Rep. Scott Murphy is the latest Democrat to accept the Working Families Party’s endorsement, giving him three ballot lines to the two his GOP challenger, Chris Gibson, will have in the November general election.

Murphy and a host of other Dems aren’t letting the fact that AG Andrew Cuomo has taken a pass on the labor-backed party’s line pending the outcome of a US attorney’s office probe get dissuade them from accepting the WFP nod.

The NY-20 congressman, who won his seat in a close special election and is now running in hopes of keeping it, used the fact that he has been endorsed by both the WFP and the state Independence Party (which has its own share of legal issues) to tout his cross-party appeal.

(That strategy makes particular sense in the 20th, since Republicans outnumber Democrats 186,735 to 124,561 and there are 110,659 unaffiliated, or “blank”, voters).

“I am honored to accept the endorsement of the Working Families Party,” Murphy said in a statement released by his campaign.

“I pledge to continue fighting to ease the burden on New York’s small businesses and middle class families so we can work together to renew the Upstate economy.”

WFP Capital Region Chapter Co-Chair Karen Scharff said the party had backed Murphy because he “stood up to Big Oil and voted for landmark clean energy legislation.” She also cited his “yes” vote on health care reform after voting “no” in the first go-round.

Murphy was under considerable pressure to vote “yes” from organized labor and the Obama administration. His capitulation earned him the continued support of SEIU 1199, which played a key role in his special election win against Assemblyman Jim Tedisco.

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