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Teacher’s union leader backs Tant as endorsement battle continues

Posted Jan 10, 2013 by William March

Updated Jan 10, 2013 at 11:54 AM

As the endorsement battle continues in campaign for chairman of the state Democratic Party, Andy Ford, president of the state teacher’s union, is backing Allison Tant for the post.

Tant also announced an endorsement today from Tony Hill, a former state senator and member of the national Democratic Party, while her opponent, Alan Clendenin, announced support of the voting Democrats in Polk and Okaloosa counties.

The Florida Education Association, Ford’s union, is the one of the most important labor groups supporting Democrats in Florida. FEA spokesman Mark Pudlow said the endorsement represents Ford’s view, not the unions.

Tant, a prominent Tallahassee progressive activist and Democratic fundraiser, already has an endorsement from another large, politically active union, the Service Employees International Union.

Tant also has the backing of the state’s most prominent Democratic elected officials.

Clendenin, however, appears to be stacking up more endorsements from the party officials who will vote in the race—representatives of the county party organizations who make up the Democratic Executive Committee. Yesterday, he announced endorsements from the representatives of the state’s three largest county Democratic Party organizations, those in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties.