WFP’s absence felt in Rochester mayoral race

The New York Working Families Party's decision to stay out of the Rochester mayoral race may be a missed opportunity to cement their role in regional politics, and no one is quite sure how they got there. The sweltering election day heat is expected to depress turnout across the state, and a lack of organizing could end any chance to change the status quo of Democratic Mayor Malik Evans' administration. 

In March, the WFP announced it would not be endorsing a candidate in the mayoral primary, something it has always done in Rochester and is currently doing in every major race in New York. WFP Co-executive Director Jasmine Gripper said that the decision came down to a question of resources above anything else. However, the party endorsed Evans four years ago and has endorsed Rochester Common Council candidates this year. 

Evans doesn’t understand why the progressive third party stayed out of the race this year, given his record. But he also shirks the label progressive, even as the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement brain trust puts a “bullseye,” as he puts it, on Rochester. 

“I don't subscribe to labels,” Evans told City & State. “I'm a Democrat, and I'm a common-sense Democrat that gets results. I'm a Democrat. I've been a Democrat since I've been 18 years old and everyone in my family has been a Democrat. So I'm a Democrat. That's what I am.”

Party allegiance aside, the WFP’s help organizing is often seen as an asset, and in Rochester and Monroe County, where Democrats have only recently been able to cement some level of authority in local politics, it would probably be wise for the different coalitions to be collaborative if not work in conjunction. 

Common Council Member Mary Lupien, who is challenging Evans along with IT executive Shashi Sinha, said that her understanding is that the decision not to endorse in the race came from the local party. She said the real reason that WFP stayed out of the race is unrelated to candidate viability or concern about a lack of resources, though she refused to say what the actual reason was.

“It's about something else which I'm not going to go into and has nothing to do with me,” Lupien said. 

The Rochester WFP maintains that it is working under a long-term plan to land progressive candidates in office and is currently focused on Common Council races.

“The Rochester Chapter of the NYWFP has a multi-year strategic plan to elect progressive champions up and down the ballot,” Western New York WFP organizer Geovaira Hernandez said in a statement. “This year, their focus remains on re-electing Stanley Martin and increasing the progressive bloc in the Rochester City Council by electing Chiara Smith, Kevin Stewart, Kelly Cheatle and Victor Sanchez.” 

Still, Lupien thinks that WFP could have helped cement progressive leadership in upstate New York by supporting a mayoral candidate like herself or Sinha, given that the party is supporting mayoral candidates in other upstate cities like Albany City Auditor Dorcey Applyrs and Buffalo state Sen. Sean Ryan. 

Monroe County Democratic Committee Chair Stephan DeVay said that he’s perceived a lack of attention to Rochester in general, in spite of its growing progressive movement. DeVay added that when he wants to coordinate something, he has to reach out to someone in Erie County rather than meet with a local official. Part of that could be a frank look at where the party’s time and energy are best used, or it could be something more ideological. 

“One of the things that is a little bit of a challenge is the term progressive movement, I think, eliminates the view that some of the people that are currently in office might be in that movement,” DeVay said. “You know, I believe in a lot of the progressive things… but the progressive movement here in Rochester wouldn't call me a progressive, which is, I think, a little bit of a challenge.”