Governor Andrew Cuomo and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi held a rally with union members at the Javits Center as part of the Democratic party's campaign to win control of the House in 2018. Reporter Grace Rauh filed the following report.

NEW YORK -- Governor Andrew Cuomo and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi are rallying the party base in New York as they fight to flip the House of Representatives to Democratic control next year.

"New York, are you ready to hold the Trump administration and the Republican Congress accountable?" Pelosi said.

Officially, Democrats are targeting all nine House seats held by Republicans in New York. But some representatives are more vulnerable than others. 

"We say to these Congresspeople, we promise you, if you violate your office, you defraud the voters, you hurt the people of this state, we will remove you from office on November 2, 2018," Cuomo said.

Several hundred union members, nearly all of them men, attended the rally at the Javits Center. At times, it felt like an early 2020 presidential campaign event for the governor, a possible White House hopeful.

"While Republicans stonewalled in Washington, Governor Cuomo has delivered landmark victories for New Yorkers," Pelosi said.

There was one prominent New York Democrat conspicuously absent from the rally. Mayor Bill de Blasio did not attend.

A spokesman for the mayor told NY1 he was not invited. But an aide to the governor disputed that statement and said the mayor had been invited to the event, but only at 7:30 the night before. Invitations to other guests, meanwhile, went out as early as Saturday.

"It’s an event that’s clearly been in the works for some time. They informed us of it the night before. That’s not how the Mayor of New York City’s schedule works and that’s not a real invite. This is a silly discussion we won’t be involved in. We’re focused on doing real work for the public," Eric Phillips, the mayor's press secretary, said in a statement.