Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo beat back a challenge from the left Saturday, narrowly winning the nomination of the Working Families Party with a promise to support liberal priorities while taking on state senators who have blocked them.
Cuomo defeated a bid for the endorsement by Fordham University law professor Zephyr Teachout following an impassioned floor fight between his supporters and critics that gave vent to liberal frustrations with Cuomo over his support for business-friendly tax cuts and charter schools. The final vote was 59 percent for Cuomo to 41 percent for Teachout.
The governor did not appear at the convention but spoke to delegates over the phone. He promised to support liberal priorities including a minimum wage hike, the decriminalization of small amounts of marijuana and public campaign financing.
"If we want to enact the progressive agenda, we need to take back the state Senate," said Cuomo, adding that his own attempts to pass liberal policies have been blocked by the Senate. "It's not that we haven't to tried, it's not that we haven't fought ... I want to do it with you, and if we come together that's exactly what will happen."
The Working Families Party, a coalition of unions and progressive groups, has emerged as a leading voice on the left, helping to elect Mayor de Blasio. The party endorsed Cuomo in 2010, contributing some 150,000 votes to his total. New York allows candidates to run on multiple party lines.
Cuomo is widely thought to be mulling a presidential run. Losing the support of the Working Families Party would have been a political embarrassment, and worse, would have significantly cut into Cuomo's lead over Republican candidate Rob Astorino, who won the state Conservative Party's nomination at its convention Saturday.
Polls show why the endorsement was so vital to Cuomo. A recent Quinnipiac University survey gave Cuomo a 57 percent to 28 percent lead over Astorino, the Westchester County executive. If an unnamed candidate running on the Working Families Party line was included, Cuomo's lead over Astorino dropped to 37 percent versus 24 percent. The telephone poll of 1,129 voters was conducted May 14-19 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points.
