In New York, Progressive Values Have a Line on the Ballot

When I was a little girl growing up in New York my mother used to take me into the voting booth and tell me “We are Democrats but we vote on the Liberal party line to show what kind of Democrats we are–what we stand for and what we care about.”  

Decades later, when I became a mother, I did the same with my own children.  I took them into the voting booth with me and told them we are Democrats, but we show people what we stand for by voting on Row D, the Working Families Party line.  This year I’m voting on the WFP Line for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz – and I want to explain why that is so important. 

In New York, we are lucky enough to signal more than just blind support for a candidate and their platform; we have third parties and fusion voting, which allows us to find political homes that more closely align with what we believe, and add the nuance we so desperately lack in our two-party system. Right now, this matters more than ever. 

On October 7th when I awoke to the news that 1,200 innocent lives had been brutally taken by Hamas, I burst in tears, for the victims and their families, and the hundreds taken hostage, and for the unspeakable violence I knew would soon be unleashed by Israel’s far right government on a captive Palestinian population already living under a brutal occuption.  And yet the subsequent violence that has unfolded has been far worse than any of us could have imagined: the bombing, burning, sniping, maiming, torturing of men, women and record shattering numbers of children; the unprecedented killing of journalists, doctors, human rights workers and United Nations employees; the almost total destruction of every hospital, every university and countless cultural institutions, schools, refugee centers, entire neighborhoods and entire families and above that entire lineages erased, forever.

Most distressing for Democrats is that Israel’s genocide has been aided, abetted, fueled and funded by our own Democratic president—whose bear-hug diplomacy has been such a spectacular failure that it is making a mockery of US and International law that governs human rights.  Equally distressing is President Biden’s seeming total lack of concern, or even awareness of the brutal realities coming out of Gaza, the West Bank and now Lebanon as well; realities that keep the rest of the world up at night and threaten the election of his more empathetic, but unfortunately far too silent, Vice-President. 

I cannot and will not endorse the Democratic party position on the war in Gaza, and I stand firm in the all-too-obvious truth that a genocide should never be allowed, much less rewarded. At the same time, Doanld Trump has been and will continue to be far, far worse; gleefully calling for further escalation and telling Prime Minister Benjamin Neetanyahu to “finish the job” and “Do what you have to do,”

Under a second Trump presidency, Americans will be fighting for our own survival–from the ravages of unchecked climate change, to the eradication of life saving health care for women, girls, trans people and millions of Americans on Obamacare, to the staggering and ever widening income inequality that is the pet project of Trump’s billionaire donors and which is rapidly ripping apart the very fabric of our country.

It is a bleak choice for voters who care about human rights.  But because I am a New Yorker,  I can vote on a party line that aligns with both progressive values and the cause of Palestinian freedom. For over 25 years, the WFP has been that home for voters, and it has been that home for me. Last year, I was one of the first public figures to demand the Biden administration call for a ceasefire, back when that word meant more than a delay tactic — and the WFP was right there with me, rallying people behind the cause. When AIPAC, flush with millions in cash from Trump mega-donors and Netanyahu-allied billionaire conservatives, targeted every Democratic member of Congress who dared to stand in support of Palestinians, the WFP fought back. We didn’t win every fight. But the money was met with the many — and our message is resonating with more people than ever. 

So much is at stake in this election, and we can’t go back to four more years of Trump in the White House any more than we can go back to the bad old days Trump is trying to revive.  But in this election season,  I’m focused on using my vote to build the power of the movement that I am part of, that will ultimately win the change we are desperately fighting for.  

In New York that means voting for Harris/Walz on Row D, the Working Families Party line, and for any and all of the exciting WFP endorsed candidates, of which there are dozens in New York and hundreds in states across this country.  Not all states have fusion voting, but many have active and flourishing Working Families Party chapters who don’t just surface once every four years to spoil an election, but who fight every day to win a far-reaching progressive agenda for the many, not just the few.  

And to my fellow New Yorkers for whom Kamala Harris may not be the perfect candidate: as my mother would tell you if she were here, when we vote Harris/Walz on the WFP line, we are signaling to our (god willing) future President that we are voting for her as part of a movement that needs her to do better.  And that our vote is not the end of our interaction with her but just the beginning.