How to Beat Cuomo and Adams? The Working Families Party Has a Plan.
The New York Times
The left-leaning political party is seeking to avoid a repeat of 2021, when its top candidates were also-rans in the Democratic mayoral primary in New York City.
Four years ago, as New York City seemed in thrall to a leftward political shift, the Working Families Party endorsed a slate of three progressive contenders for mayor.
Disaster struck. None of the three candidates made it to the final round of the city’s nascent ranked-choice voting system, and Eric Adams, a moderate Democrat, went on to become mayor, after winning the Democratic primary by a margin of less than 8,000 votes.
Four years later, with another mayoral primary election looming, the Working Families Party is trying to prevent history from repeating itself. In the city’s second use of ranked-choice voting for a mayor’s race, they see an opportunity.
The group is weighing a number of strategies to encourage its supporters to unite behind a single candidate, including obligating campaigns that sought its endorsement to agree to cross-endorse the candidate that it ultimately ranks first.
By doing so, the party hopes to stunt the progress of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a moderate who is the current front-runner, as well as that of Mr. Adams.
“We want to be able to have a slate that reaches into the mosaic of New York City,” the party’s co-chair, Ana María Archila, said in an interview. “Being able to have the maximum reach is important, and then we will continue to work with this group of candidates to see if we can all coalesce around one, or how far coalescing can happen.”
