Bold New Initiative Shifts the Party’s Focus to Statewide Issues and Offers a Home to the Moderate Voters Left Behind by Both Major Parties

Albany, NY – The Upstate Jobs Party (UJP) today announced a major change in their efforts to reform New York State, shifting to a statewide model that embraces non-partisan problem solving, places a strong focus on restoring governmental trust and accountability to New Yorkers and will serve as a home for the millions of moderate New York State voters left behind by the elimination of third parties.

UJP launched the Unite NY initiative as a new political base for moderate and middle of the road voters and candidates left behind by hyper-partisan shifts on both the Right and the Left. Unite NY will focus on a new three-pronged approach to political reform, including:

• Restoring trust in government, including efforts to educate and support voters in the expansion of democracy. To kick off the effort, the party will launch an information campaign on Ranked Choice Voting in this year’s New York City Mayoral election and plans to address other important reforms in the future.
• Circulating petitions for candidates to run on a new “Unite” line for the 2021 and 2022 election cycles with the goal of achieving a statewide ballot line.
• Supporting policies and leaders who focus on bipartisan solutions to improve New York’s economy, without being bound by party or geography.

Unite NY’s mantra will be People Over Party. This aggressive new approach will build toward the goal of running a candidate for Governor in 2022 to secure a ballot line for the moderate voters too often left behind by extreme forces in both major Parties.

UJP Founder Martin Babinec said, “UJP has been building momentum since our founding in 2016, helping great independent leaders achieve electoral success, while shining a light on the opportunities presented by the innovation economy.  Today, we announce this new effort focused upon Unity to show New Yorkers there is no divided blue or red path to a better tomorrow, but rather a united, independent path we can follow to make New York better and fairer for all.”

UJP State Chair John Bullis said, “The time is long past for some honest to goodness common sense to be injected into New York State politics.  UJP’s new Unite NY effort will seek a unified, non-partisan path for candidates, public officials, and all New Yorkers to ensure a brighter future.”

The Unite ballot effort is needed now more than ever, as five of New York’s seven minor parties will no longer appear on the ballot due to a legislative maneuver raising signature and voting requirements to such high standards that these established parties no longer qualify for statewide ballot access.  Incredibly, this was accomplished without public debate under the cloak of last year’s COVID relief bill following an unfavorable court decision that overturned the same requirements. More than half a million voters previously registered under the 5 minor parties are now disenfranchised as well as any voter looking for a non-major party alternative beyond the political extremes on the Left and Right. 

As the Unite New York platform is developed, UJP expects to support a handful of key candidates around the State for public office in 2021, focusing on independent problem solvers – regardless of party affiliation – who have demonstrated their ability to cross party lines and get things done. Unite NY will be circulating Independent Designating Petitions for candidates for 2021 local elections, providing an additional resource to help those candidates succeed and thrive.

For more information, visit www.UniteNY.org.

About UJP

UJP is focused on building priorities around stemming the outflow of our young talent, getting government out of the way of investors and entrepreneurs, and fully reforming New York State government. Since 2017, UJP has supported independent candidates that have focused upon solving problems, not pleasing party bosses.  This has resulted in 20 out of 30 endorsed candidates being elected. Volunteers interested in joining the effort to create more jobs in Upstate NY, keep our best and brightest talent from leaving to pursue opportunities elsewhere, and build a strong economy throughout the region are encouraged to visit www.UpstateJobs.org to learn more.

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