Working Families Party Backs Cuomo for Re-election

After threatening to endorse another candidate, a deeply-split Working Families Party backed Governor Andrew Cuomo for re-election on Saturday night. NY1′s Zack Fink filed the following report.

Late into the afternoon, leaders from the Working Families Party and senior staff to Mayor Bill de Blasio were furiously counting votes.

In the end, a deal Governor Andrew Cuomo struck with the party to secure the nomination prevailed.

“The Governor addressed the crowd via video and then telephone. He pledged to pass campaign finance reform, and a better minimum wage— things he could not accomplish with Republicans controlling the State Senate agenda,” the mayor said.

“This is the best for the party. The best for the governor. The best for the progressive movement for us to really build an agenda to take back the state,” said Hector Figueroa, of property services workers union 32BJ.

But activists within the party backed Fordham University Law Professor Zephyr Teachout for the nomination.

“What I see is this immense concentration of wealth and threading both economic and political democracy,” said gubernatorial candidate Zephyr Teachout.

Even though she lost, there is still much disenchantment with Cuomo among liberal-leaning party members.

“Well the frustration with Cuomo is very clear. It’s first and foremost economic inequality. It’s tax cuts for the wealthy, the end of the bank tax,” said WFP state committee member David Schwartz.

Some believe the Working Families Party is already moving the national Democratic Party to the left.

“I think the Democratic Party nationally is going through a period where people all over the country are getting a bit of a gut check that we have to regain the confidence of the electorate,” said Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

Governor Cuomo also promised, for the first time, to campaign for a Democratic majority in the state senate—something that could also require him to broker peace between two rival democratic factions.

NEWS – NY1

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