ITHACA, N.Y.—New York State’s Working Families Party (WFP) announced a slew of endorsements in 2023’s upcoming local elections on Monday.
WFP endorsed Kathleen Bergin in the race for Ithaca Town Justice and issued a total of six endorsements to candidates running for office in the City of Ithaca building on the presence of the left-leaning party established during the 2022 elections.
With the WFP’s announcement, a new name is added to the already established group of local electeds vying for a place on the City of Ithaca’s Common Council.
WFP is endorsing Kayla Matos in a bid to represent the City of Ithaca’s 1st Ward on Common Council. Matos, who works as the Deputy Director at the Southside Community Center, could not be reached for comment before publication. Alderperson Jorge DeFendini (4th Ward) also gained the WFP endorsement as he seeks reelection to the redrawn. In what he said would be his last run to serve the city’s 2nd Ward, Alderperson Ducson Nguyen has also earned the endorsement of the WFP as he eyes a capstone four-year term to end his tenure on Common Council.
The WFP has also endorsed Alderperson Rob Cantelmo of the 5th Ward in his bid for Ithaca Mayor.
The announcement from WFP also confirms two figures in the races to come: Alderperson Tiffany Kumar of the 4th Ward and Alderperson Phoebe Brown of the 2nd Ward. Kumar, who will be running to represent one of the two seats in the redrawn 4th ward, declined to comment in January on whether she would be running again, and Brown told The Ithaca Voice that she was “not sure” if she would be running for reelection.
The hesitation Brown felt was due to health concerns, she said, and those concerns have since subsided. “My voice is needed,” Brown told The Voice in a brief phone interview. Due to the new ward boundaries adopted by Ithaca’s Common Council, Brown will be running to represent Ithaca’s new 1st Ward where she resides.
While just 8% of statewide votes for New York Governor Kathy Hochul came in on the WFP line, approximately 27% of the votes cast for Hochul in the City of Ithaca were. Of the party’s six-candidate endorsements, five are current members of Ithaca’s Common Council.
It isn’t yet clear if the current representatives of the 1st Ward, Alderpersons George McGonigal and Cynthia Brock, will be running for reelection. Both are still residents of the 1st Ward after redistricting, and both declined to confirm whether they would be running for reelection.
In addition to the Mayor’s office, all 10 of the Common Council’s seats are up for reelection in 2023. It’s a political phenomenon that only occurs every 10 years in the City of Ithaca after the Census results trigger new ward boundaries in each of the city’s five wards, each with two seats, and candidates will be running for either a two or four year-term.