The Illinois Education Association (IEA), a statewide teacher’s union, is endorsing State Rep. Christian Mitchell (D-26) in his bid for reelection.

The association, which endorsed Mitchell’s opponent Jay Travis during the 2014 primary election, endorsed Mitchell during the general election after Travis lost the primary race. This election year, the association is going to continue supporting Mitchell.

“We have a policy that if someone is a recommended candidate that person continues [to receive] our endorsement åunless there is a reason to take it away,” said Jim Reed, the director of government relations at the IEA.

Reed said the association is endorsing Mitchell again because, “He has been a performing incumbent and has been great on our issues at local levels and state levels to reaffirm that recommendation he received in 2014.”

The Chicago Teacher’s Union (CTU) is once again endorsing Travis in her second run for the 26th District. The CTU has been Travis’ highest paying endorser in the current race, giving her $25,000 to aid in her campaign.

In November 2015, when CTU announced its early candidate endorsements for the primaries, which included Travis, CTU President Karen Lewis made a statement on the union’s chosen endorsements.

“We are focused on getting an elected, representative school board in Chicago, progressive revenue solutions that will fund our school district and halt the attacks on our pensions, and the full restoration of our collective bargaining rights,” Lewis said. “Therefore, our first priority is to get champions in the statehouse. This means that we need political leaders who are grounded in our mission to strengthen our schools; and, they must be able to win.”

Before Travis’ first campaign for the 26th District in 2014, CTU donated a total of $1,250 to Mitchell between 2012 and 2013. Despite the contributions, Mitchell was never officially endorsed by the CTU.

According to Reed, the 130,000 members of the IEA do not overlap with the 30,000 members of the CTU.

Reed would not disclose how much money the IEA will donate to Mitchell’s campaign, but said, “We provide support to the candidates based on their needs in order to help them get reelected.”

 

[Via: Hyde Park Herald]