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Cuomo the favorite heading into WFP vote, though vote will be close, party source says

Cuomo the favorite heading into WFP vote, though vote will be close, party source says

NY Daily News: October 2, 2018

Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins has thrown his hat in the ring to replace Nixon if she is moved off the line.

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by Ken Lovett

ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo heads into Wednesday’s Working Families Party vote the favorite to get the nomination, though the situation remains fluid, a party source said Tuesday evening.

“If the dissenters are able to pull a good portion of the votes at the meeting, they have a chance, but if I were a betting man, I would bet Cuomo gets the line,” the Working Families Party state committee member said. “I’d say he’s ahead right now, but it’s close.”

Currently, actress Cynthia Nixon, who Cuomo defeated in the Sept. 13 Democratic primary, has the Working Families Party line.

One of the only ways she can be moved off is if she runs for a different office. If the party votes to give the line to Cuomo, Nixon would be moved to a different race with the idea that she wouldn’t win it.

City Councilman Jumaane Williams is the party’s current nominee for lieutenant governor. If a change is decided on Wednesday night, he’s expected to be shifted to the Working Families Party line to run against state Sen. Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn).

A source said Williams wants off the lieutenant governor’s line so he can focus on a possible race for city Public Advocate.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who beat Williams in the Democratic primary, would then take his place on the lieutenant governor line.

Some Working Families Party members who oppose the governor have argued a Monday Siena College poll that showed Cuomo leading Republican Marc Molinaro by a 50% to 28% margin--even with Nixon garnering 10%-- is an argument not to make a change since the party would not be playing the role of spoiler.

But others fear what could happen if Molinaro closes the gap with Cuomo in the last few weeks of the race and Nixon remains on the WFP line.

“When you leave things up to chance, anything can happen,” the state committee member said.

Green Party gubernatorial candidate Howie Hawkins has thrown his hat in the ring to replace Nixon if she is moved off the line.

The meeting is expected to be a contentious one.

"There are strong views on all sides, and we've had a robust deliberative process,” said WFP state director Bill Lipton. “I can't predict an outcome. The only thing we can say for sure is that the decision that comes out of our state committee tomorrow evening will be the result of a grassroots democratic process."

Cuomo still hasn't said if he'd take the WFP line if offered, but those in the party say they believe he would.

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