Working Families urged: Go for Andy

ALBANY — A key group that opposed Gov. Cuomo in the Democratic primary is working behind the scenes to get the progressive Working Families Party to back him in the general election, the Daily News has learned.

The Working Families Party is to decide Wednesday whether to continue on with actress Cynthia Nixon (photo) on the governor’s line and City Councilman Jumaane Williams as its lieutenant governor pick, give the lines to Cuomo and Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, or pick two other, lesserknown candidates.

With Cuomo and Hochul having won their Democratic primaries, Jonathan Westin and others from New York Communities for Change are telling members of the Working Families Party state committee that picking them would be the rational thing to do, sources within the party said.

“They’ve argued the primary is over, Cynthia did not win and with us living in the time of Trump, we have to move forward,” said one Working Families Party source.

Westin and others, the source said, have argued the party can’t risk being a spoiler that helps Republican gubernatorial candidate Marc Molinaro by pulling votes from Cuomo.

Added a second party source: “It’s the best worst option of all the bad options.”

By all accounts, Wednesday’s vote will be close.

Cuomo, who was backed by the Working Families Party in 2010 and 2014 despite a frosty relationship, has not said whether he will accept the line if offered, though party sources say they have been told through intermediaries he would.

Cuomo insiders chortled over emails released last week by City Hall showing that an angry Mayor de Blasio had told his aides in December 2014 to say “no” to every Cuomo request after the governor ignored the his plea to call on Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch to apologize for saying the mayor was not welcome at cop funerals.

“What those emails show is that Bill de Blasio, who (six) months later went on TV and claimed Cuomo was vindictive and would hurt the city, was actually the one with the personal vendetta impacting policy,” said a source close to the governor. “City Hall claims Cuomo is petty and vindictive. But as it turns out, it was de Blasio all along.”

A de Blasio insider shot back: “The mayor never should have asked for Cuomo’s help. Everyone knows Andrew Cuomo only helps himself and the bank accounts of his criminal defense lawyers.”

With the crucial November elections nearing, state Senate Democrats say they raked in more than $1 million at a fund-raiser last week.

“There was a lot of recognition a Democratic majority is coming and the Republicans have no pathway to pull this off,” said Sen. Michael Gianaris, the Queens Dem who heads his conference’s campaign committee.

Senate GOP spokesman Scott Reif said that the Dems will “need a heck of a lot more to explain away their extreme socialist positions.”

The Dems need to pick up one seat to claim the Senate majority.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone is the latest to call for the end of fusion voting in New York that allows parties to cross-endorse candidates.

“In Suffolk County, fusion voting has been corrupted,” Bellone said.

Bellone himself has run on multiple lines in the past.

“You have to work within the existing system, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be working to change it,” he said.