New York State Assembly. In the 2002 election, the Liberal Party, running Andrew Cuomo (who had withdrawn from the Democratic primary), and the Green Party, running academic Stanley Aronowitz, failed to reach that threshold and lost the ballot lines they had previously won. This left the WFP as the only left-progressive minor party with a ballot line. This situation continued until 2011 following the party's cross-endorsement of Eliot Spitzer in the 2006 election, in which he received more than 155,000 votes on the Working Families Party line, more than three times the required 50,000. 2003 In the chaotic situation that followed the 2003 assassination of New York City councilman James E. Davis by political rival Othniel Askew, the slain councilman's brother Geoffrey Davis was chosen to succeed him in the Democratic primary in Brooklyn's 35th City Council district. As it became clear that Geoffrey Davis lacked his late brother's political experience, fellow Democrat Letitia James decided to challenge him in the general election on the WFP line. James prevailed, becoming the first third-party candidate elected solely on the WFP line. 2006 In 2006, the party began ballot access drives in California, Delaware, Massachusetts, Oregon, and South Carolina. In South Carolina, the WFP cross-endorsed Democratic party congressional nominees Randy Maatta (District 1) and Lee Ballenger (District 3). In the SC State House elections, the WFP cross-endorsed Democratic Party candidates Anton Gunn (Kershaw, Richland) and Eugene Platt (Charleston). In New York, the WFP cross-endorsed the statewide Democratic Party slate. 2007 The WFP elected two party members to the city council of Hartford, Connecticut. 2008 The South Carolina Working Families Party convention endorsed five candidates for state and local office. One candidate, Eugene Platt, running for SC State House District 115, was also nominated by the South Carolina Green Party. The nomination of Michael Cone for the US Senate race, opposing incumbent Lindsey Graham, marked the first time the South Carolina party nominated anyone for statewide office. Cone was defeated by former Horry County Republican Committee member Bob Conley in the Democratic primary. The Connecticut WFP helped elect congressman Jim Himes, defeating long-term Republican congressman Chris Shays. The WFP endorsed Barack Obama for U.S. President on all their state lines. 2009 The WFP endorsed several candidates for local offices, Bill Thompson for New York City mayor, Bill de Blasio for Public Advocate, and Corey Ellis for Albany mayor. Ellis did very well in