New York State

NY Dems’ party chair wants to create … a new party

Jay Jacobs says Hochul should have two lines on the ballot – and he doesn’t seem to be counting on the WFP.

State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs

State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs Thomas A. Ferrara/Newsday RM via Getty Images

Third party discourse has officially entered the chat for the 2022 statewide election cycle. And like always, it’s messy. 

State Democratic Party Chair Jay Jacobs is looking to create a new third party to help give Gov. Kathy Hochul – and reportedly some vulnerable incumbents – an extra boost in November. Thanks to New York’s somewhat archaic fusion voting laws, candidates can run on multiple party lines in a single election, allowing their name to appear more than once on the same ballot.

Republicans have reliably depended on the Conservative Party to offer its line to GOP candidates, and this year is no different. In the gubernatorial race, the Conservative Party has already designated Rep. Lee Zeldin, the presumptive GOP nominee, as their candidate. If Zeldin wins the Republican primary, he will appear at least twice on the ballot. 

Right now, Hochul is guaranteed only one party line if she wins the Democratic primary because the Working Families Party is backing New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams. As of now, if Williams loses the primary, he still has a spot on the ballot on the WFP line, though that line has traditionally been offered to whoever wins the Democratic primary. “It is only smart tactically for us to consider using an Independent Nominating Committee to ensure that the governor’s position on the ballot matches her Republican opponent,” Jacobs said in a statement.

Jacobs told City & State that the idea has support from some county leaders, but the idea has not been well received by some Democrats. “I put that in the category of shenanigans,” state Senate Deputy Majority Leader Michael Gianaris told reporters on Tuesday. “People know who the Democratic candidates are, people know who the Republican candidates are, and they’re going to vote accordingly.” He called it “peculiar” that the leader of one party would suggest creating a new one.

But at least one of Jacobs’ predecessors said he could see himself taking similar action if he had found himself in a comparable political situation. “Just in case there were people who are of a mind not to want to vote on the Democratic line, that you open up a separate line for them, I guess that's okay,” former Gov. David Paterson, who chaired the state party for a year after his tenure, told City & State. “In a similar situation, yes, I could have seen myself doing that.” Paterson said that he doesn’t consider providing a Democrat with another line to be “wrong or unethical” as it would ultimately serve to help the party.

Whether or not Williams will retain the WFP line if he loses the June primary remains a question, though recent history suggests that won’t happen. In 2014, when the party backed Fordham Law professor Zephyr Teachout, it later removed her from its line to instead offer it to former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. The WFP did the same thing in 2018, when it initially endorsed actress Cynthia Nixon. 

Neither happened without controversy, however. Cuomo famously created the Women’s Equality Party (with the very similar initials of WEP) in 2014 in what political observers widely regarded as a dig against the WFP for backing his primary opponent. In 2018, it took some cajoling for Cuomo to accept the Working Families Party line, important to help the WFP maintain its automatic ballot access. At the time, it needed at least 50,000 votes on its line to stay on the ballot in future elections. Backing the Democratic candidate was a surefire way to secure those votes without a risk of playing spoiler. 

Then in 2019, the Democratic party with Jacobs at its head sought to raise that ballot access threshold to at least 250,000 votes, a level that would have all but guaranteed the WFP would dissolve. Most viewed it as retaliation from Cuomo against the WFP for opposing him in the past two primaries, something both he and Jacbos denied. Ultimately, the state did raise the vote threshold, though not quite as high as the initial proposals. It led to the destruction of several third parties – but not the Conservative Party and the WFP.

Although the WFP has not said one way or another what it plans to do after the Democratic primary, Jacobs’ third party decision does not sit well with WFP leaders. “Jay Jacobs knows that the party has never played the role of spoiler,” WFP Deputy Director Sharon Cromwell said in a statement to City & State. “He’s looking for an excuse to spend hundreds of thousands (of dollars) to create a party that won’t mobilize voters, but only function to pull Democrats further to the right and alienate the growing bloc of progressive voters.”

Jacobs’ move to create an independent third party this year through independent petitioning and gathering 45,000 signatures does not guarantee that the party will become permanent – it must meet the same vote threshold of 2% of votes cast for governor or 130,000 votes, whichever is higher, just like any other party. Nor is their proof that it will have the intended effect of helping the governor or other Democratic incumbents. Such a move didn’t help former Nassau County Executive Laura Curran, who had created the Common Sense Party as she suffered from backlash against Democrats for rising crime and bail reform. But at the very least, it does mark yet another chapter in New York’s messy third party politics.

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.