FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 15, 2023
Pittsburgh, Pa – Allegheny County Executive candidate Joe Rockey continued to add to his list of labor endorsements today when the 3,000-member strong Steamfitters Local 449 delivered an October endorsement.
“We watched the candidates. We listened and we checked the record. Joe Rockey was the candidate who made it clear that he backs good, union jobs in this region,” said Steamfitters business agent Ken Broadbent. “Sara Innamorato wasn’t there for us on the hydrogen hub. Labor can’t count on her to take the right stand when it matters.”
The endorsement comes just days after the Biden administration announced that it had accepted a plan for the construction of a clean-energy Hydrogen Hub project, putting the majority of jobs and construction in West Virginia. Innamorato has publicly opposed the construction of a hydrogen hub, putting her at odds with building trades unions that supported a bid by Pennsylvania.
The Steamfitters join the Laborers International Union of North America, Laborers Local 372, Boilermakers Local 154 in endorsing Rockey. Those unions represent close to thousands of members in Allegheny County. Rockey has also been endorsed by four Lodges of the Fraternal Order of Police, including the City of Pittsburgh and surrounding departments, and last month was endorsed by the centrist Forward Party of former Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang.
“I’m the son of union Democrats. I grew up in an era when blue-collar work was not just respected, but celebrated,” Rockey said. “That’s the tradition in which I was raised and it’s one in which I’ll lead as Allegheny County Executive.”
The endorsement comes at the same time the Innamorato campaign has entered a retrenching mode, with the candidate abruptly distancing herself from the Democratic Socialists of America,
the far-left group whose banner she carried in races for the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives.
After waiting four days, Innamorato finally denounced Pittsburgh DSA’s opposition to Israel in the wake of terrorist attacks by Hamas that killed thousands of Israeli civilians.
Innamorato and Rockey appeared side-by-side Sunday morning in the third debate of the campaign. Online reviews of Innamorato’s performance were largely negative, with one viewer describing Rockey’s answers as precise and focused and Innamorato’s responses as “word salad.”
###