Working Families Party goes off type in New York City race

Yahoo

25-02-2025

NEW YORK — Justin Brannan has called himself a moderate, left the City Council Progressive Caucus and taken campaign contributions from law enforcement unions. Yet Monday he received the seal of approval from the left-flank Working Families Party in his race for city comptroller.
What would've been a surprising endorsement in years past now underscores to the nature of the race — neither of the major candidates neatly aligns with the third party's values as New Yorkers have shifted toward the center.
Brannan's opponent, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, is also hardly in lockstep with the agenda of the Working Families Party — a third party that was once animated by pragmatic unions but in recent years is made up of largely activist organizations.
'We are excited to lean into the moment that we're in, and I think the endorsement of Justin invites these questions: What's the approach now? How is the party shifting?' New York Working Families Party co-director Ana María Archila said. 'We are being very intentional about a shift that is expanding the coalition beyond the narrow definition of 'progressive' that was defined in the last few years.'
In describing that shift, she cited police accountability — an issue that once animated the political left but is now out of vogue with many New Yorkers. She didn't describe a change in posture so much focusing the party's message elsewhere.
Archila also said the organization is advocating for more government resources for low- and moderate-income families — a message it hopes will resonate with a wider swath of voters. Democrats have been doubling down on economic messaging after Donald Trump won the White House in November, in part by blaming them for inflation.
Brannan's tenure as chair of the council's finance committee and his role negotiating the budget endeared him to the party's endorsement committee as WFP seeks to reorient itself.
'He has battled [Adams'] multiple rounds of budget cuts to essential services,' Archila said, referring to Mayor Eric Adams' proposed cuts to services that were later restored.
And while Brannan has other selling points to those on the left — he was endorsed by both the WFP and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in previous council races — his resume nevertheless makes him an odd fit for a progressive party playing in a citywide race.
Brannan represents a district with a prominent law enforcement constituency. In 2017, he received an endorsement from the Police Benevolent Association, which would go on to back Trump in 2020. And in 2019, several law enforcement unions donated to Brannan's campaign. Brannan's team said he took $3,000 worth of law enforcement donations he had received over the course of his political career and doled them out to several nonprofits in 2020.
In 2023, Brannan left the council's Progressive Caucus over a litmus test that included support for NYPD funding cuts — a pledge WFP supported.
'I think if people call me a moderate Democrat, it's probably closest to the truth,' Brannan told City & State that year. 'It's certainly closer to the truth than saying I'm a democratic socialist.'
A spokesperson for Brannan's campaign disputed the notion the candidate's political proclivities could be neatly summarized and argued Brannan and the WFP have a shared desire to deliver tangible improvements to working families.
'It's why he is able to build a broad and diverse coalition of voters from south Brooklyn to the northern Bronx,' campaign adviser Jon Paul Lupo said in a statement. 'We know that it's confusing to insiders who are obsessed with labels.'
Archila said the war in the Middle East was not a part of the formal endorsement process, but noted some WFP members were attracted to Brannan's stance.
'I think people did take notice of the fact that Justin was always very vocal in protecting, and saying I represent, a huge Palestinian constituency and they have a right to make their demands just as much as everybody else,' she said.
Levine has also previously identified as a progressive but is similarly running on economic issues. He has snagged the endorsements of Reps. Adriano Espaillat and Jerry Nadler and has $2.3 million on hand compared to Brannan's $300,000, according to the Campaign Finance Board. The Brooklyn Democrat, however, expects to qualify for more than $1 million in matching funds next month.
The endorsement was first reported by the Daily News.