Not at all. In local politics, government employee unions and their family members get their way many times because those are the people who show up to vote, including in the primaries.

Especially the cops/firefighters.

What matters is who votes in the Democratic primary, a pool that is usually much smaller than the total number of eligible voters.

> What matters is who votes in the Democratic primary, a pool that is usually much smaller than the total number of eligible voters.

Most "blue-collar" / "working-class" voters lean GOP nowadays:

* https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/meet-the-press/gop-rapidly-...

* https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/11/04/new-republ...

Which is ironic given GOP policies are generally anti-worker.

A lot of folks are voting due to their (perceived) grievances and not in their actual self interest.

Do union members reliably vote in primary elections?

Yes, and they canvas too. But Mandami just won despite the all the machine unions endorsing Cuomo, so the machine now looks a lot weaker.

(Yes, the leftmost candidate had a lot less union support. Chew on that.)

Every other union head is sweating seeing that though