Capitol Confidential with Dan Clark

Capitol Confidential with Dan Clark

Is a 22-year-old trying to hijack a Working Families ballot line?

And this week's Capitol cheat sheet.

Timothy Fanning's avatar
Dan Clark's avatar
Timothy Fanning and Dan Clark
Apr 25, 2026
∙ Paid

Good morning — It’s Saturday and welcome to the weekend

👋Timothy Fanning here with your Saturday-edition newsletter.

In today’s CapCon:

  • Despite efforts by the Legislature to curb ballot hijacking, it appears to be happening in the 113th Assembly District race.

  • A lawsuit challenging the Working Families Party candidate has been filed by a friend of Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner.

  • A few things that might have slipped by this week, including how the governor’s executive order for prediction markets doesn’t apply to state lawmakers.

  • Workers compensation fraud led to six arrests in the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. A new report points to “structural issues” that can unintentionally reward or enable questionable workers compensation claims.

  • Watch the demonstration outside the governor’s office end in arrests.

Names in today’s CapCon: Thomas J. Kenny, Carrie Woerner, Phil Stec, James Skoufis, Carl E. Heastie, Kathy Hochul, Lucy Lang.

A screen grab of Thomas J. Kenny, 22, who is running for the 113th Assembly District. A lawsuit challenging his candidacy questions his abrupt switch from the Conservative Party to the Working Families Party. (Thomas Kenny’s campaign website)

🗳️ Candidate’s party flip echoes tactic New York law aimed to stop

A change in New York Election Law late last year was supposed to curb a growing tactic known as ballot line hijacking. But a young candidate’s recent entry into a race for a state Assembly district has led to a lawsuit being filed in state Supreme Court that may offer an early test of the new statute.

The lawsuit centers on the motive of candidate Thomas J. Kenny’s switch of his enrollment from the Conservative Party to the Working Families Party. It also questions whether the 22-year-old meets residency requirements in the 113th Assembly District, a seat held by Democratic incumbent Assemblywoman Carrier Woerner which encompasses parts of Saratoga, Washington and Warren counties.

Keep reading with a 7-day free trial

Subscribe to Capitol Confidential with Dan Clark to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in
© 2026 The Hearst Corporation · Publisher Privacy ∙ Publisher Terms
Substack · Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start your SubstackGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture