Women's Equality Party (New York)

Women's Equality Party
Leaders Susan Zimet
Founded 2014
Ideology Women's rights[1]
Feminism
Pro-choice[1]
Progressivism[2]
Seats in the Senate
0 / 100
Seats in the House
0 / 435
Governorships
0 / 50
State Upper House Seats
0 / 1,972
State Lower House Seats
0 / 5,411
Website
womensequalityparty.org

The Women's Equality Party is a New York qualified political party active only in that state. It was founded in 2014.

History

Andrew Cuomo, the incumbent Governor of New York, created the party in July 2014 under New York's electoral fusion laws, which allow votes on any ballot line to count toward a ticket's overall vote count.[3] The party's name came from the Women's Equality Act, a bill that Cuomo was attempting to push through the New York State Legislature but stalled after he and the bill's supporters demanded a clause codifying Roe v. Wade be included even as the Republican-led New York State Senate refused to include the clause (the Senate did pass the rest of the bill, but the rest of the legislature refused to consider the bill without the Roe clause).

From its beginning, the party was met with controversy. Zephyr Teachout, who was challenging Cuomo in a primary election, accused Cuomo of blatant pandering, since Cuomo was not a woman.[3] (Cuomo used Kathy Hochul, his female running mate, as the public face of the party.)

The party attained over 50,000 votes for the Cuomo–Hochul ticket in the 2014 gubernatorial elections, granting it automatic ballot access as a full political party under state law. Cuomo and Hochul submitted a set of rules that has twice been challenged: once by a pair of Republican clerks who noted that the rules were not approved by a majority of the WEP's statewide candidates (the judge threw the challenge out for lack of standing), and again by former State Senator Cecilia Tkaczyk, who submitted her own set of rules in an attempt to become chair of the party.[4]

In 2016, the party was led by acting chair Rachel Gold. In January 2018, Susan Zimet became chair of the party.[5] Despite the change in leadership, and the fact that he is once again being challenged by a woman (Cynthia Nixon this time), the party is supporting Cuomo's 2018 reelection.[6] The party is widely believed to still be controlled and funded by the Cuomo gubernatorial campaign as a front organization, with the party having minimal independent operations.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 Candidate Pledges
  2. ↑ Women’s Equality Party Announces over 100,000 Signatures to be on the Ballot This Fall
  3. 1 2 Lovett, Kenneth (July 17, 2014). Zephyr Teachout blasts as cynical ploy Gov. Cuomo's creation of Women's Equality Party line. New York Daily News. Retrieved July 22, 2014.
  4. ↑ Mahoney, Bill (August 31, 2015). Tkaczyk explains takeover attempt of Cuomo’s women’s party. Politico New York. Retrieved August 31, 2015.
  5. ↑ "Notebook: Susan Zimet takes over as Women's Equality Party leader". Capitol Confidential. 2018-01-08. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  6. ↑ "Women's Equality Party, under new management, still likes Cuomo". Politico PRO. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  7. ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/nyregion/cuomos-so-called-womens-party.html
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