WFP endorses Jonathan Soto in 82nd Assembly District

The Working Families Party announced on Wednesday that it is endorsing Jonathan Soto, an education organizer in the eastern Bronx who is challenging Assembly Member Michael Benedetto in the Democratic primary for the 82nd Assembly District.

“We’re thrilled to endorse Jonathan Soto for New York State Assembly,” WFP co-director Ana Maria Archila said in a statement. “As a working class parent, Jonathan understands the difficult decisions families have to make between paying for child care or making rent. We know that Jonathan will be a powerful voice for working families in the State Legislature and a champion for public education, affordable housing, and child care.”

Soto has made education a key issue in his campaign and has criticized Benedetto, the chair of the Assembly Education Committee, for supporting Mayor Eric Adams’ continued control of the city’s public school system. WFP has also been critical of mayoral control of schools. “Fighting for families means protecting our schools, not a mayor who's cutting hot lunches for children,” WFP co-director Ana Maria Archila said in a statement. 

This is Soto’s second attempt to unseat Benedetto. His previous campaign, in 2022, was endorsed by both the WFP and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose congressional district overlaps with the 82nd Assembly District. He received 36% of the vote to Benedetto’s 56%.

This time around, Soto also has the backing of the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America. (Full disclosure: I am a former member of DSA.) Two weeks ago, the campaign brought on Michael Lange as campaign manager. Lange, a DSA member, previously worked as field director for Council Member Yusef Salaam’s successful council campaign.

The DSA endorsement has helped raise Soto’s profile – he has already been endorsed by all 10 of DSA’s elected officials at the city and state levels, as well as the youth climate justice group Sunrise Movement – and provided the campaign with a large pool of volunteer canvassers.

Both WFP and DSA say that a strong ground game will be key to winning the district and plan to focus particularly on increasing turnout in Co-Op City, which contains a majority of the Assembly district’s Democratic primary voters. Increasing turnout in Co-Op City is also key to Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s reelection campaign – which has also been enforced by DSA – and Soto’s campaign is likely to benefit from that synergy.