WFP launches new attack ad against WFP candidate

A new digital ad from the New York Working Families Party is asking the party’s supporters in the 17th Congressional District to cast ballots against its own congressional nominee, Anthony Frascone. The ad labels Frascone, a former registered Republican, a “fake candidate” and accuses him of working as a spoiler to benefit Republican incumbent Rep. Mike Lawler. 

Frascone unexpectedly won the WFP nomination earlier this year over former Rep. Mondaire Jones, the candidate the WFP actually endorsed for the seat. Jones is still on the ballot, but only on the Democratic line, not the WFP line. Rather than confuse voters, the WFP is encouraging voters in the district to vote on the Democratic line up and down the ballot. 

The digital ad includes clips of WFP Co-Directors Ana María Archila and Jasmine Gripper confronting Frascone at his Rockland County address and presenting him with a sign that says “Frascone Fake Candidate.” When Archila and Gripper asked him whether he supports Vice President Kamala Harris, WFP’s presidential nominee, he said that he just supported Jesus Christ. The confrontation was brief, but the video is the first time most New Yorkers will ever lay eyes on Frascone, who is not actively campaigning for the seat.

 The ad is part of WFP’s bespoke strategy in the 17th Congressional District, which includes paid door knockers, a volunteer phone banking program and targeted mailers, as they campaign for Jones and against both Lawler and their own party’s nominee. 

The WFP’s relationship with Jones is complex. The party had a very public falling-out with him after he endorsed Westchester County Executive George Latimer over Rep. Jamaal Bowman in the neighboring 16th Congressional District primary. While the party said it would pull its ground and fiscal support from Jones over the summer, it never rescinded its endorsement of him. But ahead of the WFP primary, Lawler sent mailers suggesting the WFP had pulled its endorsement of Jones, and Frascone ended up beating out Jones for the WFP nomination. 

In the rest of the state, WFP is doing its best to turn out voters and convince them to cast their ballot on their party’s line. Cuomo-era changes to election regulations mean that third parties like WFP must receive at least 2% of all presidential votes cast or 130,000 votes, whichever is higher, in order to retain their spot on New Yorkers’ ballots. That means the WFP is giving up crucial votes for president on its line in a bid to help Jones win the 17th Congressional District.

“Make no mistake: we won’t allow Lawler to confuse and disrespect voters to win an election,” Archila said in a statement.