Bid to guard the Working Fams Party

At least 26 Democratic state senators want Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins to block a move that would eliminate cross-political party endorsements because it could cripple the Working Families Party.

The senators — who include Albany long-timers like Sen. Liz Krueger, as well as newcomers like Sens. Jessica Ramos and Zellnor Myrie — signed off on a letter Monday to Stewart-Cousins urging her to support so-called fusion voting and to ensure it be “untethered from state budget negotiations.”

“We write with concern about recent reports regarding Democratic leaders supporting a ban on New York’s system of fusion voting,” the letter states.

Fusion voting allows candidates to appear on ballots under more than one party affiliation and has been in existence for more than 100 years in New York State, which is one of four states to allow it.

The letter was drafted after the state Democratic Party approved a nonbinding resolution on Monday calling for the practice to be banned.

Many observers have speculated the move was prompted by Gov. Cuomo’s recent battle with Working Families Party candidate Cynthia Nixon in the last Democratic primary for governor. Both Nixon and her running mate for lieutenant governor, Jumaane Williams, got the WFP ballot line.

“The effort to ban fusion voting seems more vindictive than substantive,” said Sen. John Liu (D-Queens), who signed off on the letter.