Entering the home stretch for the Aug. 23 primary, Dan Goldman Friday announced his campaign for the freshly redrawn 10th Congressional District has the support of Teamsters Local 202, PoliticsNY has learned.
Teamsters, which represents 4,500 in the fresh food industry and several other sectors across the five boroughs, is the first major labor union to throw its weight behind Goldman – who was lead counsel in former President Donald Trump’s first impeachment – in his bid for the seat that covers lower Manhattan and swaths of north west Brooklyn.
Much of the major labor support in the race so far has gone to City Council Member Carlina Rivera’s campaign – most notably 1199SEIU, the healthcare workers union. And Teamsters local – Teamsters Joint Council 16 – is also supporting Rivera. Some of the other powerful city labor unions like 32BJSEIU, District Council 37 and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) have yet to endorse in the District 10 contest.
In a statement shared first with PoliticsNY, Goldman said he’s going to be a strong ally to labor and workers rights in Congress.
“Our brothers and sisters in labor are the backbone of New York City, and I could not be more proud to have the endorsement of Teamsters Local 202,” Goldman said. “Working-class New Yorkers deserve a level playing field, and I’m running for Congress to stand strong for workers’ rights, to fight for higher wages, and to serve as a steadfast ally of the labor movement.”
Teamsters Local 202 President Daniel Kane Jr. said “Dan Goldman has the integrity needed in Congress and we are proud to support him,” in a brief statement announcing the union’s support.
In a televised debate earlier this week, however, some of Goldman’s fiercest rivals, including Rivera and U.S. Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-Rockland, Westchester Counties), painted Goldman as beholden to big corporations because his campaign has accepted corporate PAC money and has taken out a $25 to $50 million line of credit with Goldman Sachs. They also lambasted Goldman for his investments in the gun manufacturer Ruger & Co. and News Corp. – the parent company to right-leaning Fox News and the Wall Street Journal.
“You are a walking campaign finance loophole, Dan,” Rivera said during the debate. “You are essentially trying to buy this election.”
Goldman and his surrogates have argued that Rivera and Jones’ broadsides are hypocritical because their campaign finance records are far from squeaky clean. The former impeachment counsel blasted Rivera for also having News Corp. in her stock portfolio and accepting campaign cash from real estate interests and lobbyists with business before the city. And went after Jones for accepting donations from Goldman Sachs lobbyists after swearing he wouldn’t take corporate PAC money in a previous election.
“You have someone like the gentleman from Rockland who criticized his former opponent for receiving Goldman Sachs money and then six weeks later, he took it,” Goldman said. “He has said he won’t accept money from corporate PACs, but then he has. And you just mentioned Ms. Rivera’s receipt of donations from special interests.”
Additionally, according to reporting from Politico New York, Goldman has spent an exorbitant $2.8 million on broadcast and cable TV ads. That’s three times the amount spent by Jones, the only other CD10 candidate on the airwaves.
Also, running in the crowded field are Assembly Members Yuh-Line Niou (D-Manhattan) and Jo Anne Simon (D-Brooklyn) as well as former Rep. Elizabeth Holtzman. Early voting for the primary starts Saturday Aug. 13 and runs until Aug. 21.
