Rep. Edolphus Towns was a wanted man months ago, hounded by his own party for abandoning fellow Democrats at key moments and handing legislative victories to Republicans in the process.

The 12-term congressman from a safely Democratic district in Brooklyn voted for the Central American Free Trade Agreement — a major GOP victory — and didn’t show up to vote for a budget-reconciliation bill on which the Democrats fell just two votes short.

He so infuriated the Democratic leadership that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi threatened to take away his seat on the Energy & Commerce Committee. Unions singled out Mr. Towns and vowed to make him pay for the CAFTA vote — described by them as unconscionable for a New York City Democrat.

But the political winds have shifted in Mr. Towns’ favor since then. The umbrella union group that made the biggest stink over the trade vote has abandoned its campaign against the CAFTA Democrats, saying they are instead focused on governor’s races in Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. And national Democratic leaders are setting their sights on the 15 GOP-held congressional seats that they need to reclaim the House.

“We’re just not taking positions for the most part in congressional races,” said Change to Win spokeswoman Carole Florman, who added that members of the Teamsters union have met with Mr. Towns to help him and the other CAFTA supporters “see the error of their ways.”

“The big push is to replace Republicans with Democrats, that’s a much higher priority than replacing a Democrat with another Democrat,” said Tom Halper, chairman of the political science department at Baruch College.

Mr. Halper said Mr. Towns is a stark example of how difficult it is to unseat an incumbent, particularly when the Brooklyn Democratic organization is disorganized and weak.

“Towns is one of these congressmen who’s been there forever and has never done anything and is invisible,” said Mr. Halper. “He really has accumulated some significant enemies over the years, but at the same time he’s really been ineffectual.”

Towns’ spokeswoman Ruth Morrison said the congressman had nothing to say about his relationship with labor and his voting record. “We don’t have any comment about the unions,” said Ms. Morrison. “Certainly we do feel confident that (the race) is winnable, but we’re not overly confident. We don’t feel it’s in the bag.”

Working in his favor, Mr. Towns, a former Baptist minister from North Carolina, has earned a reputation as a gifted campaigner with a knack for pressing the flesh ahead of an election.

Two Democrats are challenging Mr. Towns in the primary, media-savvy city councilman Charles Barron and state Assemblyman Roger Green, who in 2004 pleaded guilty to stealing from taxpayers by submitting false travel vouchers. Without significant union support, they do more to undercut each other than Mr. Towns.

Mr. Barron doesn’t have Mr. Green’s campaign debt or checkered legal history, but he admits he has little chance with Mr. Green still in the race.

Both men have been engaged for months in an odd public dance about withdrawing from the race, which would presumably give the remaining challenger a much better chance at getting money and union support. A third contender, former MTV “Real World” cast member Kevin Powell, dropped out of the race in July.

“We’ve set a deadline for this week to see if we can come to a conclusion as to who should be the standard-bearer,” Mr. Green said. Past declarations of an imminent decision have come to nothing.

The state AFL-CIO last week declined to endorse a candidate in the race, which adds up to another kind of victory for Mr. Towns in that neither of his challengers will get official backing.

Mr. Barron has for weeks argued that if Mr. Green would just drop out, he could corral the support necessary to topple Mr. Towns.

“If he dropped out tomorrow, it would free up the unions, because they feel with both of us in it neither one of us stand a chance,” said Mr. Barron.

The public pressure after his CAFTA vote may have had some effect on Mr. Towns. Last month, he joined Democrats to vote against a free trade deal with Oman.

Yet nine days later, he voted for a GOP-crafted minimum wage bill that also cut the estate tax. Democrats had furiously pushed members to oppose the measure as an election-year set-up and a sop to the super-rich.

All of the New York Democrats voted against the bill, except for Mr. Towns, who voted for it. Also voting for it: all eight New York Republicans present.