HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — A longtime Houston-area lawmaker is raising eyebrows after telling a local union, “to hell with you all,” when the union failed to endorse him.

State Rep. Harold Dutton, D-Houston, has represented the 142nd House district since 1985.

When the Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation decided to endorse one of his opponents in the March 3rd primary, he left a voice message for the group’s executive director, Hany Khalil.

“Since you all don’t respect me enough to say, ‘Well, wait a minute. We need to take a look at all of what Representative Dutton does,’ you know, to hell with you all,” Dutton said in the message.

Khalil said he had just called Dutton to tell him he was endorsing Danny Norris in part because of Dutton’s vote for a 2015 message Khalil says paved the way for the state takeover of HISD.

“He seems to think he’s entitled to our endorsement,” said Khalil.

In his message, Dutton references Republican efforts to outlaw automatic union dues deductions, hinting he may not fight those efforts in the future.

“They can’t count on my support to stop it. That doesn’t mean that I’m gonna do anything actively to try to do it,” Dutton told Eyewitness News Friday.

“If it came up, I probably wouldn’t vote for it. I have a number of union friends. I have a number of unions still supporting me,” Dutton said.

Khalil said a candidate’s positions should remain consistent regardless of who’s endorsing them.

“We’ll withdraw our endorsement. We still expect those candidates to stand with us. They say that they believe in union values. That’s why they’re asking us for our support,” Khalil said.

“We never want to say to hell with important organizations like unions, schools, or any other institutions that are supporting working families,” said Norris, who did receive the union’s endorsement.

Dutton’s other opponent, James Joseph, said Dutton’s remarks sent the wrong message and said that when he loses an endorsement, his response is to listen and earn trust.

But Dutton said he’s glad people have heard the voice message and said he remains a friend to unions – just not the one that didn’t endorse him.

“In politics, we all know you help everybody, but your friends are at the front of the line,” Dutton said.

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