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Maryland鈥檚 largest state employee union endorsed former U.S. and Maryland Labor Secretary Tom Perez (D) for governor on Wednesday.
AFSCME Council 3 and AFSCME Council 67, which made the announcement in Baltimore, represent more than 50,000 state, county, municipal, school board, and higher education employees across Maryland.
Perez, a former Montgomery County councilman, was Maryland鈥檚 secretary of Labor from March 2007 to October 2009 and was U.S. secretary of Labor in the Obama administration from July 2013 to January 2017.
Much of Perez鈥檚 career was in the public sector. After law school at Harvard, Perez clerked for a federal judge in Colorado, was Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy鈥檚 top adviser on civil rights and criminal justice issues, steered the Office for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and served as deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights 鈥� and years later, as assistant attorney general 鈥� of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division.
Most recently, he was chairman of the Democratic National Committee, a term that ended after the 2020 election.
Earlier this year, Perez聽聽from Venable, a law firm criticized by progressives for聽, after he learned that the firm would represent Gov. Lawrence J. Hogan Jr. (R) in his plans to cut federal unemployment insurance benefits early, describing Hogan鈥檚 position as 鈥渋nconsistent with my values and the future I want to build for Maryland.鈥�
Already this campaign cycle, Perez has touted聽, and from聽.
In February, Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Comptroller Peter V.R. Franchot garnered the endorsement of Mid-Atlantic Region of the Laborers鈥� International Union of North America (LIUNA), which represents more than 3,000 workers in Maryland and about 40,000 in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Franchot on Wednesday聽: Prince George鈥檚 County Councilmember Monique Anderson-Walker (D).
The other Democratic hopefuls in the governor鈥檚 race are former Prince George鈥檚 County Executive聽, nonprofit executive聽, former state Attorney General聽, former Obama Administration official聽, former U.S. Secretary of Education聽,聽author and former anti-poverty CEO聽, and Baltimore tech entrepreneur聽.
The 2022 primary is June 28.
