Working Families Party: Don't vote for us in NY-17

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — The Working Families Party (WFP) doesn't want New Yorkers in the 17th Congressional District to vote for their ballot line in the General Election on November 5. They say they have no relationship with Anthony Frascone, the candidate representing their party.

At a press conference on the morning of Monday, October 21, WFP-New York co-director Ana María Archila said the party never endorsed Frascone, nor do they support his campaign. "He is a MAGA plant from Mike Lawler designed to siphon votes away from Mondaire Jones," she said, calling it an elaborate scheme to hoodwink New Yorkers. "We are here to make sure you do not vote for a fake candidate."

Take a look at the press conference, streamed via Twitter/X, below:

Reached for comment Monday, Lawler campaign spokesperson Chris Russell responded, “The Working Families Party should have done a better job of getting out to vote in the primary.”

District 17 represents all of Rockland and Putnam Counties, plus sections of Dutchess and Westchester Counties. On November 4, incumbent freshman Republican Rep. Mike Lawler defends his seat against his predecessor, former Rep. Mondaire Jones. Jones had previously represented the district until the 2020 gerrymandering fiasco changed the borders and shook up New York's congressional delegation.

In 2022, Jones opted to run in a different district rather than challenge former Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, then a leader in Congress, in a primary. But then, Republican Mike Lawler beat Maloney by almost 2,000 votes, flipping the district red for the first time since the Reagan Era. At the same time, Jones lost his race in a crowded and redrawn 10th District primary.

This year, election watchers say the match-up between Lawler and Jones for purple District 17 could go in any direction. This concerns the WFP because, in New York, fusion voting lets multiple political parties nominate the same candidate. As explained by the Brennan Center for Justice, "New York’s 'fusion' voting system allows for the same candidate to run on both a major party as well as a minor party line. This allows voters to vote for a major party candidate while supporting a minor party."

Most states don't bother with fusion voting, embracing the two-party system without bolstering third parties. But in Empire State elections, both major parties have an associated third party with whom they fusion vote. That's why most New York Republicans also represent the Conservative Party ticket, and most New York Democrats are also from WFP.

And although WFP endorsed Jones in the race with Lawler, Lawler's campaign surreptitiously propped up spoiler candidate Frascone to confuse voters, Archila argued. She said that Lawler worked with the Rockland County GOP to reregister a cadre of lifetime Republicans as WFP members to rig a WFP primary that WFP officials say never really happened.

According to WFP, MAGA conservatives and Lawler forced and won a surprise primary while they struggled to educate traditional and loyal WFP voters about the issue. "Usually, the minor parties—the Conservative Party and the WFP—don't have primaries. So the people that are registered in our parties are not accustomed to voting in primary elections," Archila said. "They registered 200 people, unbeknownst to us, as WFP registrants and submitted those voter registrations very close to the deadline so that we wouldn't find out what was happening. And by registering 200 people, they ensured they would have enough people to sign a petition to put Frascone on the ballet and to force a surprise primary... But, because the people who are real WFP registrants have been registered maybe 20 years ago, 15 years ago, 10 years ago, it's actually much harder to find them."

In close-fought elections, third parties can change the tide. Installing Frascone, then—a devoutly religious man with a decided Republican history who has not campaigned for the office—on the ballot of the WFP, a pro-labor, anti-corruption outfit, would split the vote among political leftists. It could essentially nerf the votes of many centrists, progressives, or independents bamboozled by the ballot box.

That's why WFP wants to sacrifice what they say would be over 8,000 votes on their ballot line. Officials said the party wouldn't lose ballot access because they can still attain 2% of votes for the Harris-Walz presidential ticket on the WFP line.

Meanwhile, "This is a recurring problem in New York," said Green Party New York operative Mark Dunlea. The Green and Libertarian Parties alike—which do not collaborate on a fusion voting ticket—already lost ballot access for the 2024 election, having fallen short of new requirements for third parties. The Greens say that, for the first time in at least 40 years, New York will only have two presidential candidates on the ballot, a limit that restricts the democratic process.

Dunlea pointed out that in Rensselaer County, for example, Republicans recently undermined the WFP by running fake candidates to neuter Democrats. Two GOP Rensselaer County officials pled guilty, but three more were acquitted. He said that the GOP has similarly misrepresented the Green Party, for example, when current Republican Troy Mayor Carmella Mantello ran under an extra Green Party ballot line.

Assemblymember Dana Levenberg also spoke at the press conference announcing the WFP voting strategy on Monday alongside Jennifer Cabrera, the chair of the WFP Westchester-Putnam Chapter, and Theo Oshiro, the director of Make the Road Action.