More than a dozen candidates are running for City Council under the banner of a new party animated by opposition to vaccine mandates, according to the party’s website.
The Medical Freedom Party, an outgrowth of the COVID years — when vaccine mandates grew increasingly politicized — did not immediately reply to questions.
The party’s website said its members are “independent, forward-thinking individuals who fiercely champion the right to our own decisions regarding our own bodies.” Its platform does not explicitly adress abortion protections.
The party formed in April 2022, said Arek Tomaszewski, a Windsor Terrace Republican who is affiliated with the Medical Freedom Party and is challenging Councilwoman Shahana Hanif.
The Medical Freedom Party appears to be growing, said Curtis Sliwa, the Republican nominee in the city’s 2021 mayoral race.
“They’re very organized,” Sliwa said. “They have meetings. They’ve attached themselves to the Republican Party.”
Sliwa said he thinks new party hopes to become a right-wing version of the Working Families Party, capable of tipping the scales in competitive elections.
Other third-party groups in this year’s races include Arts & Culture, Clean Up NY, Better Flushing, Mad As Hell and Safe Streets SI, according to the city Board of Elections.
The Medical Freedom Party’s field in next month’s Council elections is largely made up of Republicans. But Councilman Robert Holden, a conservative Queens Democrat, is running for reelection on the party’s ballot line.
Holden — who is also affiliated with the Republican Party, the Conservative Party and the Animal Welfare Party — was approached by the Medical Freedom Party and offered their line, said Daniel Kurzyna, Holden’s spokesman.
“We’ll take it,” Kurzyna said, noting that Holden has long opposed vaccine mandates.
Holden endorsed Lee Zeldin in his Republican challenge to Gov. Hochul last year.
Steve Speer, who ran for Congress last year, appears to be the Medical Freedom Party’s leader. He ran against Dan Goldman, a Democrat, in New York’s 10th Congressional District, finishing in third with less than 1% of the vote.
Goldman’s campaign spokesman, Simone Kanter, said Wednesday that he was unaware of the existence of the Medical Freedom Party.
Speer could not immediately be reached for comment. The Medical Freedom Party’s website said Speer ran for Congress last year without a website and without raising money.
“Steve is a writer, animator, boatbuilder, caretaker and cyberspace pioneer,” said the party’s website. “Being proficient in psychology, cybernetics and topology, he is intent on introducing new categorizations into the floundering political ecosystem.”
One Medical Freedom Party candidate for City Council, Jonathan David Rinaldi, said in a brief phone call that he had been told the Daily News was doing a “hit piece” about the party, and referred questions to Speer.
“You gotta go through Steve brother,” Rinaldi added in a text message. Rinaldi, of Queens, is challenging Councilman James Gennaro, a Democrat.
Evan Stavisky, a Democratic political consultant, dismissed the fledgling party.
In a text message, Stavisky said that “running on a pro-COVID, pro-measles, pro-polio platform is unlikely to be successful in most of New York City.”