GOP Candidates, Labor Unions Make Strange Bedfellows

Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick’s (R-Pa.) bid to continue representing a suburban area just outside Philadelphia features a rarity among Republicans: He’s the only House GOP lawmaker in the Keystone State to be endorsed by the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO.

The first-term lawmaker is among a small group of Republican candidates who are getting union backing in the run-up to the November elections.

“Union members understand their responsibilities as citizens and voters. Their unions take great care to evaluate the positions of political candidates based on the issues that affect working people in their everyday lives,” Rick Bloomingdale, president of Pennsylvania’s AFL-CIO, said when ...