THE NEWS SERVICE OF FLORIDA: Meek Gets Early Union Endorsement in U.S. Senate Race

The News Service of Florida--February 16, 2009

BY KEITH LAING

THE CAPITAL, TALLAHASSEE……….U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, who became the first major candidate to get in the 2010 U.S. Senate race last month, picked up the first big endorsement of the race Monday when the Service Employees International Union backed his bid.

Meek, who is one of two prominent Democrats so far in the race to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Mel Martinez, appeared in Tallahassee Monday with SEIU Florida President Monica Russo to collect the endorsement. The union, which represents a number of service industry and nursing home workers, chose to endorse Meek over state Sen. Dan Gelber, who has also formally announced his candidacy.

Meek said Monday that the SEIU embodied what his campaign would be about.

“I’m truly honored and humbled by the endorsement,” Meek said during a news conference called by his campaign and the union. “SEIU represents hardworking men and women throughout the state of Florida. Those that know what it means to punch in and punch out in the morning. They catch the early bus in the morning.”

Meek added that he planned to learn from the union’s members as the campaign moves on.

“It’s already been educational for me meeting with many of the members in recent days about my Senate candidacy and learning from them some of the issues that Floridians are going through,” Meek said.

Russo said the union wanted to pick a Senate candidate early to exert the most possible influence on the race.

“Our members have unequivocally decided not to wait to see who becomes the most popular candidate in this race for U.S Senate,” Russo said. “Our members have decided not to put our fingers in the air and see which way the wind is blowing. Our members decided that we’re gonna have a voice and say so on who is the next United States Senator and that’s Kendrick Meek.”

Meek may have been the early frontrunner for the Democratic nomination even before he picked up the SEIU endorsement. An early snapshot of the possible Democratic primary field conducted by Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University staked Meek to a slim early lead. The polling institute surveyed 1,370 registered voters about their preference between Meek and Gelber, as well as U.S. Reps. Allen Boyd and Ron Klein, and Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink.

The CFO lead the field with 15 percent, though she and Boyd have since withdrawn from the race, but Meek ran just behind her at 13 percent. The poll, which was conducted from Jan. 14 to Jan. 19, showed Klein, Boyd and Gelber pulling in 9 percent, 8 percent and 1 percent respectively. However, a majority of the poll’s 422 Democrats – 54 percent – said they did not know who they would support.

Those numbers notwithstanding, Russo said that although she expected several candidates to ultimately enter the race that have good relationships with the union, endorsing Meek now made the most sense.

“It was not a hard decision,” she said. “In fact, it was an extremely automatic decision for our members because SEIU members and Kendrick Meek are like family. He is our brother. We have been in the trenches together, we have marched together, we have spoken truth to power together and we have taken risk together.”

Picking up the SEIU endorsement is an early victory for Meek’s nascent campaign, but the Miami Democrat’s momentum could be slowed by Gov. Charlie Crist’s public deliberations about running for the U.S. Senate himself. Crist has not ruled out running to replace Martinez instead of running for re-election in 2010.

Crist has said he will make a decision about the race after the legislative session concludes in May. He maintains sky-high approval ratings and has been a high profile supporter of President Barack Obama’s stimulus plan.

But Meek said Monday that he was running his own race instead of checking the rear view mirror for the self-proclaimed “people’s governor.”

“The great thing about our democracy is that anybody can run,” Meek said. “Everyday with this U.S. Senate seat there’s a number of people that join the list of seriously considering or getting in. If the governor is considering running, he’s on the list of many. I can tell you this. Titles don’t win elections, people do. My track record with people is a good one, and that’s the reason why I’m standing here with SEIU today.”

Meek added that he thought his moves to get in the race and garner support early would pay dividends for him in the campaign to come, which is expected to be costly and contentious.

“We’re out there early, we’re engaging people, we’re telling people who are thinking about getting in the race that we’re working hard and that we’re going to continue to work until the job is done, until we have the primary election and have that general election and the numbers are posted,” Meek said.

To that end, Meek planned to hold a meet-and-greet in Tallahassee Monday evening and visit Gainesville Tuesday and Orlando Wednesday as he travels the state while Congress recesses.