Unions Start To Ditch Thompson

Another sign that de Blasio will be the nominee and Thompson is finished:

The executive board of 32Bj voted tonight to endorse Public Advocate Bill de Blasio in the Democratic primary for mayor, dealing a serious blow to Bill Thompson, who is still holding out hope for a runoff.

The union had previously backed Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a distant third place finisher in the race.

“The executive board of 32BJ met tonight and voted to endorse Bill de Blasio for mayor,” said Hector Figueroa, the president of 32BJ, an influential union representing building workers. “Bill has long been a friend of our union, and he has put the concerns of working families front and center in his campaign. We look forward to throwing our very robust field operation into full gear to elect Bill de Blasio.”

Mr. de Blasio finished last night with about 40 percent of the vote–within range of avoiding a runoff. Yet thousands of paper ballots have yet to be counted, and Mr. Thompson has vowed to stay in the race until they are tallied next week.

But pressure appears to be mounting for Mr. Thompson to bow out of the race. New York State Board of Regents Chancellor Meryl Tisch, the chairwoman of Mr. Thompson’s campaign, hinted today that Mr. Thompson should consider dropping out.

Two shots across the Thompson bow - first Tisch going public with her statement that she thinks de Blasio will ultimately be the Democratic nominee and now 32 BJ not even waiting 24 hours after the polls close to endorse de Blasio.

Thompson's finished.

The signs are already there and they will grow brighter in the coming days.

I wouldn't be surprised to see Mulgrew and/or Weingarten make some noises similar to what Tisch said today pretty soon.

As I wrote earlier, unless they find a garbage can full of Thompson ballots somewhere, the vote count isn't going to alter that much.

De Blasio is already over 40% and as the votes continue to be tallied, his count is going up.

Thompson can try and save face all he wants by talking tough about staying in.

When one of the Quinn unions endorses de Blasio even as Thompson is talking tough about getting the count completed, you know he's done.