Addabbo wins UFT’s backing

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UFT President Michael Mulgrew (at podium) calls Sen. Joseph Addabbo “a tireless advocate on behalf of students” at a press conference endorsing his re-election.

With many important state Senate races in November, the UFT on Sept. 24 enthusiastically endorsed Joseph Addabbo Jr. for re-election for a third term representing the 15th Senate District in Queens. The incumbent faces a well-financed GOP challenger.

“Sen. Addabbo has proven time and again that he is a tireless advocate on behalf of students,” UFT President Michael Mulgrew told a crowd of some 60 elected officials and campaign supporters at a press conference outside PS 64 in Ozone Park. The school is named the Joseph P. Addabbo School in honor of the state senator’s late father, the area’s 13-term U.S. congressman.

Calling the senator “a friend of the teachers, the children and the schools,” Mulgrew turned to him and told him that “we’ll make sure that on Jan. 1, you’re back in Albany.”

Addabbo said, “Education has and always will be one of my first priorities.” Thanking the UFT, he said its support means that “I have been successful in my fight for quality education for every child.”

The event attracted some 20 Queens elected officials, including a number of Senate colleagues. Sen. Michael Gianaris called Addabbo a “true supporter of the schools,” while Sen. Tony Avella added, “I can’t think of a more qualified individual to represent these communities, these schools.”

Addabbo has a child in kindergarten and another in 3rd grade in public schools in the district, which encompasses the Rockaways, Broad Channel, Howard Beach and chunks of Middle Village, Ozone Park and Forest Hills.