Dems Try To Kick Third-Party Candidate Off The Ballot In NY Race
In a recent lawsuit, the Democratic Party leaders of Westchester and Putnam counties aim to remove Anthony Frascone, a third-party candidate who won the Working Families Party nomination, from the New York ballot. They argue that Frascone could siphon votes from Democrat Mondaire Jones, thereby jeopardizing his chances of winning the election for New York’s 17th Congressional District. The lawsuit claims Frascone has engaged in deceptive practices to influence the election outcome and seeks to prevent his name from appearing on the ballot for the November 2024 general election.
The case reflects a broader strategy by national Democrats to exclude third-party candidates who threaten their electoral prospects. Justice Janet C. Malone of the New York State Supreme Court has ordered the state and county election commissioners to justify why Frascone’s candidacy should not be voided. Frascone’s history as a former Republican and his alleged status as a “plant” created by Democrats has also sparked controversy.
The stakes are high: the Democratic candidate Jones lost to Frascone in the Working Families Party primary by just 90 votes. Frascone’s presence on the ballot is perceived as a significant risk for Jones, especially given the narrow margins by which Republican Mike Lawler won previous elections in the district. The lawsuit highlights Democrats’ inconsistent stance on electoral competition, as similar tactics have been employed against other third-party candidates across the nation.
The “party of democracy” is trying to kick a third-party congressional candidate off the New York ballot out of fear he will take votes away from Democrat candidate Mondaire Jones, according to a new lawsuit. The move reflects national Democrats’ attempts to eliminate third-party candidates whose existence threatens their electoral chances.
The suit, filed by the Democrat Party leaders of Westchester and Putnam counties alongside four voters in the district, alleges that Anthony Frascone, who won the Working Families Party nomination during the June primary, poses a threat to Jones’ chances at victory by potentially siphoning votes from the former representative in New York’s 17th Congressional District. The seat is currently held by Republican Rep. Mike Lawler, who is seeking reelection after narrowly winning in 2022.
“[Frascone] has engaged in a subversive campaign to effect the outcome of the November 5, 2024 General election by siphoning and preventing the electorate from voting for” Jones, the suit alleges, claiming Frascone “devised a scheme to dilute the vote” on Election Day.
The suit accuses the third-party candidate of “ineffective, false, fraudulent, and invalid, election practices” and insists “his placement on the official ballots for the November 5, 2024 general election ballot as a candidate of the Working Families Party should be deemed null and void.”
The suit seeks to force the board of elections not to include his name on any further ballots.
New York State Supreme Court Justice Janet C. Malone issued an Order to Show Cause on Friday stating that respondents (which include commissioners on the state election board and county election commissioners) must “show cause” why the court shouldn’t “void” Frascone’s candidacy and remove him from the ballot.
Democrat candidates (up to and including presidential candidate Kamala Harris) sometimes obtain nominations from the Working Families Party, enabling their names to appear twice on voters’ ballots — once as the Democrat nominee and once as the Working Families Party nominee. Jones competed for the Working Families Party nomination against Frascone but lost by a margin of 90 votes, or 18 percent. Jones’ upset comes just two years after he reportedly decided to ditch his N.Y.-17 constituents after the lines were redrawn. Jones tried to run in N.Y.-10, but lost the primary to Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman.
A New York GOP operative familiar with the matter told The Federalist “Democrats claim to be defenders of democracy but their candidate for president received zero votes and now they’re bringing a frivolous lawsuit in an attempt to remove Anthony Frascone, who actually earned the votes necessary to appear on the ballot this November.”
“Democrats know they’re in trouble,” the operative said. “Mike Lawler has represented the 17th district admirably. The voters know that too.”
For Jones, the presence of a third-party candidate could jeopardize his chance of winning. Lawler beat then-Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Sean Patrick Maloney during the 2022 midterm election by less than 1,800 votes. There were approximately 1,600 voters in District 17 registered as part of the Working Families Party as of last year, according to LoHud.
Frascone, a former Republican, registered with the Working Families Party in 2012, according to Gothamist. But Democrats and the Working Families Party contend Frascone is a plant, according to reports.
Shannon Geison, a spokeswoman for Jones’ campaign, accused “MAGA Republicans” of “trying to steal the Working Families Party line in order to elect Mike Lawler.” But Chris Russell, a spokesman for Lawler’s campaign, chalked the accusations up to Jones trying “to save face after an embarrassing loss,” according to Gothamist.
New York Democrats’ attempt to boot Frascone off the ballot mimics tactics their party has deployed against a variety of third-party presidential candidates around the country. Democrats successfully knocked third-party candidates Cornel West and Claudia De la Cruz out of the presidential race in Georgia after previous attempts failed. De la Cruz previously said “The Democratic Party wanted to restrict the choices available to Georgia voters because they didn’t want to compete with a socialist campaign,” according to the Georgia Recorder.
West was also kicked off the ballot in Michigan and Pennsylvania by the Democrat-led Bureau of Elections and state supreme court, respectively. De la Cruz was similarly knocked off the ballot in Pennsylvania.
Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who took a minor but noteworthy chunk of the vote in 2016 (and subsequently, partial blame for Hillary Clinton’s loss), was kicked off the Nevada ballot after the state’s Supreme Court “agreed with state Democrats’ claims that the Green Party used incorrect affidavit language on its signature petition,” as my colleague Shawn Fleetwood explained. The language Stein’s campaign used, however, was provided by Nevada’s Democrat secretary of state.
Democrats also fought to boot Robert F. Kennedy Jr. off the ballot out of fear he would take votes away from the Democrat nominee — until Kennedy decided to withdraw from the ballot voluntarily and endorse Republican nominee Donald Trump, at which point Democrats started trying to force Kennedy to stay on the ballot. In North Carolina, Democrats initially sued to keep Kennedy off the ballot. But after Kennedy dropped out of the race in key battleground states and endorsed Trump, Democrats tried to keep him on the ballot in hopes his presence would take votes away from the Republican. The North Carolina Supreme Court recently ruled Kennedy’s name will remain off the ballot, but his attempts to withdraw in other battleground states like Michigan and Wisconsin have been unsuccessful. Kennedy will remain on the ballot in Michigan despite his objection after the Michigan Supreme Court permitted the Democrat secretary of state to keep his name on the ballot.
For more election news and updates, visit electionbriefing.com.
Brianna Lyman is an elections correspondent at The Federalist. Brianna graduated from Fordham University with a degree in International Political Economy. Her work has been featured on Newsmax, Fox News, Fox Business and RealClearPolitics. Follow Brianna on X: @briannalyman2
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