Letitia James
From Ballot Access News:
A New York gubernatorial election poll conducted by David Binder Research shows that if the Working Families Party ran its own nominee for Governor of New York this year, the party would poll between 6% and 13%, depending on who its nominee was. Its best showing, 13%, is if New York City’s Public Advocate, Letitia James, was the WFP nominee. See this story.
From the article cited, written by Ken Lovett:
“This poll shows there’s a danger of Cuomo’s national reputation being badly damaged if there is a third-party candidate,” said [Bill] Samuels, who supported Cuomo in 2010 but has since become a critic. He has not ruled out a run for governor on a minor line if another candidate doesn’t step forward.
The poll found that New York City Public Advocate Letitia James, despite not being well known, would garner up to 13% of the vote on the Working Families line.
The survey also subbed out James and replaced her with Samuels for half the respondents, and Zenaida Mendez, president of the state chapter of the National Organization For Women, in the other sample. Samuels got 10% and Mendez 6% despite also being virtually unknown.
Siena College poll spokesman Steven Greenberg did not see the poll but called it unlikely a third-party candidate would top 10%.
A Cuomo aide dismissed the poll as “all political nonsense and irrelevant.”
Letitia is very smart and practical. In the end, she knows to tow the party line and if that means telling all the union members to vote for Andrew, that’s what she will do.
BTW, she joined us in protesting eminent domain in Brooklyn a few years ago (Barclay Arena where the Nets now play). We found an issue on which we were on the same side, albeit for different reasons.
Key may be “Charter Schools”. Working Families are opposed. Cuomo is for it, as is the Repubs. We’ll see.
I’ll also believe it only if and when it happens.
I’m still not convinced this isn’t just chatter. The WFP’s political bread and butter is fusion with Democratic Party nominees. I think if they ran someone against Cuomo that would really put the kabosh on their relationship with the state and national Democratic Parties. And I think Letitia James is a good person, but I think she sees a bright future for herself as an eventual Democratic Party office holder on a federal level.