Andrew Cuomo Accepts Working Families Party Nod For Governor

NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo has accepted the Working Families Party's ballot line for November's gubernatorial election, his campaign said Friday, officially putting the progressive minor party behind the Democratic incumbent it fought for months.

The move triggers a down-ballot shuffle for Cynthia Nixon, the actress and activist whom Cuomo handily beat in last month's Democratic primary. She was still slated to appear on the Nov. 6 ballot as the WFP's nominee for governor.

The WFP moved to give Cuomo its ballot line this week to avoid the risk of siphoning votes from him and inadvertently helping the Republican candidate, Marc Molinaro. The party gave the governor a deadline of 5 p.m. Friday to accept the offer.

"The Governor's priority is a unified Democratic Party focused on taking back the House and the State Senate," Dani Lever, Cuomo's campaign communications director, said in a statement issued right at the deadline. "This election is the most important one in our lifetime given Donald Trump's policies and his imminent takeover of the Supreme Court."

The WFP will now nominate Nixon for the 66th State Assembly District covering Manhattan neighborhoods such as Greenwich Village. She plans to campaign and vote for the Democratic incumbent, Deborah Glick, the party has said.

The WFP also planned to back Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul for a second term serving alongside Cuomo and nominate City Councilman Jumaane Williams, whom the party had endorsed for the job, for state Sen. Simcha Felder's Brooklyn seat. Williams does not plan to actively run for the job, the party has said.

The maneuvering was necessitated by New York's arcane election laws. The only way for a candidate to get off a ballot is to run for another office, move out of the state or die.

The left-wing WFP was a vocal critic of Cuomo during Nixon's primary campaign. But New York WFP Director Bill Lipton said it's now more important to take on a common enemy: The GOP.

"The attacks on working families and on our democracy from the Trump administration are truly horrifying," Lipton said in a statement Friday. "Despite our differences in the primary, the Working Families Party and Governor Cuomo agree that the top priority is to end Republican control in the New York State Senate and in Congress."

(Lead image: Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks at a news conference in his Midtown Manhattan office on Sept. 14, 2018. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)