Culinary Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge is not yet committing to supporting all legislative Democrats, as in years past. He said in an interview that the union would support candidates “that are going to do the right thing.”
“The idea that somehow we just line up behind Democrats because we have nowhere else to go, which I think is the attitude to some of these statewide Democrats, voters aren't going to follow that,” Pappageorge said. “And the Democrats are going to pay a price for that in November if they don't correct.”
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“We haven't had a better, working-class, pro-worker, pro-middle class president in our lifetime than President Biden,” Pappageorge said. “Politics are local, and these state Democrats, when they decide they're going to belly up to the bar with corporate America at the expense of working class voters, there's a price to pay for that.”
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One bright spot for the Culinary Union on Tuesday was a victory for Linda Hunt, a Culinary-backed candidate who won the Democratic primary in North Las Vegas’ reliably blue, open Assembly District 17 against Assembly Democratic Caucus-backed candidate Mishon Montgomery. Hunt is expected to win the general election because the district’s party registration overwhelmingly favors Democrats.
Pappageorge said that the union will continue to challenge incumbents and establishment-backed candidates who take anti-worker approaches, which implies stances against Culinary members.
He said the union doesn’t blanket endorse any candidate. The primary and general elections are completely separate, he said, adding that the main focus of Culinary’s unendorsements was informing its members of which lawmakers in the Legislature supported them.
“We're just going to make sure we do what it takes to represent working class voters and make sure the Democratic Party is a force for workers,” Pappageorge said. “If the Democrats get too far on the side of big money interests and the casino interests, like where we think Rochelle went, we're going to call them out.”