WFP insurgency vs. rogue NY Dems
The left-leaning Working Families Party is going to war with the Democratic Party by endorsing three female insurgents in primaries against three male Democratic state senators — Jeff Klein of The Bronx, José Peralta of Queens and David Valesky in central New York.
All three incumbents are members of the Independent Democratic Caucus, which is allied with Senate Republicans.
The WFP is backing Alessandra Biaggi against Klein (right), former Mayor de Blasio aide Jessica Ramos against Peralta, and Syracuse University professor Rachel May against Valesky.
Biaggi is the granddaughter of former Rep. Mario Biaggi, who died in 2015.
It wasn’t lost on Albany politicos that the WFP is running three women against three men amid the #MeToo campaign versus sexual harassment.
The move comes even though Gov. Cuomo brokered a truce that was supposed to end the eight-member IDC’s alliance with the GOP. The WFP backed Cuomo in his last two elections, but it’s not clear what it will do this year.
“The IDC is a breakaway conference of state senators who were elected as Democrats but who have formed an alliance with Trump Republicans . . . preventing progress for all of us for years,” the WFP’s Ava Benezra said.
The insurgencies will be uphill battles. Klein, the head of the IDC, has $2 million in his campaign account.