The New Jersey State Building & Construction Trades Council has endorsed all incumbents – nine Democrats and two Republicans – in races for the U.S. House of Representatives, perfectly mirroring endorsements made on Wednesday by the New Jersey AFL-CIO.
The council, which serves as the umbrella organization for fifteen labor unions, has returned to supporting Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis). Like the AFL-CIO, the group endorsed Van Drew as a Democrat in 2018 but worked to defeat him after his party switch in 2020 when they supported Amy Kennedy for the 2nd district seat.
In the 8th district, the endorsement went to Democrat Robert J. Menendez, who won 83% of the vote in the June 7 primary election to succeed retiring Rep. Albio Sires (D-West New York).
Four of the Democrats receiving the building trades endorsement are in potentially competitive races: Reps. Tom Malinowski (D-Ringoes), Andy Kim (D-Moorestown), Josh Gottheimer (D-Wyckoff) and Mikie Sherrill (D-Montclair).
In addition to Van Drew, the building trades endorsed Rep. Christopher Smith (R-Manchester), a longtime labor favorite.
“In today’s hyper-partisan environment, the tens of thousands of men and women of the trades are looking for leaders in Washington who are willing to put the bickering aside and actually get things done for our hard-working families,” said William T. Mullen, the NJBCTC president.
Mullen said that the bi-partisan endorsements “show that when it comes to protecting workers, we expect our representatives to leave partisanship in the cloakroom and vote on behalf of New Jersey’s workers on important issues like defending prevailing wage laws and the use of Project Labor Agreements, cracking down on bad actors, and safeguarding workers’ rights.”
“In the Building Trades, we focus on one thing, building. The more we build, the better we can provide for our families and colleagues,” Mullen said. “The candidates we’ve endorsed today share our passion and commitment to growing the economy and investing in our infrastructure so that New Jersey continues to set an example for states around the nation.”