Howie Hawkins Makes Direct Appeal to Zephyr Teachout Supporters
To Vote Hawkins—The Only Progressive on the Ballot

(New York, NY) — This evening Zephyr Teachout announced that she will not be endorsing anyone for governor in next week's elections. She told NY1's Errol Louis that she expects a lot of her supporters to back Cuomo on the Working Families Party line. She also expects a lot to vote for Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins.

"I am making a direct appeal to all those who supported and voted for Zephyr Teachout. I am appealing to all those who care about women's equality, fracking, Albany corruption, clean energy, full and equal funding of schools, the end of high stakes testing,  and all the other progressive values Ms. Teachout stood for in her campaign to vote for me on election day," Hawkins Hawkins, Green Party governor candidate said.  "I am the only progressive candidate running for governor who is campaigning for the progressive values and policies that energized Ms. Teachout's voters. Cuomo cannot be trusted to be a progressive leader on any of those issues—his 4 year record proves it."

"The Working Families Party's cynical electoral fusion confusion strategy, asking their members and supporters to hold their nose and vote Cuomo, should not fool anyone. Cuomo on the WFP line is the same conservative Democrat he is on the Democratic, WEP and Independent lines. Unlike me he, Cuomo will not be an ally for working families, women, the 99% and all those who know that fracking has to be banned in New York State."

Teachout garnered 34% of the Democratic primary vote (181,000 votes) by running on a progressive platform, appealing to voters furious with Governor Cuomo's record. 

In the general election the only candidate running on a progressive platform is Hawkins. The latest polls have Hawkins at 9%, which equates to over 400,000 votes with an expected turnout of over 4.5 million.

Hawkins has received endorsements from the same progressive NYC Democratic Clubs that amplified Teachout's run in the Democratic primary—The Village Independent Democrats, The Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, The Downtown Independent Democrats, The Gramercy Stuyvesant Independent Democrats, as well as two Brooklyn clubs, the Prospect Heights Democrats for Reform and the Southern Brooklyn Democrats. For all of these clubs it was the first time in their history that they endorsed non-Democrats.