Pridemore addresses WSLC meeting on Saturday.

State Sen. Craig Pridemore (D-49, Vancouver), candidate for the open U.S. Congressional seat in the 3rd District, won the Washington State Labor Council’s (WSLC) sole 2010 endorsement over his opponent (presumed Democratic frontrunner) Denny Heck Saturday afternoon.

Sen. Pridemore needed a two-thirds majority vote of more than 400 delegates from across Washington at WSLC’s annual Committee on Political Education (COPE) Convention to win the endorsement. He received 69 percent of the vote.



Christian Sinderman, Pridemore’s campaign consultant , said endorsements such as this one are important for a candidate many have considered to be an underdog in the run for Congressman Brian Baird’s old seat.

“It’s a momentum issue more than anything,” Sinderman said.

WSLC delegates are still in session voting on the rest of their endorsements after a morning packed with speeches from various judicial and legislative candidates across the state.

Both Pridemore and Heck, founder of TVW and former state House Majority Leader, gave speeches appealing to Washington’s largest labor organization for support.

Pridemore, more of a liberal and traditional union Democrat than Heck (Pridemore has a 97 percent lifetime rating from the labor council), spoke first, calling for more jobs now through additional transportation projects in the 3rd District.

He also outlined what he will do if elected to Congress: He wants to co-sponsor the Employee Free Choice Act , which would make it easier for workers to unionize; co-sponsor the Trade Act, which will force Congress to reevaluate current international trade pacts; co-sponsor the Protecting America’s Workers Act, which would expand the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970; and provide greater protection for whistleblowers, among other things. He said he would also advocate for financial industry reform and an additional stimulus package of $200-300 billion in capital investments.

Three-quarters or more of the audience were on their feet when he finished speaking, and he left the room to chants of “Craig,” “Pridemore,” and “We Want Craig.”

Pridemore was sweaty and beaming as he spoke with campaign staff outside the meeting hall after his speech.

Heck spoke at noon, nearly at the end of the program. He said he’d like to make Washington state’s 3rd District a center for green jobs, support Sen. Murray’s effort to take $30 billion in TARP money and divert it through community banks as small business loans, encourage more union apprenticeships, take a tougher stance in trade negotiations with China (in fact, he had a bit of a Howard Dean Iowa 2004 moment when speaking about China) and re-regulate the financial industry.

He received a cooler reaction from the crowd: Not nearly as many of the delegates were on their feet as he left the stage. And there was no chanting.

Pridemore won the sole endorsement of the state's largest private sector union, the United Food and Commerical Workers Local 21, on Friday afternoon.