Latest news with #WorkingFamiliesParty
Yahoo
11 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Despite ranked-choice voting, Adrienne Adams declines to back rivals in NYC mayor's race
NEW YORK — Mayoral candidate Adrienne Adams declined Thursday to say who she voted for, even as her opponents — and chief supporter — have begun to capitalize on the city's ranked-choice voting system in their collective quest to block Andrew Cuomo's return to power. "I voted for me and I voted for my community," the City Council speaker said after leaving her polling station in the Jamaica section of Queens on the sixth day of early voting ahead of the June 24 Democratic primary. Asked who else she ranked on her ballot, Adams replied, "Well, I still believe in the secrecy of the ballot, and I voted for me and my community." She specifically declined to say whether she voted for democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani — the first choice for the Working Families Party, which endorsed Adams as part of a four-person slate intended to oppose Cuomo. The secrecy from Adams stands in contrast to the recent — albeit late — cross endorsements candidates and top surrogates are making to blunt Cuomo's rise. The former governor, a household name, is beating the lesser-known Adams among Black New Yorkers, even though she'd be New York City's first Black female mayor. Mamdani and Brad Lander endorsed one another last week — likely a bigger benefit to Mamdani if he outpaces Lander as is expected, though the city comptroller is having a strong close to his campaign season. Some people on Adams' team were hoping she'd back her rivals. To that end, her aides had prepared a statement asserting her support for the Working Families Party's slate, but internal disagreements blocked it from being released, someone with knowledge of the matter told POLITICO. That person was granted anonymity to freely discuss private campaign strategy. Adams' chief endorser, New York State Attorney General Letitia James, announced support for Lander, Mamdani and Myrie as her second, third and fourth picks Saturday in a rebuke to Cuomo, her political nemesis. New Yorkers can select up to five candidates, in order of preference, when they head to the polls Tuesday in the city's relatively new ranked-choice voting system. Adams entered the race late, with low name recognition and insufficient funds to take on the former governor. A low-profile politician who would be New York City's first female mayor, she was urged into the race by James, who wants to see Cuomo defeated but didn't want to run for the job. A report from James' office four years ago substantiated allegations Cuomo sexually harassed female staffers, leading to his resignation. He denies the claims. Adams is viewed by political insiders as a candidate with a lot of potential for growth, but has yet to meet that expectation in a race dominated by Cuomo and Mamdani, the democratic socialist who routinely polls second. Where Cuomo enjoys popularity in the Council speaker's Queens district of older Black homeowners, Mamdani excites a younger, wealthier and whiter crowd. On the campaign trail, Adams has criticized both candidates, delivering a searing rebuke of Cuomo's Covid policies in a speech about her deceased father and questioning Mamdani's inexperience on the debate stage. She also released a since-deleted social media post that slammed the state lawmaker's vow to abolish ICE. Cuomo has not told his supporters to rank anyone else on their ballots, including state Sen. Jessica Ramos — who broke with the Working Families Party and endorsed him. Defeating Cuomo on his political turf — which overlaps with her own — was always going to be a challenge for the Council speaker, but her broader appeal made her an attractive choice for voters seeking an experienced alternative to Cuomo. She's routinely polling a distant fourth.
Politico
12 hours ago
- Politics
- Politico
Despite ranked-choice voting, Adrienne Adams declines to back rivals in NYC mayor's race
NEW YORK — Mayoral candidate Adrienne Adams declined Thursday to say who she voted for, even as her opponents — and chief supporter — have begun to capitalize on the city's ranked-choice voting system in their collective quest to block Andrew Cuomo's return to power. 'I voted for me and I voted for my community,' the City Council speaker said after leaving her polling station in the Jamaica section of Queens on the sixth day of early voting ahead of the June 24 Democratic primary. Asked who else she ranked on her ballot, Adams replied, 'Well, I still believe in the secrecy of the ballot, and I voted for me and my community.' She specifically declined to say whether she voted for democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani — the first choice for the Working Families Party, which endorsed Adams as part of a four-person slate intended to oppose Cuomo. The secrecy from Adams stands in contrast to the recent — albeit late — cross endorsements candidates and top surrogates are making to blunt Cuomo's rise. The former governor, a household name, is beating the lesser-known Adams among Black New Yorkers, even though she'd be New York City's first Black female mayor. Mamdani and Brad Lander endorsed one another last week — likely a bigger benefit to Mamdani if he outpaces Lander as is expected, though the city comptroller is having a strong close to his campaign season. Some people on Adams' team were hoping she'd back her rivals. To that end, her aides had prepared a statement asserting her support for the Working Families Party's slate, but internal disagreements blocked it from being released, someone with knowledge of the matter told POLITICO. That person was granted anonymity to freely discuss private campaign strategy. Adams' chief endorser, New York State Attorney General Letitia James, announced support for Lander, Mamdani and Myrie as her second, third and fourth picks Saturday in a rebuke to Cuomo, her political nemesis. New Yorkers can select up to five candidates, in order of preference, when they head to the polls Tuesday in the city's relatively new ranked-choice voting system. Adams entered the race late, with low name recognition and insufficient funds to take on the former governor. A low-profile politician who would be New York City's first female mayor, she was urged into the race by James, who wants to see Cuomo defeated but didn't want to run for the job. A report from James' office four years ago substantiated allegations Cuomo sexually harassed female staffers, leading to his resignation. He denies the claims. Adams is viewed by political insiders as a candidate with a lot of potential for growth, but has yet to meet that expectation in a race dominated by Cuomo and Mamdani, the democratic socialist who routinely polls second. Where Cuomo enjoys popularity in the Council speaker's Queens district of older Black homeowners, Mamdani excites a younger, wealthier and whiter crowd. On the campaign trail, Adams has criticized both candidates, delivering a searing rebuke of Cuomo's Covid policies in a speech about her deceased father and questioning Mamdani's inexperience on the debate stage. She also released a since-deleted social media post that slammed the state lawmaker's vow to abolish ICE. Cuomo has not told his supporters to rank anyone else on their ballots, including state Sen. Jessica Ramos — who broke with the Working Families Party and endorsed him. Defeating Cuomo on his political turf — which overlaps with her own — was always going to be a challenge for the Council speaker, but her broader appeal made her an attractive choice for voters seeking an experienced alternative to Cuomo. She's routinely polling a distant fourth.
New York Post
2 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Justin Brannan just proved he can't be trusted to serve as city comptroller
It really tells you all you need to know about City Councilman and comptroller-candidate Justin Brannan that a dozen or so clergy just called him out for falsely claiming their endorsements. 'I felt violated,' Bishop E.M. Davis told The Post. 'Let me make my own decision,' fumed Pastor Louis Bligen. After multiple faith leaders stood up to complain, some saying they'd never even heard of him, Brannan's campaign deleted the social-media post. It blamed an external vendor for the screwup — though getting bishops, pastors and so on to endorse you seems a truly bizarre thing to outsource. That is: Even Brannan's excuse has to make you ask why he should be given huge power over city pension funds, among the other responsibilities of the comptroller's office. As the chosen candidate of the far-left Working Families Party, Brannan can at least console himself with the backing of a slew of pro-Hamas Israel-haters, such as anti-cop Councilwoman Tiffany Caban (D-Queens) and the infamous Linda Sarsour. Of course, Brannan has earned Caban's love on many fronts: He endorsed the council Progressive Caucus' 2020 plan to defund the NYPD by $5 billion over 10 years and was one of 11 members who pledged to vote no on a city budget that 'does not significantly #DefundNYPD.' And when the City Council nonetheless passed a budget that didn't cut the NYPD deeply, he vowed that 'the work doesn't stop tonight.' Not that he didn't try going after Mark Levine, his opponent in the primary, as a cop-defunder, until the debate moderator called out Brannan for throwing stones in a glass house: As the clergy fiasco shows, Justin isn't one to let facts get in his way. The good news is, if Brannan can't con the voters into making him comptroller, term limits will soon force him off the council — and perhaps out of city politics entirely.
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Zohran Mamdani, Brad Lander are cross-endorsing in race for New York City mayor
NEW YORK — After months of Andrew Cuomo topping the New York City mayor's race while the organized left scrambled, progressive candidates are finally using ranked-choice voting to fight back. Whether there's enough time to capitalize on Cuomo's negatives remains to be seen — he continues to dominate most polls and is funded by a multimillion-dollar super PAC, with just 11 days until the Democratic primary. Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander, the highest-ranking progressive candidates in the race, endorsed each other Friday, one day after the final Democratic primary debate during which both attacked Cuomo. The former governor saved most of his fire for Mamdani, who is nipping at his heels in the final stretch of the race. In backing each other, the two candidates each urged his supporters to rank the other second as they seek every advantage before early voting begins Saturday. And it comes as the Working Families Party encourages its other endorsed candidates to formally combine forces — something the campaigns have avoided until now. 'Today's cross-endorsement is probably the most impactful,' Ana María Archila, New York Working Families Party co-director, told POLITICO in an interview Friday. She sidestepped criticism of two other party-backed candidates — state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams — for not joining in the cross-endorsement. 'I know that Zellnor really cares about how to guide his voters. I know that the speaker really cares about how to guide her voters,' Archila said. 'It's really a candidate-to-candidate conversation, and because of that, it's very particular to the dynamics between the candidates.' When asked about the possibility of a cross-endorsement, Adams told PIX11 News this week, 'I am still considering all of the options available.' Cuomo, until recently appeared locked in a two-person race with Mamdani, a democratic socialist state lawmaker. But Lander, the city comptroller, had a good week with a strong debate performance. An internal poll conducted by the Working Families Party showed a majority of respondents said an endorsement from their first-choice candidate would greatly impact who they rank second. The party endorsed a four-person slate in March, and placed Mamdani first, Adams second, Lander third and Myrie fourth two weeks ago. The process of getting candidates to more formally support each other has been tortured ahead of the June 24 primary to unseat Mayor Eric Adams, who is forgoing the primary to run as an independent in November. Questions about strategizing more forcefully against Cuomo have frustrated contenders behind the scenes, though they've said publicly voters are just beginning to tune in. Time is running out. This primary is New York City's second citywide use of ranked-choice voting, which allows New Yorkers to rank up to five candidates in order of preference, rather than rely on a plurality vote in a crowded field. The contenders with the fewest votes are eliminated round by round, with their support redistributed until one of them surpasses the 50 percent threshold. Until the Mamdani-Lander cross-endorsement, the most consistent guidance among non-Cuomo candidates and their surrogates had been for voters to fill their ballots with five candidates and exclude the former governor entirely. In the 2021 mayoral primary, Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia formed a partnership to boost each other, though Eric Adams ultimately won. Yang's one-way support of the political neophyte was viewed as a last-minute boost to her surprisingly strong candidacy. 'Four years ago, we wound up with one of the worst mayors in our history, largely because the two top alternatives in the race did not come together and join forces to cross-endorse each other,' Lander said Friday in a statement, referring to Garcia and Maya Wiley, who placed second in the first round that year. 'We can't afford to make that mistake again.' The city comptroller has been lagging Mamdani in the polls for much of the race, but he was the top overall pick for a New York Times panel of experts and he stepped up his game at Thursday's debate. Still, Mamdani has been the surging candidate throughout the cycle and he's ranked No. 1 by the Working Families Party as well as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). 'As Brad and I exposed the ex-Governor's record of corruption and scandal on last night's debate stage, New Yorkers could see Cuomo for what he really is: a relic of the broken politics of the past,' Mamdani said in a statement. 'His campaign has always been a house of cards, and with Brad and I cross-endorsing on the eve of early voting, we will topple it together.' The two are set to appear together Friday, as first reported by the Times. 'We have been encouraging this level of coalescence from the beginning,' Archila said. 'Honestly, it's been a year of showing candidates how other places that have ranked-choice voting organized, and how candidates themselves sort of deliver the final punch by doing precisely what Brad and Zohran have done today.' Cuomo has campaigned as an experienced manager ready on Day 1, drawing a contrast with the 33-year-old Mamdani. 'No surprise here — the two have been attached at the hip for months, but it won't move the needle,' Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said in a statement of Lander and Mamdani. 'The public is clamoring for leadership to take real action to make the city safer and more affordable and to protect New Yorkers from Trump.' In a twist last Friday, long-shot left-leaning candidate state Sen. Jessica Ramos had endorsed Cuomo, though he made brutally clear he wasn't returning the favor. And at the Thursday debate, moderate candidate Whitney Tilson said he is ranking Cuomo second, though the governor didn't respond in kind. Mamdani has tried publicly to nudge other candidates to cross-endorse. 'Don't just rank me — fill out the rest of your ballot. Here are three others you should rank,' he said in a video tutorial posted last week, pointing to graphics of Lander, Adams and Myrie. He delivered the guidance in Hindi and used glasses of mango lassi to demonstrate how votes are distributed in the city's ranked method.
Politico
7 days ago
- Politics
- Politico
Zohran Mamdani, Brad Lander are cross-endorsing in race for New York City mayor
NEW YORK — After months of Andrew Cuomo topping the New York City mayor's race while the organized left scrambled, progressive candidates are finally using ranked-choice voting to fight back. Whether there's enough time to capitalize on Cuomo's negatives remains to be seen — he continues to dominate most polls and is funded by a multimillion-dollar super PAC, with just 11 days until the Democratic primary. Zohran Mamdani and Brad Lander, the highest-ranking progressive candidates in the race, endorsed each other Friday, one day after the final Democratic primary debate during which both attacked Cuomo. The former governor saved most of his fire for Mamdani, who is nipping at his heels in the final stretch of the race. In backing each other, the two candidates each urged his supporters to rank the other second as they seek every advantage before early voting begins Saturday. And it comes as the Working Families Party encourages its other endorsed candidates to formally combine forces — something the campaigns have avoided until now. 'Today's cross-endorsement is probably the most impactful,' Ana María Archila, New York Working Families Party co-director, told POLITICO in an interview Friday. She sidestepped criticism of two other party-backed candidates — state Sen. Zellnor Myrie and City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams — for not joining in the cross-endorsement. 'I know that Zellnor really cares about how to guide his voters. I know that the speaker really cares about how to guide her voters,' Archila said. 'It's really a candidate-to-candidate conversation, and because of that, it's very particular to the dynamics between the candidates.' When asked about the possibility of a cross-endorsement, Adams told PIX11 News this week, 'I am still considering all of the options available.' Cuomo, until recently appeared locked in a two-person race with Mamdani, a democratic socialist state lawmaker. But Lander, the city comptroller, had a good week with a strong debate performance. An internal poll conducted by the Working Families Party showed a majority of respondents said an endorsement from their first-choice candidate would greatly impact who they rank second. The party endorsed a four-person slate in March, and placed Mamdani first, Adams second, Lander third and Myrie fourth two weeks ago. The process of getting candidates to more formally support each other has been tortured ahead of the June 24 primary to unseat Mayor Eric Adams, who is forgoing the primary to run as an independent in November. Questions about strategizing more forcefully against Cuomo have frustrated contenders behind the scenes, though they've said publicly voters are just beginning to tune in. Time is running out. This primary is New York City's second citywide use of ranked-choice voting, which allows New Yorkers to rank up to five candidates in order of preference, rather than rely on a plurality vote in a crowded field. The contenders with the fewest votes are eliminated round by round, with their support redistributed until one of them surpasses the 50 percent threshold. Until the Mamdani-Lander cross-endorsement, the most consistent guidance among non-Cuomo candidates and their surrogates had been for voters to fill their ballots with five candidates and exclude the former governor entirely. In the 2021 mayoral primary, Andrew Yang and Kathryn Garcia formed a partnership to boost each other, though Eric Adams ultimately won. Yang's one-way support of the political neophyte was viewed as a last-minute boost to her surprisingly strong candidacy. 'Four years ago, we wound up with one of the worst mayors in our history, largely because the two top alternatives in the race did not come together and join forces to cross-endorse each other,' Lander said Friday in a statement, referring to Garcia and Maya Wiley, who placed second in the first round that year. 'We can't afford to make that mistake again.' The city comptroller has been lagging Mamdani in the polls for much of the race, but he was the top overall pick for a New York Times panel of experts and he stepped up his game at Thursday's debate. Still, Mamdani has been the surging candidate throughout the cycle and he's ranked No. 1 by the Working Families Party as well as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). 'As Brad and I exposed the ex-Governor's record of corruption and scandal on last night's debate stage, New Yorkers could see Cuomo for what he really is: a relic of the broken politics of the past,' Mamdani said in a statement. 'His campaign has always been a house of cards, and with Brad and I cross-endorsing on the eve of early voting, we will topple it together.' The two are set to appear together Friday, as first reported by the Times. 'We have been encouraging this level of coalescence from the beginning,' Archila said. 'Honestly, it's been a year of showing candidates how other places that have ranked-choice voting organized, and how candidates themselves sort of deliver the final punch by doing precisely what Brad and Zohran have done today.' Cuomo has campaigned as an experienced manager ready on Day 1, drawing a contrast with the 33-year-old Mamdani. 'No surprise here — the two have been attached at the hip for months, but it won't move the needle,' Cuomo spokesperson Rich Azzopardi said in a statement of Lander and Mamdani. 'The public is clamoring for leadership to take real action to make the city safer and more affordable and to protect New Yorkers from Trump.' In a twist last Friday, long-shot left-leaning candidate state Sen. Jessica Ramos had endorsed Cuomo, though he made brutally clear he wasn't returning the favor. And at the Thursday debate, moderate candidate Whitney Tilson said he is ranking Cuomo second, though the governor didn't respond in kind. Mamdani has tried publicly to nudge other candidates to cross-endorse. 'Don't just rank me — fill out the rest of your ballot. Here are three others you should rank,' he said in a video tutorial posted last week, pointing to graphics of Lander, Adams and Myrie. He delivered the guidance in Hindi and used glasses of mango lassi to demonstrate how votes are distributed in the city's ranked method.
