NY Working Families Party appoints new leaders as it targets House races

NEW YORK — The progressive third party that lent its cavalry to Gov. Kathy Hochul's election win last year is vowing a “robust ground game” to help New York Democrats flip House seats next year.

And the New York Working Families Party is plotting its 2024 strategy under new leadership, POLITICO reported exclusively Monday.

Ana María Archila and Jasmine Gripper — co-founder of Make the Road New York and executive director of Alliance for Quality Education, respectively — will helm the state party as its first-ever co-directors. They will fill a vacancy created in May after Sochie Nnaemeka stepped down when they start next month.

“We both know the importance of community organizing; we both know the importance of grassroots leadership development,” Gripper said in an interview. “But we also know the importance of political strategy and movement moments.”

Archila and Gripper’s moment comes as the small but influential party has leaned into its identity as a progressive mobilization force. In New York City, in Albany and in Washington, amid the migrant crisis and the budding Israeli-Palestinian war, the state WFP is honing its approach on when to work against mainstream Democrats and when to work with them.

Even as it helped Hochul last November — WFP votes making up most of her margin of victory against Republican Lee Zeldin — it was helping itself. The election helped the party preserve its ballot line.

“We are absolutely not here just to support the Democratic Party and to get them out of a crunch when they get there,” Archila said in an interview. “Our goal is to get progressive leaders who truly identify as Working Family Party candidates and whose values are aligned in key places.”

The party will bolster its position as a counterweight to moderate Democrats like Hochul and Mayor Eric Adams as well as Republicans in Washington, the incoming leaders said.

“You look at the federal government, and there’s nothing but chaos,” Gripper said. “And New York has a responsibility: We can play a major role in taking back the House.”

Gripper is based in Albany. Archila, based in Brooklyn, was co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy as well as the WFP’s lieutenant governor candidate in last year’s primary.

While the Working Families Party's broad goals are clear enough — increasing housing affordability, advocating for universal childcare, supporting newly arrived migrants and combating climate change — how to achieve them will be a partywide conversation, Archila and Gripper said.

The process will likely begin with a listening tour of members across the state, Gripper said.

“One of the things that’s beautiful about the party is that we have a very robust internal democracy to make every decision,” Archila said.

The New York Working Families Party has been learning to pick its fights as it rebounds from its years being targeted for extinction by then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

It increased its number of active chapters to 17 from seven in 2019 and boosted progressive candidates to the City Council, State Legislature and Congress — with members crediting the gains to Nnaemeka.

The bloodshed in Israel and Gaza provides a point for reflection on purpose, Working Families Party officials acknowledged. The Democratic Socialists of America, situated farther left of the WFP on the political spectrum, has also found that the attacks in the Middle East may serve as an inflection point on its approach.

“You actually don’t need that much nuance to stand up for the humanity of every single Palestinian and every single Israeli citizen and call for a cessation of the conflict,” Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, said in an interview. “ And what we know is that war is a blunt instrument that rarely resolves conflict.”

Mitchell said Archila and Gripper are taking the reins at a time of need for “moral clarity,” the state party marking a new era as its marks the 25th anniversary of its founding.

“Governor Cuomo is no longer around, and we’re still standing,” Mitchell said.

The former governor sought to siphon labor union support away from the WFP, but, Mitchell said, “labor is in the DNA of the party, and labor continues to be part of the party.”

New York City Council Member Shahana Hanif, co-chair of the legislative body’s Progressive Caucus, welcomed the leadership of fellow women of color and hailed the notion that the WFP is embracing its position on the left flank.

“This is a moment to get organized,” she said in an interview, adding, “The fight that we have to build the pipeline of leaders for is the fight against fascism.”

New York City Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, who ran against Hochul in last year’s gubernatorial primary as the WFP-endorsed candidate and was running mate to Archila, said the two incoming co-chairs complement each other well and are prepared for the challenges ahead.

“The Working Families Party has been ahead of the curve on some many issues,” Williams said in an interview. “They’ve had the courage to be ahead of the time and make issues mainstream. But it’s very difficult because you have to do that while maintaining relationships with people who are not always there with you.”

A version of this story first appeared in Monday’s New York Playbook. Subscribe here.