Working Families Party switches endorsement from Maloney to Biaggi in NY House race

The progressive New York Working Families Party (WFP) on Monday endorsed New York state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi (D) in her primary bid to unseat Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), whom the party had supported prior to the approval of the state’s redistricting maps.

Maloney, the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, drew the ire of some of his colleagues when he announced he would run in the 17th Congressional District soon after a court approved New York’s redistricting maps last month, prompting another incumbent to run elsewhere.

The WFP had endorsed Maloney in his current 18th Congressional District before the maps were finalized.

Biaggi, who has also earned the endorsement of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), entered the state Senate by unseating a Democrat who had formed a coalition with Republicans to give them the majority in the chamber, known as the Independent Democratic Congress (IDC).

Sochie Nnaemeka, the WFP’s New York director, highlighted that feat and Biaggi’s record on issues such as affordable housing and sexual assault in a statement announcing the endorsement on Monday.

“We’re proud to endorse Alessandra Biaggi in the 17th Congressional District,” said Nnaemeka. “Since taking down the head of the Republican-aligned IDC, Alessandra has been a fierce fighter for working families and someone who is never afraid to stand up for what’s right.”

The endorsement switch was first reported by Politico.

“The NY Working Families Party stood by me in 2018 when we took on a corporate Dem standing in the way of progress,” Biaggi wrote in a tweet on Monday. “Since then, we’ve worked in tandem to deliver for working New Yorkers, and I’m ready to take our partnership to Congress!”

Maloney lives in the newly drawn 17th Congressional District. But Maloney’s new district overlapped with that of Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.), one of multiple races where incumbents were pitted against each other under the new maps.

Maloney drew criticism from many on the left for quickly announcing his candidacy after the maps became final.

But he avoided a potentially awkward member-on-member primary when Jones subsequently announced he would run in a separate district.

Maloney will still maintain the party’s ballot line in his new district in the general election as of now, however, under a ruling by the state’s Supreme Court.

As part of the state’s redistricting, the court allowed congressional candidates who qualified for a party’s ballot line in their existing district to carry their lines to any of the newly redrawn districts.

Maloney, who had qualified in his old district when he was previously endorsed by WFL, transferred the line to his new district, according to a New York State Board of Elections database.

“On the ground in the 17th, local leaders have made it overwhelmingly clear that they trust and support Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney,” Mia Ehrenberg, spokesperson for the Maloney campaign, said in an email to The Hill.

“From unions like the Communication Workers of America to the over 50 local democratic leaders across the 17th who’ve endorsed Rep. Maloney for re-election, the voices that will matter in this race are standing with Rep. Maloney thanks to his long-standing connections to the district and strong record of delivering for working families in the Hudson Valley,” she added.

The primary is scheduled for Aug. 23.

Updated at 7:05 p.m.

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