In NYC Elections, Unions Bet Against the Future Again

By
Eric Blanc

In New York City, leaders of unions and nonprofit groups like the Working Families Party again picked the losing, old-guard side in last night’s elections. How long before these leaders get on board with the future of working-class politics?

State Representative Emily Gallagher, a Democrat from New York, from center left, State Representative Claire Valdez, a Democrat from New York and US House candidate, and State Representative Chris Rabb, a Democrat from Pennsylvania and US Congressional candidate, during a canvass launch ahead of a primary election in the Brooklyn borough of New York on Monday, June 22, 2026.

Even on self-interested grounds, savvy union and nonprofit operators should start reading the room. Last night’s New York election results show that backing old-guard politicians over the rising socialist movement is no longer a risk-averse, pragmatic wager. (Adam Gray / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Tuesday’s election made clear the strategic and organizational limitations of New York City’s labor leaders.

In the city’s two marquee congressional primaries, candidates backed by labor’s biggest names — the Service Employees International Union 32BJ and 1199, District Council 37, the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council, the United Federation of Teachers, and others — went down in defeat. In the first of these primaries, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Adriano Espaillat, a corporate Democrat who racked up some fourteen union endorsements, lost his Upper Manhattan and Bronx seat to Darializa Avila Chevalier, a thirty-two-year-old democratic socialist insurgent backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the New York City Democratic Socialists of America (NYC-DSA), and Justice Democrats.

Delivering Avila Chevalier the biggest Congressional upset since Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s win in 2018, a majority of District 13 primary voters showed that they no longer trust a Democratic establishment unable or unwilling to seriously challenge Donald Trump and an oligarchic status quo. Yet most union leaders haven’t yet followed their lead. And it’s a sign of serious internal decay that these organizations, so powerful on paper, can now deliver so little in the way of actual votes. Far too often, union members have become disconnected from our organizations.

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