New York City teachers’ union president Mike Mulgrew is backing Joe Biden for president.
Mulgrew, head of the United Federation of Teachers, is listed as a Biden delegate on petitions of voter signatures the former vice president is submitting to the state Board of Elections this week to qualify for ballot status in New York’s April 28 Democratic primary.
But Mulgrew emphasized that his personal support for Biden is not indicative on who the American Federation of Teachers, headed by his predecessor Randi Weingarten, ends up endorsing. The UFT is a local chapter of the AFT.
“Our national affiliate, the American Federation of Teachers, issues all national endorsements and is still in the midst of the endorsement process for the presidential race. Michael Mulgrew, as an individual, is running as a delegate for former Vice President Joe Biden. Other UFT members, also as individuals, are running as delegates for other Democratic presidential candidates – Sen. Bernie Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Biden,” a UFT spokesperson said.
“The ultimate goal, though, will be to get behind whoever wins the 2020 Democratic nomination in order to defeat President Trump.”
Biden is getting a big assist from the Cuomo-led NYS Democratic Party. Cuomo is a Biden booster — though the governor hasn’t officially endorsed him after the ex-veep stumbled through early debates.
Tom Garry, a top adviser to state party chairman Jay Jacobs, has been spearheading Biden’s petition gathering effort here. Garry, who headed Hillary Clinton’s 2016 petition effort in New York, is vice chairman of the Nassau County Democratic Party also headed by Jacobs.
Biden delegates include dozens of establishment Democrats – including state Assemblyman and Bronx Democratic Party chairman Marcos Crespo, former Harlem Congressman Charles Rangel, Queens state Sen. Leroy Comrie, Albany County Executive Dan McCoy, Buffalo state Sen. Tim Kennedy, and Suffolk Sen. Monica Martinez.
Bernie Sanders’ backers include Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, law professor Zephyr Teachout, state Sens. Mike Gianaris, James Sanders, Julia Salazar, Luis Sepulveda and Jessica Ramos and New York City Council members Helen Rosenthal and Justin Brennan.
The Sanders camp said it’s filing more than 65,000 signatures of registered Democratic voters.
Voter signatures are needed to place a full slate of delegates in all 27 congressional districts throughout the state.
The Sanders’ petition effort was overseen by members of the New York Progressive Action Network, which was formed by New York backers of the Vermont senator’s 2016 campaign for president.
NYPAN Co-Chair Traci Strickland, a black Brooklyn resident running to be a delegate from the seventh congressional district, noted that more than 40 percent of Sanders delegates are minorities.
“Bernie’s base in 2016 was much more diverse than he got credit for, but this time around it is even more so; it is amazing to see so many communities turning out and feeling the Bern,” she said.
Pete Buttigieg’s campaign said it filed over three times the required number of 5,000 voter signatures to get on the ballot with the state Board of Elections on Monday. All were collected by volunteers.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is backed by the Working Families Party, also shouldn’t have a problem qualifying for ballot status. Neither should billionaire former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, who has the resources to pay canvassers.