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With NYC Mayoral Race Upended, Some Progressives Respond With A "Unity Ticket"
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published May 6, 2021
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Elizabeth Kim / Gothamist
By
Elizabeth Kim
Published May 6, 2021
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Progressives who rescinded their endorsements of Scott Stringer last week are facing a critical decision in the coming days: Do they coalesce around another candidate on the left or go their own ways in one of the most consequential New York City mayoral elections in decades?
One potential outcome may be a so-called "unity ticket," in which progressives back both Dianne Morales, the most left-leaning candidate in the race, and Maya Wiley, who has straddled the lane between Morales and Stringer.
On Wednesday night, the Working Families Party announced that they were doing exactly that.
"At this moment in the race, we believe the best role for the party is to unite progressives around these two powerful progressive women and ensure the city is in the best hands possible to rebuild and reimagine a city that works for all of us," said Sochie Nnaemeka, the party's state director, in a statement.
The decision comes less than a week after Jean Kim, now a lobbyist, accused Stringer of sexually assaulting her 20 years ago when she worked as a volunteer on his public advocate campaign. Stringer has denied the allegations. But on Friday, he began bleeding out support from a list of prominent lawmakers as well as the Working Families Party.
How new alliances are ultimately redrawn on the left may help shape the outcome of the race, which most experts say is still up for grabs, with less than seven weeks to go until the primary. In the limited polls of likely Democratic voters, Andrew Yang has shown a consistent but far from overwhelming lead. A significant number of New Yorkers surveyed have said they are undecided.
With those factors in mind, some have urged the left to come together quickly. Jessica Ramos, a state senator from Queens who was the first lawmaker to rescind her endorsement, told Gothamist last week that progressives need to unite quickly around another candidate.
But the Working Families Party's decision to go with a shared endorsement suggests that the choice for progressives doesn't have to be either or. Ranked-choice voting, in which voters can rank their preferred candidates for mayor, encourages endorsers to back more than one candidate.
Jews for Racial & Economic Justice Action (JFREJ), a left-wing grassroots organization, adopted the term "unity ticket" when their members ranked Morales as the first choice and Stringer and Wiley as the shared second choice.
They have since dropped Stringer from their endorsement, but kept the unity ticket branding. So far, they appear to be the only group using that label.
Sophie Ellman-Golan, the director of strategic communications for JFREJ, said her group decided to go with multiple endorsements after consulting with San Francisco Rising, a progressive grassroots organization which has experience backing candidates in ranked-choice elections.
"With such a broad field, it’s important to draw a line in the sand and say these are who the progressive candidates are," she said.
Ranked-choice voting, she said, was "a new muscle to flex" for candidates and their supporters.
Ellman-Golan and others on the left are especially concerned that potential voter confusion over Yang, who has been cast as a progressive with his embrace of annual cash payments to roughly 500,000 poor New Yorkers. Critics, however, have pointed out that the idea falls way short of a universal basic income, a proposal he famously campaigned on during his presidential run.
Several lawmakers have also employed ranked endorsements. Bronx State Senator Gustavo Rivera endorsed Stringer as his first choice and Morales as his second, while Jabari Brisport, a state senator from Brooklyn who is backed by the Democratic Socialists of America, ranked Morales first and Stringer second.
Both have since canceled their endorsements for Stringer, leaving them with only Morales—for the moment at least.
David Birdsell, dean of the Baruch College School of Public Affairs, said that for endorsers, a Morales-Wiley unity ticket is "win-win."
But for the candidates, the concept ignores the fact that both Wiley and Morales want to win.
"It’s hard to hold a unity ticket together when the outcome is ultimately zero-sum," he argued.
As a reflection of that tension, although Wiley has made it abundantly clear that Morales is her second choice, Morales has been less vocal about hers.
Their respective standings in the race may explain their stance around expressing a second preference. In polls, Wiley has ranked fourth after Stringer, while Morales is consistently in the bottom tier. Under ranked-choice voting, if no one wins the majority, the number of second and third choice votes can be what makes the difference.
In other words, winning enough second choice votes on the ballot of Morales supporters could clear a path to victory for Wiley.
Birdsell, however, cautioned that ranked-choice voting was new in New York City and that progressive voters may not think in such strategic terms.
"Are they ready to think and act in terms of first-progressive-over-the-finish-line? Maybe, but we don’t yet know," he said.
He added that a “unity ticket” will also fail to matter if more voters are drawn to centrist candidates as suggested by the polls.
Those candidates have also been trying to capitalize on Stringer’s political free fall.
Kathryn Garcia, the former sanitation commissioner, released her first TV commercial, buying $285,000 worth of time for Tuesday. The day after the accusations were made against Stringer, a super PAC for Shaun Donovan received a $1 million infusion from the candidate’s father.
Yang is also reportedly planning to roll out a commercial this week.
Eric Adams, the Brooklyn borough president who has been trailing Yang in polls, has continued to pick up several endorsements, including that of the Queens borough president, Donovan Richards Jr. and the MTA's largest union, Transport Workers Local 100.
The Adams campaign also recently bought $732,000 worth of time for a TV ad beginning on May 18th.
Evan Thies, a spokesperson for the campaign, said there was no ad yet but that the campaign was simply reserving the time so that they have the option to place one.
Tagged
election 2021
mayoral campaign
Elizabeth Kim
Elizabeth Kim is a reporter on the People and Power desk who covers mayoral power. She previously covered the pandemic, housing, redevelopment and public spaces. A native of Queens, she speaks fluent Mandarin. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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