Gov. Kathy Hochul's name will not appear on the so-called "Fair Deal" ballot line being formed by New York Democratic officials after party leaders have reached an apparent deal with the progressive Working Families Party.
State Democratic Committee Chairman Jay Jacobs in a statement on Saturday indicated he had received a commitment from the Working Families Party not play a spoiler in the gubernatorial race this year and run its own candidate in the general election.
"I now have full confidence that the Working Families Party will stand with and offer their general election line to Governor Kathy Hochul, when she wins the Democratic Primary, as I believe she will," Jacobs said. "While that ultimate decision rests with the WFP State Committee, WFP’s record and clearly articulated commitment to not becoming 'the spoiler' in this race, after productive conversations, provides the assurances we need to ensure ballot parity for the Gov. Hochul. With this anticipated WFP support, Gov. Hochul will have the two lines necessary to match the Republican nominee, who we assume will also be on the Conservative line."
As a result, Hochul's name will not appear on petitions for the Fair Deal line, Jacobs said.
"While other, down-ballot candidates will continue to circulate petitions for that line where they feel that they need or want it, the governor’s name will not be on any petitions," he said.
Jacobs had previously moved to create the new ballot line, called Fair Deal, in order to give Hochul an additional line in November if the WFP stuck with its preferred candidate for governor, New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Under fusion voting in New York, candidates may run on multiple ballot lines in the general election. Williams is competing against Hochul and U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi for the Democratic nomination in the June 28 party primary.
The WFP in the recent past has endrosed the eventual Democratic nominee. In 2018, the party gave its initial endorsement to Cynthia Nixon's gubernatorial campaign. After then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo defeated Nixon in a Democratic primary that year, Cuomo ran on the WFP's ballot line.
“Our focus right now is on the June primaries, our endorsed candidates, Jumaane Williams and Ana María Archila, and the pressing issues that matter most to our members," said Sochie Nnaemeka, the WFP's state director in New York. "But as we have said before, the Working Families Party has no intention of playing a spoiler role, and we're going to do everything we can to ensure Trump Republicans don't take power in New York. The GOP challengers want to undermine our democracy and attack the rights and protections of New York's working families. Under no circumstances will we allow them to prevail.”
Republican candidate for governor Lee Zeldin, a congressman from Long Island and the state GOP committee's preferred nominee, blasted the development.
"The far-left Working Families Party wants free healthcare for illegal immigrants, non-citizen voting, no cashless bail changes and more leniency for criminals, all at the expense of law-abiding New Yorkers," he said. "If Kathy Hochul wants to cut this deal to align with the far-left Working Families Party, there will be a huge price to pay at the ballot box this November from fed up New Yorkers.”