The Working Families Party is considering fielding a candidate in this year’s mayoral election in New York City. The party has never run a nominee of its own for the position but has historically given its ballot line to other candidates seeking it.
In an interview with local media this week, party co-director Ana María Archila confirmed that the group has taken steps to place attorney Gowri Krishna on its ballot line as a placeholder candidate. This comes despite the party already announcing its support for a slate of four candidates running in the Democratic primary. Those four are City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, City Comptroller Brad Lander, Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani, and State Senator Zellnor Myrie.
According to information shared during the interview, if none of the four endorsed candidates is successful in the primary, the party may replace Krishna with one of them for the general election. However, Archila did not specify how the party would make that final decision.
While the Working Families Party has never run its own nominee for New York City mayor, it has frequently supported Democratic candidates who hold views consistent with its platform. In 2021, the party issued a dual endorsement of Maya Wiley and Dianne Morales in the Democratic primary, though neither advanced to the general election. In 2017, the party endorsed Democrat Bill de Blasio for reelection, who did appear on its line.
A poll of 854 likely Democratic primary voters conducted by Data for Progress last month shows former Governor Andrew Cuomo leading in the primary with 39% support. Mamdani trails in second with 15%, while none of the other Working Families Party–backed candidates reached double digits. Even when accounting for ranked-choice voting, which the June primary will use, Cuomo remains the frontrunner.
In case anyone else stops to wonder, mayor Eric Adams and city council speaker Adrienne Adams are apparently not related to each other. Interestingly enough, however, they were classmates at Bayside High School, Queens.
“[the Working Families Party] has frequently supported Democratic candidates who hold views consistent with its platform.”
How often has the WFP supported Republican/RINO candidates with similar views? What about other parties’ candidates? How do those numbers compare to Democrats and independents? Is there an easy overview of all WFP’s NYC mayoral endorsements somewhere?
“In 2021, the party issued a dual endorsement of Maya Wiley and Dianne Morales”
Yuck.
“In 2017, the party endorsed Democrat Bill de Blasio”
Triple yuck.
“A poll of 854 likely Democratic primary voters […] shows former Governor Andrew Cuomo leading in the primary with 39% support. […] Even when accounting for ranked-choice voting, which the June primary will use, Cuomo remains the frontrunner.”
Is the “Big Apple”, the “Empire City”, the “Modern Gomorrah”, ever going to learn from its mistakes? We’ll never know, unless we ever get the real vote totals. And certainly this extraordinarily small poll for such a large and blue city, is not going to help us find out.
Mayor Adams is running as an independent. Discussed in open thread.