Hillary Clinton, endorsed by the UFT’s national affiliate the AFT, scored a decisive victory in the April 19 New York State Democratic presidential primary.

Clinton, a U.S. senator from New York from 2001 to 2009, had a strong base of support in the five boroughs, Long Island and upstate cities.

The UFT ran phone banks out of its borough offices on her behalf during the month leading up to the election, and UFT members came out in large numbers to a number of New York City events organized by her campaign.

“New Yorkers have a long history with Hillary,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew. “We know that she can get things done. We know she cares about students and teachers and our public schools. We know she wants to make sure the middle class and working people have a voice in how this country works. That message came through here in New York.”

Clinton thanked her adopted state in her victory speech, telling supporters, “You proved, once again, there’s no place like home.”

The UFT jumped into the Long Island race for the Senate seat vacated by former Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos after Wall Street-backed charter advocates began pouring money into the race. The charter advocates spent $1.5 million on negative TV ads attacking Democrat Todd Kaminsky after state Senate Republicans allotted $54 million of their own funds for charter schools in the new state budget. Kaminsky prevailed by a narrow margin.

“We ran a targeted campaign for educators in the district encouraging teachers and parents to vote and highlighting the money state Senate Republicans provided from their own funds for charter schools,” said UFT Political Director Paul Egan.

The UFT’s state affiliate, NYSUT, made endorsements in three special elections for vacant state Assembly seats in New York City.

Jaime Williams, NYSUT’s endorsed candidate, won the seat in the 59th Assembly District in Canarsie, Brooklyn. He is the chief of staff for Sen. Roxanne Persaud, who formerly held that Assembly seat.

Yuh-Line Niou, running on the Working Families Party line, lost a tight race for the 65th Assembly District seat in Lower Manhattan formerly held by Sheldon Silver. She is expected to be a serious challenger in the September primary for the same seat.

Ron Castorina, a former city Board of Elections attorney running on the Republican line, won an uncontested race for the open Assembly seat on the South Shore of Staten Island.