A powerful New York teachers union is throwing its weight behind an upstate Democrat in a battleground congressional district race — with the goal of making Brooklyn Rep. Hakeem Jeffries the next speaker of the House.
The New York State United Teachers union is going all in on state Sen. John Mannion as the former high school teacher and union activist looks to topple first-term Republican Rep. Brandon Williams in the 22nd House District that encompasses the Syracuse region.
“He is one of our own,” NYSUT President Melinda Person said through a bullhorn during a rally for Mannion in Syracuse on Friday. “He is a friend. He is an amazing educator.”
NYSUT is getting heavily involved in House races for the first time, focusing on Mannion and six other Democrats in competitive districts as the Empire State can help decide which party controls Congress for the second election in a row.
“We know and we saw this last time that the path to Hakeem Jeffries being the leader is through the state of New York,” Person told The Post in an interview after the rally. “And so we decided that we wanted to be actively involved in up to seven or more competitive congressional seats here in New York.”
Four Republican wins in deeply blue New York gave the GOP a slim majority this term and Democratic victories could tip that scale back — and give Democratic Minority Leader Jeffries a clear path to speaker.
Williams, a first-term incumbent, is considered one of the most vulnerable Republicans who won in 2022. The independent Cook Political Report rates the seat “lean Democrat.”
Some critics were suspicious of the union’s full-throated support for Mannion — who taught biology and chemistry in local public high schools for almost 30 years and served eight years as president of the West Genesee Teachers’ Association, which is part of NYSUT.
“He is a lab grown creation of the teachers union as they look to influence not just local school boards and Albany, but all 50 states,” said Ken Girardin, research director at the Empire Center for Public Policy.
But Person said she’s known Mannion since he was a local union president.
“We were going door to door talking to members about issues,” Person said. “And he fell in love, that weekend, I remember very distinctly, with knocking on doors and talking to people in his community about what they cared about,” she said.
The union leader also said the candidate has been a reliable ally in the Democratic-controlled state Senate the past two years.
“I’m actually sad to lose him at the state level, but we are really proud of him and excited to see what he’s going to accomplish in Washington,” Person said.
Mannion said his background as a teacher makes him “an easy sell.”
“I understand their issues and I understand the challenges that exist as a parent, as a teacher, as a representative of teachers and as a legislator,” Mannion said.
But Williams said he was unfazed by the high-profile support.
“My wife and I are both the product of public high schools (although she was valedictorian…and I wasn’t even close). We are thankful for teachers,” Williams told The Post.
“John Mannion has proven himself to be beholden to Albany-interests before his constituents. I swore the oath to our country for a second time when I joined Congress,” he added.
“I serve all of my constituents as an independent voice; since the only people that I am beholden to are my constituents in CNY [Central New York].”
Williams previously ran his own software company and he and his wife, Stephanie, owned a truffle farm in the Fingerlakes region. They moved to the area in 2010.
He served in the Navy as a nuclear submarine officer and a strategic missile officer.
