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Aligned with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and teachers’ unions, the party also stands against charter schools, an option sought by many seeking to escape the government-controlled education system. Candidates looking to run on the WFP ballot line will also be asked if they are in favor of providing taxpayer-funded health insurance to undocumented aliens.
“The Working Families Party is building our own party on top of the two-party system in the United States — and it’s working,” the group says. “We organize outside the two parties, and then we recruit and train people-powered candidates up and down the ballot and run them to win.”
The party is headed by Maurice Mitchell, a nationally-recognized social movement strategist who is described as a “visionary leader in the Movement for Black Lives, and a community organizer for racial, social, and economic justice.” Hailing from Brooklyn, Mitchell worked as an organizer for the Long Island Progressive Coalition (LIPC) and was director of the New York Civic Engagement Table (NYCET) and downstate organizing director for Citizen Action of NY. “Seeing the need for an anchor organization to provide strategic support and guidance to Movement for Black Lives activists across the country, Maurice co-founded and managed Blackbird,” his bio states. He was also a key organizer of the Movement for Black Lives convention in Cleveland in 2015.
The party’s New York delegate is Jonathan Westin, a left-of-center political activist and community organizer who has led New York Communities for Change (NYCC) since 2014, his online info states. Westin previously worked as a community organizer for the now-defunct Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), an activist group that was shut down due to financial problems and accusations of fraud. “Westin has been a central promoter of far-left and left-of-center policies in New York City and has been involved in activist campaigns including Occupy Wall Street and the Fight for $15 campaign,” according to his bio. He also sits on the WFP national committee.
Running on the Working Families Party line in the last election put some local Democrats in a tight spot, especially considering their anti-law enforcement positions at a time when the state is suffering from a crime wave. Suffolk County Executive candidate Edward Romaine, a Republican, castigated his Democrat opponent, Dave Calone, for accepting the party’s endorsement, accusing him of taking public positions opposite to what the party espouses. “Did he tell the Working Families Party leadership one thing and is now telling the voters the exact opposite?” Romaine asked during the campaign, which he won by almost 14 points. The 7,579 votes Calone received on the Working Families Party line out of his 121,115 total made no difference in the final tally, with some observers saying the line turned off more moderate voters. In a hotly contested race, Romaine also railed against his opponent for the Working Families Party’s support of cashless bail and its anti-police, pro-criminal rhetoric.
The same result holds true in Brookhaven Town, where Councilman Daniel Panico trounced his opponent, Democrat Lillian Clayman, who picked up 2.81% of her total from the third party, nowhere close to the votes she needed to overtake him. Of the nine non-incumbent Democrat candidates the party backed for the Suffolk Legislature, seven lost. No Republicans on Long Island ran under its banner.
Working Families Party benefits from New York election law which allows for down-ballot cross endorsements. Because they went with Democrat Kathy Hochul for governor, they were able to pick up enough votes to qualify for a ballot line. With Hochul’s success, the Democrat Party shows up on Row A of state ballots, the Republicans occupy Row B, the Conservatives on Row C, and the Working Families Party on Row D. The former Liberal, Right to Life, and Independence parties did not qualify for ballot placement leaving their leadership with greatly reduced political power.
Already, Democrats are bristling at the ultra-left policies of the WFP. “I’m certainly not seeking their endorsement,” said Bronx Democrat Michael Benedetto in a published report. “Raising taxes by $40 billion is too far to the left. I’m not comfortable with that position.” He was also nonplussed in media reports about giving non-citizens the right to vote. “Voting is one of the most cherished rights we have as Americans,” he noted.
Regarding their call for billions in new taxes, the party stated: “The Invest in Our New York platform proposes key progressive tax reforms which would raise about $40 billion annually. These reforms would raise taxes on New York’s richest through a progressive income tax, an increased corporate tax, and a set of reforms targeting other forms of wealth.”
“It’s a double-edged sword for Democrats taking the Working Families Party line,” said state Assemblyman Joseph DeStefano (R-Medford) who, along with the representatives of both houses of the state legislature, is up for reelection in 2024. “Getting a one to two percent bump by appearing on this line may not be worth it considering the baggage their extreme-left positions bring. Long Island voters are definitely not in favor of higher taxes, illegal immigrants voting, and the constant anti-police din we hear coming out of their leadership.”