After election controversy, Huntington progressives call for stronger Working Families Party to block ballot raiding

When Phil Dalton saw how close the results for Huntington Town supervisor were, he was not surprised, he recalled. Since October, the Hofstra professor and East Northport resident had been warning that candidates running under the Working Families Party line were there to spoil the town's Democratic ticket.

Republican Supervisor Ed Smyth defeated his Democratic challenger, Cooper Macco, by 602 votes, according to unofficial results. A Huntington Station woman, Maria Delgado, 83, ran on the minor-party line and received 1,195 votes — possibly swinging the election. She did not run a public campaign, and three days after the election, she told Newsday she had "no idea" she was on the ballot.

Questions about Delgado's biography, and who backed her, have galvanized Democrats and progressives across Huntington into organizing with the goal of enrolling more members in the minor-party line. The idea is to boost membership in the Working Families Party and build a bulwark against future efforts to hijack the line. 

"I expected the Democrats to perform better than they have in recent years," Dalton, 53, an enrolled Working Families Party member, said. "But I knew the Working Families Party would play a role in the outcome." Records from the Suffolk County Board of Elections show Delgado voted in person on Election Day in November and in the June primary.

Suffolk Democrats and officials from the state Working Families Party, which advocates for progressive causes including rent stabilization and affordable child care, say the minor-party ballot line was hijacked to siphon votes from Macco. Republicans said they had no role in the petition-gathering process and accused Democrats of sour grapes.

Local Democratic officials, Dalton said, "have for cycles failed to do anything about it. ... That’s when I decided to start organizing the Working Families Party."

Now Dalton, a professor of rhetoric and public advocacy at Hofstra University, said the only way to stop the party line from being hijacked is to enroll more members who are sympathetic to its views.

"I want to create a place where people meet and talk openly about public issues that matter to them," Dalton, who also runs Hofstra's Center for Civic Engagement, said in an interview. "I’m looking for disaffected Democrats, or people who may genuinely feel that the Working Families Party is the best partisan fit for them — people comfortable identifying with the party."

A Zoom call last week led by state Working Families Party officials drew more than 100 people. About 80 people protested the election results outside of Town Hall on Tuesday. A grassroots effort has begun to take shape with the goal, progressives say, of building a firewall that can withstand future ballot raids. 

Support 'is the endorsement'

The Working Families Party had endorsed the town's Democratic slate: Macco for supervisor; Jen Hebert and Stephen Anastasia for town council, and Vincent E. Colavita for highway superintendent. The trio were defeated in a low-turnout primary for the line on June 24 by George B. Bergbuchler and Erick Greene running for town board, and Chris Haines for highway superintendent. Earlier this month, Hebert won a seat on the town board, breaking Republicans' 5-0 grip on the council.

The Working Families Party line was vulnerable, Dalton said, because the local party apparatus had a virtually nonexistent operation and was under-supported in the past.

Danny Calabro, co-chair of the Working Families Party's Suffolk Club, said candidates are endorsed by the regional council, which is composed of representatives from Nassau and Suffolk counties. Candidates should not expect money or help, such as canvassing, once they are endorsed, he said.

"The support the party gives is the endorsement," he said. "It’s up to the candidate to run their campaign."

Records show that Michael Pastore, a Huntington Manor Fire Department commissioner and longtime town employee, collected petitions for Delgado and other members on her slate.

During the Nov. 12 Zoom meeting, state Working Families Party officials answered questions about the recent election.

The Working Families Party on Long Island is organized into two clubs, with one in Nassau and the other in Suffolk, said Jasmine Gripper, a co-director of the state party, in an interview. There are no town party organizations.

During the run-up to the primary, members of the Working Families Party were urged to vote because unendorsed candidates were on the ballot. Before Election Day, robo calls and text messages were sent to members urging them to vote for the Democratic candidates, she said.

“We made every attempt to contact voters to make sure they understood what was happening — that there was ballot raiding and that the candidates on the WFP line had no connection to the party,” she said.

Dalton said the idea is not to pick off registered Democrats. "I don’t want to come off as if I’m saying I want to take Democrats away from the Democratic Party," he said. "I'm looking for people who identify more strongly with the explicit goals and values of the Working Families Party."

Democrats have a voter enrollment advantage of 34% to 30% over Republicans, according to the Suffolk County Board of Elections. The number of unaffiliated voters is almost equal to the number of registered Republicans.

There are 2,620 Conservative Party voters, 639 Working Families Party members, and 6,027 voters enrolled with other parties, the data shows.

Suffolk Democratic Chairman Rich Schaffer said he had "no concern" about losing members because he has complete confidence in Jill Kaufman, chairwoman of the Huntington Democratic Committee. 

"She's done a terrific job as a leader, and there is a lot of enthusiasm," he said. "I believe there are many good days to come for the Huntington Dems." 

'A stronger Working Families Party'

Scott Kaufman, 36, a Cold Spring Harbor resident and a registered Democrat, said he would be willing to switch his registration to the Working Families Party. He said the Democratic Party on Long Island pushes a "Republican-lite" platform that does not focus on more traditional Democratic concerns, such as housing.

"They are more aligned with my politics for sure," Kaufman said of the Working Families Party. "I think they are a good avenue for me to push candidates who are more aligned with positions important to me. ... And there’s absolutely more room for a stronger Working Families Party. It introduces a nice balance to the Democratic committee here that tends to be more centrist."

Marina Obermaier, 58, of Halesite, is an unaffiliated voter. She generally votes on the Democratic line but says "her heart would probably be" with the Working Families Party because she’s progressive. She said she worried that by strengthening the Working Families Party line, it could be to the detriment of Democratic candidates.

"I tend to vote the Democrat line because at least in Huntington they are more so in a position to gain a seat," she said. "Any third-party candidate, unless they have a real shot to win, is just going to siphon votes away from one party or the other."

Dalton said he was a Democrat, but eventually felt the party no longer represented his values. He said he switched his enrollment in 2024 and became a dues-paying member in October. A dues-paying member is allowed to participate in the screening process to endorse candidates, he said.

The Suffolk County Democratic Committee approves too many cross endorsements and the Huntington Democratic Committee does not allow for growth within the party, he said.

Kaufman, the town's Democratic chairwoman, said she disagreed with Dalton’s assessment. She said that since becoming the committee's chairwoman in September 2024, the party has become more inclusive.

She added, "and it’s getting stronger because you see the results of our elections."

The Working Families Party is the most apt to protect its own line, Dalton said.

"That would mean having local leadership making sure that only people committed to their platform joins their party," he said.