PHILADELPHIA—Candidate for Pennsylvania’s Third Congressional District, Chris Rabb, secures major endorsements from key progressive organizations. Late last month, Justice Democrats and Working Families Party (WFP) gave Rabb the nod, adding to his impressive list of supporting organizations, which already includes OnePA, Reclaim Philadelphia, Sunrise Movement, the Philly chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), and others.
Along with the list of supporting organizations, progressive elected officials have also lent their support. Both independent WFP City Council members, Kendra Brooks and Nicolas O’Rourke, highlighted Rabb’s commitment to working people in their endorsements. “Rep. Rabb has taken on Republicans and the billionaire class in Harrisburg to improve the lives of working people,” Brooks said in her endorsement comments.
He also secured endorsements and support from progressive members of the Democratic Party. “Philadelphia deserves a representative who will unapologetically fight fascism, take on corporate power, and demand an end to US imperialism abroad,” said Patrick Wargo, a DSA member and Democratic Party Committee person for the 46th Ward, of Rabb’s candidacy. State Representatives Rick Krajewski and Elizabeth Fielder, State Senator Nikil Saval, and, perhaps most notably, U.S. House Representative Summer Lee from the western half of Pennsylvania have all given their endorsement.
This latest wave of endorsements represents a turning point for the campaign, as they’re coming off the heels of serious financial woes. Earlier this year, the campaign reported their former campaign treasurer, Yolanda Brown, to the Federal Election Commission for unauthorized withdrawals of funds. But that hasn’t stopped Rabb and the base of enthusiastic supporters who have mobilized to help him secure this seat. “Yes! Our people-powered campaign for Congress has been building incredible grassroots momentum every day. Our amazing team of 300 field organizers and volunteers from across the district collected over 7,000 Philly voter signatures for our campaign for Congress in PA-03! This was more than triple the number required to get on the ballot.” Rabb said in a conversation with People’s World. The campaign raised over $300,000 last quarter from small-dollar donors to make up for lost funds.
One area where Rabb hopes to gain support is organized labor. So far, he’s received an endorsement from the Community College of Philadelphia staff and faculty union, organized with AFT. He’s also been recommended by AFSCME DC47. Whereas State Senator Sharif Street, another leading candidate in this race, has been endorsed by a number of local unions and, most recently, was recommended by the Philly AFL-CIO.
Rabb, however, still views himself as a pro-labor candidate, pointing to his own history and involvement in the labor movement. Rabb is the only leading candidate who has been fired for exercising the right to organize your workplace. He told People’s World, “In my fourth year of teaching at Temple, I helped to successfully unionize 1,500 fellow adjunct professors in a landslide victory for worker rights. In retaliation for my work as a union organizer, I was fired by Temple University, but if I had the chance to do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing.”
He also discussed the importance of new organizing. “A strong and vibrant labor movement is built on a real commitment to new organizing that helps to bring democracy to every workplace and ensure that all workers, no matter which industry or state they are in, can exercise their rights.” The number of workers covered by a union contract reached a 16-year high in 2025 at 16.5 million. However, that number still only covers 11.2% of workers.
Rabb says the Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, a labor reform legislative priority for many unions, would “be one of my first priorities in Congress to strengthen the ability of every worker to form a union and stand up for their rights”. The AFL-CIO calls the PRO Act “the key to America’s future” and “a landmark worker empowerment, civil rights and economic stimulus legislation, and an essential part of any plan to build back better from the COVID-19 pandemic and recession.”
Rabb says a full repeal of Taft-Hartley is also needed. “Strengthening our country’s unions and worker rights also requires repeal of Taft-Hartley,” he told People’s World. Building on Bernie Sanders’ Workplace Democracy Act, he says he would introduce legislation that would “would go even further and enact a full repeal of Taft-Hartley, creating strong penalties against employers that violate the law, strengthening regulation of unfair labor practices, and ending the power of the President to enjoin strikes.” So far, Rabb is the only candidate in the race who has said labor reform legislation is a top priority for them in Congress.
The “Labor for Rabb” affinity group, composed of union members and labor activists, is encouraged by these policies and has planned canvases to discuss them with other union members throughout the city. The progressive labor coalition forming around Rabb has made winning over union support more competitive than his opponents may have expected. Rabb is focused on letting his policies and history win over rank-and-file union members.
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