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Jasmine Gripper & Ana Maria Archila on the WFP, Progressive Politics, & 2026 Elections
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Jasmine Gripper and Ana Maria Archila returned to…
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- [00:00]
A
Foreign. Hello and welcome to Max Politics. This is Ben Max coming to you from New York Law School and its center for New York City and State Law. Thanks for tuning in. Speaking here on Wednesday, February 25, 2026. Today on the show welcoming back Ana Maria Archilla and Jasmine Gripper, who for the last few years have been co directors of the New York Working Family Families Party. That arrangement has recently shifted as Archilla was just announced as Mayor Zoram Mamdani's appointee to become the new Commissioner of International affairs for New York City. So she's just left the WFP for that city government post which she'll begin in early March. And Jasmine Gripper is now the singular director of the New York Working Families Party. So they're joining me today to talk about the recent victories and losses for the New York Working Families Party where it's at in its efforts to influence state and city policymaking. Mamdani's rise, the relationship of the party with the more moderate Governor Kathy Hochul, where the WFP has landed in some very contentious and competitive primaries for Congress here in New York City and much more. Now the WFP was one important progressive force behind then Assembly Member Zora Mamdani in his surprising mayoral victory. It endorsed him number one in the Democratic primary of 2025 in its ranked SL in the ranked choice election, even above some longer time allies like then Comptroller Brad Lander, which the WFP is now supporting in his Congressional bid in New York's 10th congressional district against incumbent Democrat Dan Goldman. The WFP has been a supporter of major Democratic politicians including Bill de Blasio and Letitia James, now the Attorney General who it continues to have a close relationship with and support. Also Public Advocate Jumani Williams Lander and more. The party just made news by endorsing Antonio Rayden Renoso in his bid for Congress in The much watched 7th congressional district primary parts of Brooklyn and Queens in that district to succeed the retiring Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez, who's been a longtime WFP ally and champion in endorsee. She is also endorsing Reynoso in that primary. Now his main competitor is Assembly Member Claire Valdez of Queens. She has the support of Mayor Mamdani in the New York City branch of the Democratic Socialists of America dsa. And I've had Reynoso and Valdez on the show in recent weeks to discuss their candidacies and the race in some depth. The third Democratic candidate, that primary City Council member Julie Wan, will be on the show very soon. So the WFP jumping into that race behind Reynoso, who's been a longtime alley. We'll talk about that on the show today. As well as the WFP support for lander in New York. 10 those seem to be the Working Families Party's two big New York City congressional primaries that they're focused on. But I'll see if there's other races they're going to be getting involved in. And the WFP is also involved in quite a few Democratic primaries for the state legislature. We probably won't have time to talk about any or many of those today. But the party also recently at its convention decided not to endorse in the gubernatorial primary, which was until recently a contest between Governor Hochul and a progressive primary challenge from her Lieutenant Governor, Antonio Delgado. On top of Mayor Mamdani's recent endorsement of Hochul, it was another blow to Delgado's campaign and he then ended that challenge to Hochul. So Hochul now seems to have the Democratic nomination for governor locked up here in her bid for a second full term. So she's looking ahead now to the general election against the very likely Republican nominee, Bruce Blakeman. We'll get into that race another time, but I'll ask the WFP leaders here about choosing not to endorse Delgado or Hochul and the relationship with the governor. Lessons learned from past statewide races. One of my guests today, Anna Maria Archilla, was actually the WFP lieutenant governor candidate in 2022 against Delgado in the Democratic primary. And Delgado won that fairly handily as Hochul's running mate. And Hochul defeated the WFP candidate, Jamani Williams in the gubernatorial primary that year. So lessons learned from that race and others and why they've made the decision they made here in this cycle, those races and topics and much more ahead in a very interesting conversation with Jasmine Gripper, the New York State director for the Working Families Party, and Ana Maria Chilla, who was co director of the New York Working Families Party but is now moving into a position in the Mamdani administration very soon. That conversation in just a moment, very briefly, if you missed any recent episodes of the show here, they're all in the Max Politics feed. I've spoken recently with, as I mentioned, Antonio Reynoso and Claire Valdez about their campaigns in New York's seventh Congressional District. Julie Wan, coming soon, the third Democratic candidate in that primary. Also Brad Lander and Dan Goldman on their very competitive Democratic primary in New York's 10th congressional district, had about an hour conversation with each of them in recent weeks and months. And then also very recently here on the show, New York City Comptroller Mark Levine got his reaction to Mayor Mamdani's first budget plan, Mayor Mamdani's proposal to potentially increase property taxes in the city if he doesn't get more revenue via state approved income and corporate tax increases. And got Comptroller Levine's take on broader city budget issues, city finances, the city economy and much more. Really good conversation there recently with him. Those and others in the feed for you to check out after you listen to this one. And so I'm very pleased to welcome back to the show Jasmine Gripper and Ana Maria Archilla. They have been for the last few years co directors of the New York Working Families Party. But a little bit of a shift in leadership that we'll get into today and a new job for Anna Maria that we'll talk about as well. But thank you both for being here. Anna Maria, how are you?
- [06:06]
B
I am okay. Thank you so much for inviting us.
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Thanks for taking the time. Jasmine, how are you?
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C
I'm great. Glad to be here.
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A
Nice and busy. So the leadership change you didn't get to hear in the intro that I recorded separately. Jasmine, you're now the New York State director for the Working Families Party. And Ana Maria, you're becoming the commissioner of international affairs in the Mamdani administration. So congratulations to you both on the new positions.
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B
Thank you.
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A
So we'll talk about some some of that here today and where things stand. But the day we're talking here, Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2026, there's this big rally in March in Albany, Tax the Rich March that is an ongoing campaign that the Working Families Party has been a key leader on, but has taken on sort of new energy with the election of Zoram Hamdani as mayor and him running on a platform of increasing taxes on high income earners and corporations. So say a little bit about this rally in March, big coalition of groups partly led by the wfp, but also led by this new organization that was an outgrowth of the Mamdani campaign and the DSA called Our Time. The DSA and a whole bunch of other partners. Say a little bit, Jasmine, if you would, about what's happening on this day that we're speaking around this rally and the purpose and the goals.
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C
Yeah. Today thousands of New Yorkers are on their way to Albany. Our people are on the bus right now heading up to the Capitol to demand that Kathy Hochul, our governor and the state legislature raise taxes on the ultra rich so that we can deliver for New Yorkers and invest in our communities. Yes, we're in a moment where Zuron's campaign has elevated and add extra emphasis to the tax to rich fight. But also we're in a fiscal and affordability crisis. New York city has a $7 billion budget deficit that needs to close. And the mayor made commitments when he was running about ways to invest in New York in an attempt to really help New Yorkers thrive. Working class New Yorkers thrive and not just the ultra rich and the wealthy. And Kathy Hochul said, I want to partner with you on the affordability agenda. And now we' hey, you need to deliver on that promise. And we can't balance the budget on the back of our children, on the back of the working class. We need to balance our budget by asking the ultra wealthy in New York to pay a little bit more so that we have enough resources so everyone can thrive. And just to remind you, like we're in the context where New York has more millionaires and billionaires than any place on the planet and the ultra rich were just giving a massive permanent tax break by Donald Trump, where New York billionaires are getting $12 billion in tax cuts permanently every year. We can ask them to pay a little bit more just so we can help New Yorkers have the things that they need.
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A
And either of you. There's a lot of pushback, of course, on this campaign from the governor in particular. She says we actually have, you know, a $260 billion state budget. We've got coffers that are pretty flush, in part thanks to higher tax revenues from high earners, Wall street bonuses, et cetera. She's already promised more aid to the city and I'm sure the negotiations are ongoing to send even more. How convincing do you think the argument is right now? And is the legislature going to go along with this? I mean, it seems like the governor is pretty opposed. So it's going to be up to the legislature to sort of decide how much of a, of a priority to make this. Is that a fair read of the politics around these tax increases?
- [09:51]
B
I'll say one thing that doesn't exactly address your question about the politics of this, that to the extent that the conversation about taxing the rich falls only into the framework of revenue, what revenue does the government need to run its programs? We are keeping it very, very confined when in reality, taxing the rich, changing the tax code is one very important mechanism to address the level of growing inequality. I don't know the figures Right now. But I remember in 2022, the budget of the state was, I believe, $220 billion. The wealth that had been accumulated by the richest New Yorkers, like 110 billionaires at the time, was $228 billion in the first two years of the pandemic. So 100 people had been able to get additional wealth in two years that was even larger than the state budget. So I think if we just talk about what money does the government need to put a little bit here and a little bit there, we are actually missing the big picture, which is that in this country over the last many decades, our government at the state and federal levels, both parties have allowed, have used the tax system to actually allow the accumulation of wealth in the hands of a very few. And the elections that we are seeing last year with Zoran Mamdani's election was a rebuke to that approach to politics and that approach to our political economy. So we could have a conversation that's just like, will the governor do this thing or is the legislature going to do that thing? But I think for the public, for all of us, the question is, are we going to demand a government that addresses inequality in a fundamental structural way? And in order to do that, we have to change how we tax the rich and we have to invest in working class people, and we have to make sure that wages are strong enough for people to make a decent living in the richest country in the world, in the richest state in the world, the richest city in the world. So. But I'll pass it to Jasmine to talk about the politics, because she's actually the expert on.
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C
On that.
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A
Yeah, we'll get to that in just one sec. You know, I think that's a fair point. And obviously there's a lot of polling in New York and nationally where increasing taxes on especially the highest earners and corporations polls quite well. I think there's some real discussion that even many New York Democrats have about that this really should be done at the national level. Because even if there's some Democrats who say tax increases in New York don't lead to a big exodus of wealthy, you know, there's some concern that there's more people going to lower tax states, that there's more corporations either starting moving, growing elsewhere, and, you know, some real concern about New York competitiveness if the taxes in New York are the highest in the country, or second or third to, you know, California, Hawaii, et cetera. But Jasmine, the, the, the political policy playing field here, the state legislature every year Puts in their one house budgets, tax increases on the wealthy. We've seen some of those move actually in the last five, six years. There was a tax increase on high earners when Andrew Cuomo was still governor, in part to close some Covid budget gaps and increase some funding for key programs, et cetera, corporate tax increases that were supposed to sunset have been continued, etc. But in terms of the playing field right now, how do you sort of see it?
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C
Yeah, we've dealt with governors who say they don't want to tax the wealthy, Andrew Cuomo being one of them. And as the conditions of our state change, we were able to move them. And so. And the last time we raised taxes was when Andrew Cuomo was governor in 2021. We raised a personal income tax on the highest earners. And folks are still arguing that the rate is really flat. When you are earning $5 million annually and you earn $25 million annually, you are paying the same tax rate. And we can actually have more brackets at the upper end. And I think for working class New Yorkers, we pay our fair share, we pay our taxes, we are doing our part. And the wealthy are just skating by and not paying their fair share. The politics have changed, the conditions have changed. The governor at the time, Andrew Cuomo moved because there was great need. And the legislature said, before you entertain cuts, before you allow this need to be exploited, you have to raise new revenue and only on the ultra wealthy. And that's what the state did. I think we're in a similar situation where there's great need. There's about 400,000 New Yorkers who are about to lose their health insurance. Granted, this is because Donald Trump and the Republicans are failing to do their part and take care of New York. But we can show that New York can lead in this moment. And there's political will from the assembly and the Senate to say before we just leave our, our constituents hanging, before we just like abandon our commitment to our people, we can raise revenue on the ultra rich and we can support New Yorkers. And it's literally a matter of political will. It's a matter of a moral compass. Are we going to leave New Yorkers hanging in the balance, or are we going to just ask the wealthy to do a little bit more? And then, you know, the myth of the moving millionaire, like, it's just not true. Yes. Like we lost maybe like a dozen millionaires the last time we raised taxes, but we gained like 1200 more, you know, like they are.
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A
New York is always producing New New producing new millionaires. As long as New York remains a place where people can come and make it in business and, you know, all
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C
that, then this is their playground. Whether it's the Upper east side or west side, whether it's the Hamptons in Long island or whether it's up in the Hudson Valley, New York is their playground. It's where they make money. It's where they come to have fun. The least they can do is help invest in New York and make sure everyone can thrive.
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A
But again, some of that does seem to hinge a little bit on whether New York does remain a place where businesses are growing and businesses want to start and there is some real competition from other states. You know, places like to be clear,
- [16:08]
C
all of the revenue we're talking about are on the wealthiest of the wealthiest of people and corporations. Even our corporate tax rate, you don't pay it until you're at millions in profit. And that's very few corporations. And it doesn't matter where you're headquartered, as long as you do business in New York, you pay our corporate tax rate. So Amazon isn't leaving New York.
- [16:28]
A
It seems to me that there's, you know, the potential, at least in this election year for the governor and the state legislature that lots of people, including the governor, are very interested in getting to a compromise that helps New York City even further, helps other cities around the state. We've already, as I mentioned, sort of seen some announcements from the governor in her budget proposal amendments that came out to, to increase some of that funding. The state, again, pretty flush with cash, although you can always, of course, make arguments about further need and so forth. But it seems like in this election year there's potentially compromises around that either have very minimal or no tax increases and, and sort of the conversation gets punted to the next, you know, the next year. But, but just I want to come back to something you said, Jasmine, on not closing budget gaps on, you know, the backs of children and working class New Yorkers and so forth. Mayor Mamdani announced a budget plan that says if we don't get increased revenue via state income tax and corporate tax increases, we're going to have to raise property taxes on New Yorkers across the board. Regressive, you know, tax in terms of the way that the property tax is structured. Lots of pushback from people. He even said he doesn't want to do it, but he is threatening to do it. Was that a mistake by him? How did you react to that? Did you have a chance to give him Any advice on that? I mean, that seemed to me like a very big gamble that has, at least in the sort of public relations of it all, seemed to backfire so far.
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C
Yeah. His goal is not to raise taxes or property taxes. He said this is a last resort situation and he has to have a balanced budget and the city has to have like, all the numbers have to add up. They cannot run at a deficit. His goal is to close the gap by taxing the wealthy. But he cannot do that without permission from Albany. And so this is him upping the pressure on Kathy Hochul to say, when you don't deliver on taxing the wealthy, this is the consequence to working class New Yorkers. And it's on you how we manage this crisis. And the governor really has to step up here. She's the one up for reelect 2026. She's the one who needs voters to vote for her. And Zoran is making Mayor Mamdani is making it very clear who sublame for what happens in the city. And Kathy Hochul is governor for the state, and that means the residents of New York City. She can protect New York City homeowners. It's really easy. All she has to do is raise some revenue by taxing the ultra.
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A
There's quite a, quite a sort of
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C
fight because it's not actually a hard thing to do.
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A
So we, we could continue on this. And we didn't obviously even get into some of the opinions that there's more savings to be found in the city. You know, City Council Speaker Julie Menon says we're not raising property taxes. She seemingly does not support a push to raise taxes at the state level. So she wants to, you know, do more on efficiencies and savings in the city budget. There's a whole bunch of other stuff to discuss there, but we won't get into all those weeds. Now, this does seem to relate, though, as you're getting at the sort of political push and leverage and the threats of this tax increase if we don't get that tax increase that Mayor Mamdani already endorsed Governor Hochul and you and the WFP decided not to endorse in the gubernatorial race. But that seemingly was one of the big reasons that Antonio Delgado then dropped out and ended his primary challenge to Governor Hochul. Anna Maria, big picture here. You ran for statewide office for lieutenant governor last cycle against the governor and her running mate. Is that leaving a lot of leverage off the table? Now, is that how, other than things like today's rally in March, how does the Sort of broader progressive left influence policymaking. If the progressive mayor has already endorsed the governor for reelection and there's no primary challenge now to sort of pull her left for it in this election year.
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B
Yeah, I appreciate your question, because partly it's like, I haven't had an opportunity to even, like, share some of the reflections of having been a statewide candidate and then being in this role at the party and being involved in sort of the internal democracy of the party that ultimately produced the decision not to endorse Delgado or the governor. So I'll say, when I was running, I understood the Working Families Party recruited me to run for lieutenant governor, and I understood this is a very uphill battle. It's probably almost impossible to win. But my role, like my job, is to elevate an agenda, to build energy on our side, to make sure that as we go into the next four years, that the issues that matter to working families across the state on housing, on childcare, on immig, on revenue, that my campaign is kind of a vehicle for that and to use the campaign to elevate, kind of like create a sense of optimism. And so I understood that to be the rule. What I didn't understand at the time as a candidate was that was actually the consequence of losing. And I worked really hard. I did my best to run an energizing campaign that lifted people's spirits and proposed a vision of the state. And it took me a few months to actually recognize that even though I had done my best, that the loss, which was my loss, Jumani's Laws, and also that year, several assembly races that the party had done, had challenging incumbents, were failures. We did not win. The consequence of that loss shaped our ability to move the agenda that we care about in Albany over the last four years. So as I have been in this role as co director, I've come to be very, very aware of the cost of that. And I think a lot of our approach to the governor's race this year was also shaped by that, by that understanding and also by understanding what it takes to win. We make hard bets. We made the bet that we were not going to fold in the face of Andrew Cuomo, even though basically the entire political establishment had concluded that he was unbeatable, that he was going to be the mayor, that he was going to dominate. And we said, we don't believe that we are going to make a bet. We're going to concoct a very complicated strategy that holds everybody else together to try to beat Andrew Cuomo, as Andrew Cuomo, but also the billionaires. And we made a bet. And we understood that the elements of that victory really required all of us, all of the people on our side, every element of the progressive world to actually commit to work together. As we were going into this convention, we saw that all those elements were not going to be aligned in the same direction. When you make a challenge of a sitting incumbent, you need to make sure that everybody on your side is rowing in the same direction. And we knew all the mayors that we helped like last year, from Mayor Mamdani to Sean ryan in Buffalo, Dr. Applers in Albany, Sharon Owens in Syracuse, all of them needed to have a working relationship with the governor. And that was. That is absolutely a relationship that they have to protect because they need to negotiate with the governor. And so we understood that that was important. We needed to actually take that into account, and we needed to take into account the lessons of winning and the lessons of losing. And as we looked at Delgado's campaign, even though many of our affiliates, many of the Working Families Party affiliates jumped in early, were extremely enthusiastic about his campaign, believed that that was the vehicle to carry our agenda. The party, the sort of internal democracy of the party, was not aligned. And this was true. It was evident back in August when we started having conversations with people. People did not. They were not going to row in the same direction. And so we could see that inside our coalition. And then we saw, obviously, when Mayor Mandani endorsed the governor, we understood, okay, well, the standard bearer of the left is not going to be rowing in this direction. When we understood that the entire congressional delegation was going to endorse the governor, we understood, okay, that element is not going to be rowing in the direction of challenging the governor. And so for us, the idea that we would have extra leverage by challenging just dissipated. And I think it is our responsibility to be sober political actors and try to make a decision that takes into account all the lessons of winning and losing. And I honestly, I don't know. I did not go to the Democratic Convention, but I don't think there was much conversation. We had a very, very robust debate inside the Working Families Party convention, where we heard multiple arguments for and against challenging the governor, being with Lieutenant Governor Delgado, staying neutral, basically, which is what we ultimately did by putting a placeholder on the line. And it was a very robust debate that I feel very proud of having witnessed and having kind of helped set up, because in a moment when our democracy feels like it's kind of falling apart, having spaces of internal. Of robust conversation, about the future, our collective future, like our intertwined future, and how we should do politics in a way that helps us build that future. That is a gift. And yeah, ultimately, I feel like we made a sober decision that understood the cost and the opportunity.
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A
So you're not endorsing the gubernatorial race right now, but, you know, there's really only one Democratic candidate left, and it's almost certainly going to be Kathy Hochul. And now Adrienne Adams, her running mate for lieutenant governor against Bruce Blakeman and his running mate in the general election. Seems all but inevitable that you'll endorse the governor, you know, in the general election. Put her on your ballot line. What leverage do you have to pull her left? What are the, what are the leverage points now? Is it really just working with all those elected allies that you mentioned? You know, obviously, Zora Momdani is the standard bearer for the left and has the biggest, biggest bully pulpit in the state, even bigger than the governors. So, you know, there's, there's some leverage points there, but in terms of the Working Families Party itself, it doesn't seem like there's a lot of leverage at this point.
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B
So I would say for one piece that I should have mentioned is we made it very clear to the governor in order to even have that space to, to engage in a, to have a case to make inside the Working Families party, you need to actually show that you're willing to make real investments and elevate the priorities of a Working Families Party on childcare, housing, immigration, health care. And so she obviously made a huge investment in childcare, which is the result of the Mamdani victory. And she made a significant commitment on immigration. So those two things happened before our convention. And her executive budget was not a budget that applies approach the next year with a scarcity sort of approach. So there were no significant cuts. So those sort of. On the policy side, of course, our highest point of leverage is leading up to our endorsement decision, not after, which is also something we understand very well. The governor still has to negotiate a budget and get her colleagues in the assembly and the state Senate to feel like they are invested in her reelection. And she has to demonstrate to the people that she has their back by doing a budget that responds to the priorities and the urgent needs of people we cannot take. Yes, she will be the Democratic nominee unless something very terrible happens. So she will be the Democratic nominee. That doesn't mean that Democrats will show up in November. People still have to vote. They have to vote. They have to show up. We have to remember that in 2024, Donald Trump won not because he got a huge number of new people voting for him. He essentially won because millions of Democrats, a million in New York State chose to stay home.
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A
And that's also the governor's problem in 2022 in the general, that is 100%.
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B
So she still has to win people's trust, people's, you know, enthusiasm about her. And, and that is why it is. And she has, she has a lot of power to actually demonstrate to people that she understands how important it is to, to address the affordability crisis in.
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A
And some of what you're getting at also seemingly was the motivation for her politically to endorse Zoram Hamdani in the general election for mayor was saying, I don't agree with him on everything, but I do also do want to align myself with this very excited movement that hopefully will then come out for me if the, if the alignment, you know, stays to whatever degree it can stay. Jasmine, anything you want to add on to that before we get to some congressional races? That I definitely.
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C
Yeah, I'll just, I'll just add that I hope Democrats have learned the lesson that Zoran demonstrated, which is simply being against something is not enough. You need to be for something and demonstrate what are you trying to deliver for the people. And that is what's motivating to the electorate. That is motivating to voters to come out. And I think that's what Kathy Hochul needs to demonstrate in this moment. Simply being against MAGA and Trump is like, yes, that's the bare minimum, but that's not enough to motivate your base. If she wants to carry the top of the ticket for New York State and help win the congressional races, where we still have a battleground race to flip in New York from red to blue, she needs to demonstrate and excite the electorate to come out. And that's by demonstrating what she's for. Is she for childcare, housing, healthcare, and protecting immigrant New Yorkers? Those are the things that matter to voters. And the budget is her opportunity to demonstrate that commitment.
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A
And I assume that's a reference to the 17th congressional district in the, in the Hudson Valley and a little bit upstate with Republican Mike Lawler hanging on there, even in a Democratic wave last time around. I don't think we'll get to that one this time. But, but you'll have to come back, Jasmine, and talk about the general elections in the battleground. Let's, let's stick with the primaries for now. Okay? The working Families Party just endorsed Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso in New York's 7th congressional district. This is where longtime Congresswoman Nydia Velasquez is retiring. She has endorsed Antonio Reynoso, her longtime protege ally, to succeed her. But on the other side of the equation, well, there's three candidates running, but the, the main, other, most formidable candidate, at least this moment, is Claire Valdez, the DSA candidate with the backing of, of Mayor Mamdani. Quite a split of the socialists and progressives here. The first thing though, Jasmine, maybe you can explain just a little bit. There was some reporting and conversation that the sort of rank and file WFP members were supporting Claire Valdez. But then given the way the endorsement process works, the sort of weighted vote of your nonprofit affiliates sort of of then overtook the weight of the vote and the endorsement process. And that's how it sort of got over the edge for Reynolds. So can you just explain a little bit about how that process works and where the split was in the WFP on this endorsement?
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C
Yeah, one, I just want to name that like our nonprofit affiliates are community groups who represent hundreds and thousands of New Yorkers. And that is why we have a weighted vote system, is that they show up at the table representing their constituencies like New York Communities for Change. No one's going to argue that as one of the original groups of the party doesn't represent working class black and brown people in New York City, specifically in Brooklyn and Queens. So their weighted vote in our process is a representation of their members because they go through their process first and then show up as the party at the party, representing their membership and, and what their members decided. And so, like every endorsement, we have a rigorous process. Candidates do a questionnaire, we do an interview. We actually did a really open interview this time and invited a broader set of people from the community to join. We have a robust discussion. After the interview, we take a short poll. The original straw poll actually was close, but lean to Antonio. Then we have a vote online by our Drew's paying membership. And that's open for about 24, 48 hours. That vote of our individual members, they get to weigh in to express how their chapters show up. And so the Brooklyn chapter and the Queen's chapter showed up representing the members of the chapter and who supported Claire. And then we have a weighted vote at Iraq, our regional advisory council, where the chapters get to make the first motion because they are the chapters. And the first motion was, would we endorse Claire Valdez? And that motion was voted down a second Motion was put forward to endorse Antonio Reynoso and that motion passed overwhelmingly. And so, you know, our process is rigorous, Our process is intense. There is always lots of debate. Everyone feels really strongly about their opinions. But our process is deeply rooted in the people that the party represents, which is working class New Yorkers, Whether they're a member of NYCC or an individual member of the party, or a member of a labor affiliate that is a part of the party, we are deeply representative of that. And overwhelmingly, the long relationships folks had with Antonio Reynoso and his leadership that they notice over the years is what led to the outcome of his endorsement.
- [36:12]
B
Can I say one thing about this, which is that Jasmine explained these very multi step process we have that starts with the chapters and moves to the coalition body of the different community organizations, labor unions and chapters and ultimately our officers. We have this funny thing at the party which is the elected officials that we elect don't actually have a structured way to participate in our endorsement process processes. Other parties elected officials are decision makers inside the party. So I want to just say this has been a question that for us has been like a vexing question. How do we create a mechanism? Is there a way to have elected officials who are working families Democrats weigh into our endorsement processes? And this is relevant in every endorsement up and down. So elected officials will let us know or they'll call us, or sometimes they show up to the interviews and they sometimes participate and they become members of the chapters to be able to shape. But for us, it's actually. So we're missing. There is a missing link there that we maybe one day will figure out. But it is actually really important for us to understand how our elected officials in our coalition feel about our endorsements. Our endorsements directly impact their political landscape. And so in this particular election, obviously we knew very well where Congresswoman Miria Velazquez stood. She made an endorsement of Antonio Reynoso. Many of the city council members that are in the district showed up to the interviews, participated in the conversation. We knew also that Mayor Mandani really, really deeply cared about Claire Valdez and also many of our other working families elected who have endorsed her. So this was probably one of the most challenging endorsement decisions the party has ever made. Also because both Claire Valdez and Antonio Reynoso are themselves working families endorsements champions with a history that we deeply respect. So I want to. Jasmine, you know, I said the moment my announcement of me joining the administration became public, I stepped back from any political decision of the party and Deeply apologized to Jasmine for her having to just be the one that holds this. Probably one of the most challenging endorsement decisions we have had in a long time.
- [39:07]
A
Well, in that way too, the, the mayor can't rescind your job offer based. Well, I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. What, what's, what's the difference here? You know, I've So by the way, for listeners, if you haven't caught it, I just did an episode with Antonio Reynoso and an episode with Claire Valdez. So I had an hour with each of them. People can listen to those conversations. The third candidate in the primary, council member Julie Wan, is coming on soon. So that'll all. That'll. There's a lot of lot to dig into with these candidates. But Jasmine, briefly, what's the difference here? I mean a lot of people are saying this is like pretty far left versus very far left and it's, you know, very progressive versus socialist and they'll basically champion the same stuff and vote the same way. They each make arguments, you know, for their own cases. But how would you capture briefly the difference here and why Reynoso got the endorsement? I mean obviously he's a long time Working Families Party ally. Endorsi, etc Nydia Velasquez as well, longtime ally. But then you've got your newer allies with Mamdani and so forth. But in terms of how you would capture for people, what's the difference here? What puts Antonio Reynoso over the top in your view?
- [40:18]
C
Yeah, and let me just say during the debate it was cordial. Folks weren't throwing either candidate under the bus and there was, you know, folks weren't complaining or had anything bad to say about Claire. I think people talked about, you know, her time in the assembly and you know, we were proud to support her in that bid and was she was one of our priority races.
- [40:41]
A
I'll just say briefly. Sorry, sorry to interrupt. I'll just say briefly in terms of my conversations with them and other things that are out there, again, very respectful of each other, etc. But the main distinctions, you know, Reynoso says I have a much longer, stronger track record in this district and in politics and in policy. And Valdez's argument is that, you know, she's a close ally of the mayor, she comes out of the labor movement. She would be a labor organizer in Congress and says that Reynoso was a bit late on his condemnation of Israel's conduct in Gaza as one key sort of area where they've, where they've differed. They don't seem to have a lot of other differences. But, you know, perhaps again, alluding to some ways they would, they would focus a little bit on different issues to champion. But, but that's a little bit of the broad strokes of what I heard from them in terms of the tiniest bit of differentiation between them was, you know, track record, who are your allies and what does that mean? And a little bit, you know, on a couple of issues that they've differed a little bit. But anyway, you were. Sorry to interrupt you.
- [41:44]
C
Yeah. You know, what came up during the conversation that I think the overwhelming support for Antonio was the long history that a lot of our affiliates and their members have had with him showing up for fights around criminal justice reform and taking difficult positions. Then, you know, there was actually one member who had like a really specific experience of like, you know, reporting sexual harassment within the council and feeling ostracized. And Antonio was the only person who looked out for her and like had her back and stood up for her. And so people really had rich stories around the ways they have worked with him over the years and the way he's delivered. And I think that made folks really excited about leaning into his endorsement and supporting his candidacy. And so, you know, it's going to
- [42:37]
A
come down to here. I mean, the DSA just, you know, and Mamdani again with the WFP support dominated in this congressional district in parts of Brooklyn and Queensland in the mayoral election, both in the primary and the general. Antonio Reynoso is obviously one borough wide in Brooklyn and used to represent a little bit of Queens. You know, the DSA has this, this sort of vaunted ground game, but Reynosa's got now the wfp, Nydia Velasquez and lots of others coming in who will also do, you know, activate their ground networks. What's, what's going to make the difference here? You know, in brief, since I want to get to one or two other things with you. What's going to make the difference in this race?
- [43:19]
C
Yeah, I think talking to voters and brand recognition. I want to be clear that this WFP has a ascending brand amongst voters and respected about who to vote for across this district. We are widely known to voters and we will be communicating to them about our endorsement and why. And so at the end of the day, we'll have a good member of Congress. It's a good problem to have, but the party will be working on behalf of Antonio Reno. So who we think is best suited
- [43:50]
A
to represent this district is Representative OCASIO Cortez going to come in here on one side or the other. She's obviously of the dsa. She's got some kind of good relationship with Mayor Mamdani. They just put out a video together in Spanish encouraging people to sign up for pre K and 3K. You know, that doesn't mean that much about a relationship, but, you know, they've got a growing relationship, it seems. She's also been a longtime ally of Nydia Velasquez in Congress, something of a mentor to her. She could certainly tip the scales a bit in this race. When I asked Claire Valdez, she said she's very actively working to try to get AOC's endorsement. Is she perhaps a difference maker in this and. And where's the lobbying effort on her endorsement stand?
- [44:40]
C
I think to be determined, she has to make the decision for herself about if or when she'll weigh in on this race. We cannot speak to that.
- [44:48]
A
And you consider. Go ahead.
- [44:50]
B
No, I was going to say, you know, I'll be Ana Maria. I won't be working Tammu's party in this comment. I.
- [44:58]
A
That's all you are right now. You're not the co director anymore. You haven't started the new job. Job. Right.
- [45:03]
B
So, yes, it's just me. You know, this is for me, like a kind of unfortunate situation. There is like a. We have two amazing people who I think would be tremendous. Claire would, of course, bring the perspective of labor, progressive labor into Congress at a moment when it is UAW and labor unions like it that are pushing the boundaries and rebuilding in some ways the energy of the labor movement. So she would be an incredible member of Congress. Antonio is someone who is deeply connected to many of the communities that have suffered displacement in this district. And so he brings that kind of that sensitivity to the role. And both of them, I think, deeply respect the legacy of Nydia Velazquez, the work that she has done for immigrants, for small businesses, against colonial powers of the United States. She has a very powerful legacy. Both of them are committed to it. I feel like what this race is, is kind of evidence of how disorganizing it is to win and to have different analysis of what the victory means. Right. And so, you know, Mehrmamdani's victory was beautiful. It was the result of like, in some ways, decades of work and also very intense, concentrated work in a period of time in a campaign that energized, you know, over 100,000 people literally, and got a million voters to support. But, like, coming out of that different people had different takes about one, what needed to be done, what the victory, what the opportunities of that victory were. And I think inside the left spectrum, there was a sense of, well, now it's our. Now it's our moment to, like, push the, you know, hardest to elect as many leftists as possible. I, you know, I come from, I come from the immigrant rights world where people don't show up with, like, an ideological flag. They show up with, like, in crisis. And so, and so I, I tend to believe, like, that the, the big tent, an approach that is unifying is always. Is always a more powerful approach. So I have, I, I have, like, you know, being kind of heartbroken at the, the intro left fight and this one in particular. And I feel like I'm not sure that whoever wins will win, but I, but there will be a loss of, like, kind of relational tissue that was built over the last many, many decades, like, I would say since 2018, since the victory of Julius Salazar, that I think will need some mending. So, you know, I am, I'll say as Ana Maria, I am rooting for our side to reconnect and remember that, like, we have gotten this far together and that in order to help Mayor Mamdani succeed, like, we actually need to elevate that above any of the kind of fractures that are, as you pointed out, so many, so minimal. Like, in some ways, the differences are so, so minimal. You have to dig very deep to, to find them. So that's.
- [48:58]
A
Well, again, you know, there was a lot of energy coming out, certainly, of the dsa, but also the broader left about, from. From that Mamdani win about, okay, what, what seats can we win and where can we, you know, win open seats or take out incumbents who aren't as progressive as we think they should be, etc.
- [49:16]
B
Yes.
- [49:16]
A
And. But then you had, you know, the mayor strategically coming out against, challenging Hakeem Jeffries, asking Alexa Vilas to step aside.
- [49:26]
B
Yeah.
- [49:27]
A
You know, some different things. So I think there was a lot of energy on the DSA to say, okay, well, this New York 7 race, then we better go all in.
- [49:33]
B
Totally. Yes. And it's totally understandable. And it's totally understandable.
- [49:38]
A
Yeah. And at the same time, you've got this longtime legend of a congresswoman who wants to say, you know, hey, here's my preferred successor, even though, you know, nobody owns a seat. Very, very tricky. Okay, just have a few more minutes with you. So I do want to touch on this New York 10 race where Brad Lander is Challenging longtime Working Families Party ally Brad Lander is challenging Congressman Goldman. And just in a couple minutes here, what's the, what's the big picture case here? You know, again I've had both of them on in recent weeks for, for in depth conversations here on their candidacies and the race so folks can listen to those. But what's the, what where is. Well, let's start here. Dan Goldman's in Congress, Democrat, I think broadly appreciated among Democrats and even independents and some Republicans is a very strong sort of Trump accountability voice, chief counsel in the first impeachment in the, in the Trump first term on the Ukraine matter. What's he not doing or where is he falling short that he needs to be replaced by a, by a more progressive Democrat?
- [50:51]
C
Yeah. One of the strategies the Working Families Party has to approaching elections, especially in Congress, is block and build. We want to block Republicans from gaining any ground in purple districts. Right. And we are aiding in the battleground effort and flipping seats from red to blue. And then so we want to block, but we also want to build where we have deeply blue seats. We can get progressive values aligned champions in office. And NY10 is one of those districts where it's a strong WFP vote district. The only reason why Dan Goldman even won is because our side was divided. In the last primary. You had Yuli New, you had Mondaire Jones who was still like very close to the party at the time. And you had, oh my gosh, it was a Congress City Council member Carlina Rivera. Carlina Rivera also running. And so the left was divided.
- [51:45]
A
Even a couple other candidates whose votes made the margin of difference. Not that we know where their voters would have gone, but I mean it was a very, very close race.
- [51:52]
C
It was a close race, very crowded. And had we, that's 2022 been a head to head, we would have had someone else in that seat. And so we've been eyeing this district for a while of like, you know what? We can get a progressive champion, someone who can go into Congress and lead, who can be a champion for our issues and who will be a stellar fighter for our community. And that is Brad Lander. And so, you know, we made the decision to like endorse early. And Brad has the wp, he has a nod from Bernie, Elizabeth Warren, who are like, yes, come join us in Congress, would love to have you here fighting with us.
- [52:31]
A
And so this is Mayor Mamdani and
- [52:34]
C
Mayor Mamdani who are all saying, you know, we can do better than Goldman here. We can get our true Champion.
- [52:41]
A
Okay, but on what, I mean this again is a little bit of a question of. I think there's again some policy areas you could probably point. But Dan Goldman's got his own bill on tax taxing the wealthy. I mean he's got, you know, he's got, he's got a pretty progressive record. I obviously the one issue where you could point to a pretty stark difference is Israel's war in Gaza. So maybe it goes without saying that that's just sort of the top differentiator at the moment. But Lander obviously has a very broad, you know, progressive background.
- [53:14]
C
Yeah, I, the war is definitely part of it. I think if you talk to the constituents of NY10 who've been out there protesting Dan Goldman days at a time and pushing him on the issues, him refusing to meet with his constituents. We want a leader who's responsive to the district, who's available to meet with their constituents, listens and takes the lead from the voters in their district. And so I think we see more movement from Dan now that he was aware that we were coming for this seat and we were going to challenge him now attempting to respond, respond to his constituents. But he wasn't budging on any of this before the primary challenge was announced. And so, you know, sure, you know, you know, he even met with us and talked about the timeline of his progression and how he's moved over the years and specifically the last few months. But I don't think we back away from the challenge just because he started to move. I think we want a champion who's going to act, like I said, be a leader and on the forefront progressive issues.
- [54:22]
B
And I think, you know, if you notice the, when, when Brad Lander launched, he obviously had a very powerful lunch with Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, the Working Families Party, Mayor Mamdani together supporting Brad Lander. But the thing that happened right after is that many of the elected officials, City Council, State Assembly, State Senate, especially in the Brooklyn part of the district which is the largest, this part of the district. The district has a piece of Manhattan, but it's quite small. Most of them came out in support of Brad Lander. And that I think is not, it's a demonstration of frustration with Congressman Goldman. It's a sense that they are not feeling like they have a partner in Congress. And I think the work of a member of Congress is not just what they are doing in Washington, it's also what they are doing in their districts to advance the multi layered priorities of their district with other elected officials and with their constituents. And I think that an orientation that is not just like I'm an excellent lawyer that can hold be very compelling in a hearing that is of course part of the job. And Dan Goldman, no one can dispute that he does that part really well. But, but I think that there are many other parts of the job that I think a lot of people over the last four years have found deeply frustrating with him.
- [56:03]
A
Just last couple minutes here. Do you consider New York 10 with Brad Lander? Sort of. He, even though he's a challenger, he's a strong favorite in that race. Or do you feel like it's. That's an uphill battle. There's people who feel very confidently that he'll win and then there's some skepticism that maybe, you know, lose the mayoral race, run for Congress. There's that. There's a little bit of sort of skepticism that people will not actually rally around him for this position.
- [56:32]
C
I mean, we take no race for granted. If we're going to challenge a sitting incumbent, we're going to put our best efforts behind making sure we're successful. Dan Goldman is one of the wealthiest members of Congress and can self finance his own campaign. And so if, you know, if we're going to come and challenge him and he's dug his heels in and said he's going to fight for his seat, we need to come prepared to win and actually do the work. And so we're not taking anything for granted. I think polls have shown that Brad is a favorite, but nonetheless, we're going to talk to voters, we're going to do our part and we're going to work hard to win this election.
- [57:11]
A
Lastly for you, Jasmine, and then I want to end with you, Anna Maria. Jasmine, is the WFP going to be getting involved in any other congressional races, the primaries this cycle in the city you haven't endorsed in the Open New York 12 race to replace Jerry Nadler, who's retiring. There's progressive challenges in New York 15 to Richie Torres, New York 13 to Adriano Espailla. But there's some other primaries perhaps worth a look from different constituencies and so forth. Do you plan to get involved in any others?
- [57:45]
C
Can I just say, to be determined. Stay tuned. The Working Families Party is still considering a number of races.
- [57:50]
A
Okay. Anna Maria, will you come back to talk about your new role as Commissioner of International Affairs? I don't want to. Just too horn.
- [57:59]
B
Anytime. Whenever Ben Max calls, I will come back.
- [58:03]
A
Yeah, so just take us out though on one minute. Just in terms of what the role is and, and how you're thinking about it as you get started the first week of March. And then we'll do a deeper conversation on that once you're in the role. But just say a little bit about moving into this role as Commissioner of International affairs for New York City.
- [58:19]
B
So the city has this Office of International affairs that is kind of the, the office that relates to the diplomatic community that lives, that is in the city, the UN, the consulates, but it's also, it's an office that has been deeply underutilized in some ways and under Mayor Mandani, who is a figure, not just a local leader, but someone with an international perspective. And there is intense interest in how he not only will govern the city, but how he will speak about the world. Especially in this moment when we have Donald Trump completely disorganizing global politics and of, in some ways, like ending some of the alliances that have maintained the post war world order. And when we have a moment of rising authoritarianism here, but also in other parts of the world, the figure of Mayor Mamdani as someone who speaks about the values of solidarity and democracy and universal human rights is of great interest. So the idea of these offices, the role of these offices to build, to service the diplomatic community, to relate to it, but the potential of it is to actually build alliances with other like minded leaders who are also committed to addressing inequality, climate change and speaking for a vision of the world where democracy continues to exist. And my role, my, is to both relate to when the world gathers in New York for the UN, for the World cup, but also to the world that lives in New York. New York is the most international city, 200 languages spoken. There are diasporas here whose politics connect to their home country, if people remember. Mayor Mamdani in his inauguration speech spoke, did not speak about Palestine. He spoke about Palestinian New Yorkers and their right to have equal rights under the law and his commitment to make that so. And so everything that this office does will be rooted in the New Yorkers who live in this city, whose histories also trace back to other parts of the world. And we will be kind of, of building alliances that ultimately help the city learn from other places, solutions to advance and to make New York City more affordable, more livable for working class New Yorkers and also help reconnect New York to the world that still believes that democracy is a value that we need to cherish and protect.
- [61:17]
A
Very, very interesting. I will hold off on any further questions till we talk again. But that is, that is a very interesting agenda and role, and I look forward to talking more about it once you get into it. And Jasmine, you'll have to come back in the next few months before the primary to talk a little bit about some other races we didn't get to. I know the WFP is involved in a whole bunch of state legislative races, and obviously you said stay tuned on possible other congressional races, so have more to talk about and hopefully touch base again down the line. But Jasmine Gripper, Anna Maria Archilla, thanks again for for all the time and thoughts. Really appreciate it. Sam.