Two powerful unions representing building service workers and hotel and casino employees threw their support behind Andrew Cuomo’s mayoral campaign, giving more fuel to the former governor’s front-runner campaign.
The Hotel and Gaming Trades Council and 32BJ SEIU endorsed Cuomo on Monday, both pointing to his management record as governor as evidence that he will help their members in City Hall. The support of both unions is highly coveted and was key to Eric Adams’ narrow 7,200-vote primary win in 2021, since they influence the votes of tens of thousands of members, deploy volunteers and raise money.
Organized labor has found itself in a tricky spot this year, because many leading unions backed Adams in 2021 and were hesitant to withdraw their support given his relatively labor-friendly tenure in office. The mayor’s decision to pull out of the Democratic primary and run as an independent may have given the unions an out, allowing them to instead endorse the candidate they view as the likeliest to win.
The endorsements were first reported by the New York Post and Politico, which noted that HTC President Rich Maroko was among the many leaders who criticized Cuomo in the wake of sexual harassment allegations made against him in 2021 and called on him to resign — only to offer his support now.
A person familiar with the unions’ endorsement process said officials at HTC had been impressed by Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, the most progressive candidate in the Democratic field who has recently polled a distant second to Cuomo. Though Mamdani aced his interview with HTC leaders, interest groups such as unions have reason to endorse the perceived front-runner, given the mayor’s power to benefit their members once in office.
“In these challenging times for New Yorkers, it is critical that we have a mayor with a proven history of effective government management to lead us towards a better future,” Maroko said in a statement Monday. Manny Pastreich, president of 32BJ, said Cuomo has “the know-how to lead in times of crisis” and called him “equipped to stand up to attacks on our city that threaten our finances, our jobs, our public transportation, our healthcare, our social security and our rights.”
Thanks to his decade as governor, Cuomo enjoys a long history with key unions including 32BJ and HTC. During the 2010s, he moved to legalize casinos upstate and then in the New York City area, kickstarting a process that could ultimately grow HTC’s membership significantly.
Other labor endorsements in the race have mostly gone Cuomo’s way, including from the District Council of Carpenters and Teamsters Local 237 — but other major unions, including the United Federation of Teachers, the city workers’ union District Council 37, and the health care union 1199 SEIU, have yet to weigh in. (Kevin Elkins, a former political director for the Carpenters, is now helping to run Cuomo’s campaign.)
Labor unions have much to potentially gain from the next mayor. Maroko noted that his union’s current master contract with the city’s hotel owners is set to expire in 2026.
“Now, especially as our union approaches a renegotiation of our citywide hotel contract that will determine the livelihoods of our members and their families for the next decade, we need a leader who understands what’s at stake and will have our backs through it all,” he said.
Cuomo, in a statement, said he was “proud” to win the two unions’ endorsements.
“With their support comes an ironclad commitment to turn New York City around and make it safe, fair, and affordable for our working families, now and for years to come,” he said.
