Pro-labor Rep. Tim Ryan endorses Alonzo Pennington for Congress
By BERRY CRAIG
AFT Local 1360
Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, says the path to turning Congress blue runs through Kentucky’s First District.
He’s backing Alonzo Pennington of Princeton because the native western Kentuckian “is the candidate who can get it done.”
Ryan said in a statement that he is “proud to offer my endorsement to Alonzo Pennington. He is a born and bred Kentuckian who knows what many in Congress have forgotten -- it is the job of elected officials to work to make the lives of hardworking families easier, not harder.”
Pennington, a guitarist-singer-songwriter and hunting guide, is battling Dr. Paul Walker, a Murray State University English professor, in the May 22 primary. The winner will take on freshman Rep. James Comer, R-Tompkinsville, in November. Comer has no primary opposition.
Pennington and Ryan are courting labor support. Both candidates have visited union halls, including the Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council hall in Paducah.
Pennington and Ryan both oppose "right to work" and support the prevailing wage. Comer is pro-RTW and anti-PW.
The Kentucky State AFL-CIO voted "no recommendation" in their race, freeing unions to get choose the candidate of their choice.
In a statement on his Facebook page, Pennington hailed the Ryan endorsement as "big news and our second big national endorsement. Momentum continues to build and grow every day."
The People's House Project lined up with Pennington last month. “Alonzo is a musician, a hunting guide, a dad, and a true champion for the working class,” said Krystal Ball, founder and president of the organization that supports grassroots Democratic candidates like Pennington, 38, who lives in Princeton, the Caldwell County seat.
Ball, a former MSNBC host, has met with Pennington in Louisville, Kuttawa and Paducah.
“He’s not going to Washington to get along; he’s going to turn the whole place on its ear, and working people will finally get a seat at the table," she added in an interview with Forward Kentucky. "Oh, and you are going to love his campaign songs. Go, Zo!”
Pennington has composed several tunes--funny and serious--that can be heard on his Facebook page.
Ryan said that Pennington “is proudly pro-labor, and isn't afraid to say the word 'union.' He will be a champion for hardworking people and" he will join "the fight against racial and economic inequality.”
Ryan has voted the union position on legislation 98 percent of the time since 2003, when he came to Congress, according to the AFL-CIO’s House Scorecard. Comer has yet to be rated because the Scorecard only goes through 2016.
The First District sprawls 300 miles eastward from the Mississippi River.