Candidates for the vacant San Mateo County District 1 Supervisor seat are beating the bushes for endorsements but no candidate has necessarily broken out of the pack yet, although some may be falling behind.
Monday night, the San Mateo County Central Labor Council, the collective of affiliated unions representing many local workers across a myriad of industries and professions, issued its formal endorsement. The Labor Council endorsement is one of the most sought after for any would-be candidate as such an endorsement can translate into financial support as well as campaign workers, phone banks and other tactical help.
This time around the labor council endorsed three of the six candidates who will appear on the May 3, 2011 all mail-in Special Election. The three beneficiaries include San Mateo Union High School District Trustee Dave Pine, Millbrae Councilmember Gina Papan and San Mateo County Community College Trustee Richard Holober. Pine and Papan are generally regarded as the frontrunners in the race and the addition of some labor support is no surprise.
The three-way endorsement will also mean that individual unions will be free to pick their respective horses. Papan and Holober both list a number of labor union backers but neither Pine nor Nagel list any as endorsers on their campaign web sites.
Totally excluded from the endorsements was Burlingame Mayor Terry Nagel who was the only candidate invited to seek the Labor Council endorsement who did not receive it. Nagel is also running behind her major opponents in the number of endorsements from local elected officials. Nagel claims less than half of the endorsements from local elected officials from her nearest competitor and boasts no major endorsements from state or federal officeholders.
Thus far the big winners continue to be Pine and Papan with Nagel and Holober having trouble gathering the same kind of traction. There are still a few big endorsements available but time is quickly running out as ballots begin arriving in mailboxes in less than two months.
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