The New York Working Families Party has endorsed Port Washington progressive activist Melanie D’Arrigo as she runs for the Democratic primary in the Third Congressional District.
The NYWFP pushes for progressive legislation, training, recruiting and supporting progressive leaders to seek elected office, according to its website.
“The New York Working Families Party is proud to support Melanie D’Arrigo for Congress. She is a mother and working-class New Yorker who has been organizing for years in NY-3 to expand health care through Medicare for All, protect reproductive rights and ensure dignity for workers,” Sochie Nnaemeka, state director of the party, said in a statement. “Long Islanders will benefit from having a real champion for working families fighting for them in Congress.”
D’Arrigo said in order to usher in a better New York, candidates need to be committed to working families.
“If we want to build a New York for the many, we need to elect representatives who are unbought by corporate PAC money and undeterred in the fight for working families,” D’Arrigo said in a statement. The Working Families Party has been the blood and sweat of that movement, and I am beyond honored to receive their endorsement.”
She added, “We are building a grassroots movement across NY-03 in the fight for Medicare for All, reproductive justice and an economy that works for all of us—and the Working Families party is the latest addition to our formidable grassroots coalition, the largest in the race.”
D’Arrigo is seeking the Democratic nomination in the district, a seat being vacated by U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Glen Cove).
Others running on the Democratic line for the seat include former North Hempstead Supervisor Jon Kaiman, Nassau County Legislator Joshua Lafazan, state Sen. Alessandra Biaggi, Oyster Bay’s Reema Rasool and former Democratic National Committee member Robert Zimmerman.
New district maps were submitted recently by a court-appointed special master and have been viewed as more neutral compared to ones that were rejected by a state appeals court several weeks ago.
While the 3rd District under the new proposal doesn’t extend as far West into the Bronx and Westchester counties, it does stretch to more southern parts of Nassau County such as Hicksville and Massapequa. The new lines do exclude the parts of the district that stretch into Suffolk County, mainly Huntington and Smithtown.
George Santos is seeking the Republican nomination.
