Women's Equality Party | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leaders | Susan Zimet |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Dissolved | 2018 |
| Ideology | Women's rights[1] Feminism Pro-choice[1] Progressivism[2] |
| Political position | Center-left |
TheWomen's Equality Party was a minorpolitical party active within the state ofNew York. It was founded in 2014 by thengovernor of New YorkAndrew Cuomo and appeared alongside his name on the2014 and2018 gubernatorial ballots under New York'selectoral fusion law. The party encountered controversy due to endorsing the male Andrew Cuomo for governor over primary challengersZephyr Teachout andCynthia Nixon in 2014 and 2018, which has led to claims that the party was afront organization for Cuomo's gubernatorial campaigns in 2014 and 2018.
The party lost ballot access following the 2018 elections. Interest in the history of the party increased followingsexual harassment allegations made against Cuomo beginning in 2020 and his subsequent resignation in 2021.
Andrew Cuomo, the incumbentGovernor of New York, created the party in July 2014 under New York'selectoral 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 theNew York State Legislature but stalled after he and the bill's supporters demanded a clause codifyingRoe v. Wade be included even as the thenRepublican-ledNew 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 theRoe 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 usedKathy 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 the2014 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 ofstanding), and again by former State SenatorCecilia 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 that year'spresidential election, 36,292 people voted for Democratic candidateHillary Clinton on the party's line, a little over a quarter of those who voted for Clinton on theWorking Families line. In January 2018,Susan Zimet became chair of the party.[5] Despite the change in leadership, and the fact that he was once again being challenged by a woman (Cynthia Nixon this time), the party supported Cuomo's 2018 reelection.[6] The party is widely believed to still be controlled and funded by the Cuomo gubernatorial campaign as afront organization, with the party having minimal independent operations.[7]
The party's acronym (W.E.P.) is visually close to that of the Working Families Party (W.F.P.), a left-wing New York third party that endorsed Nixon in the Democratic primary. Political observers accused Cuomo of creating the party to confuse voters who may have otherwise supported the WFP.[8]
In 2018 prior to her election to the U.S. House of representativesAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez called the WEP a cynical, centrist group that endorsed male incumbents over female primary challengers like herself andCynthia Nixon.[9]
In the2018 gubernatorial election, the party lost its automatic ballot line after failing to capture 50,000 votes for Cuomo.[10] At the time it lost ballot access, it had approximately 1,100 registered members.[11]
While campaigning in the2018 United States House of Representatives elections in New York, Democratic primary candidate Liuba Grechen Shirley used campaign funds to pay a caregiver for her two young children. The FEC ruled that federal candidates can use campaign funds to pay for child care costs that result from time spent running for office. Grechen Shirley became the first woman in history to receive approval to spend campaign funds on child care.[12] Grechen Shirley was affiliated with the Women's Equality Party and theWorking Families Party.
Cuomo's ties to the party were again criticized aftermultiple women accused him of sexual harassment in 2021.[13][14]
New York political parties | ||
|---|---|---|
| Automatic ballot access |  | |
| No ballot access | ||
| Inactive | ||