the state Senate, something we’ve consistently fought for over the last 25 years,” said Chris Shelton, vice president of CWA District One. “We believe now is the time to focus all of our energy and resources on the November elections in order to solidify and expand a progressive Democratic majority, which will take office next January prepared to do what’s right for New York’s working families.”
Liu picked up two more endorsements of his own to add to his list this week. Local 46, which represents more than 1,500 metallic workers, endorsed Liu and Borough President Melinda Katz also threw her weight behind the former Flushing councilman, who went on to serve two terms as comptroller.
“When it comes to fighting for the people of this city, John Liu has always delivered,” Katz said. “I’m so proud to support him in this race because our communities deserve leadership in Albany that’s both progressive and effective. In the state Senate, John will be a champion for the working families of Queens — and that’s exactly the change we need.”
Liu submitted 7,537 signatures on petitions he filed with the Board of Elections to get on the ballot for the September primary. This was more than seven times the amount needed to get on the ballot.
Avella gathered 5,000 signatures on his petitions.
Reach reporter Alex Robinson by e-mail at arobinson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
