Teachers union sides with Christie, Trump ally in clash with top Jersey Democrat

The state’s most powerful labor group is putting Steve Sweeney on notice.

By LINH TAT 10/14/2017 07:08 AM EDT

TRENTON — Forget about the race to succeed lame duck Chris Christie: There’s a more intriguing electoral battle in New Jersey this fall, and it’s pitting the state’s largest teachers union against its highest-ranking Democratic state official, Senate president Steve Sweeney.

Over the protests of its traditional Democratic allies and some of its own members, the New Jersey Education Association has endorsed Sweeney’s Republican rival, who voted for President Donald Trump and has supported the deeply unpopular Christie, who once said a national teachers union deserved a “punch in the face.”

After eight years of Christie, polls show former Goldman Sachs executive and ambassador to Germany Phil Murphy on track to capture the governorship, giving Democrats total control of the government. But the Sweeney-NJEA fight — which stems from a six-year old pension reform dispute — shows that in a state where union bosses have long held sway, there could be plenty of divisions. And the state’s most powerful union is putting Sweeney on notice.

NJEA spokesman Steve Baker says the union’s members “support candidates who share their values and whose records demonstrate that” — Democrat or Republican.

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http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/14/new-jersey-teachers-union-chris-christie-trump-steve-sweeney-243770