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Working Families Party

The Working Families Party (WFP) is a left-wing minor political party in the United States, founded in New York in 1998. There are active chapters in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.[7][8][9]

Working Families Party

1998 (1998)

1 Metrotech Center North, 11
Brooklyn, New York 11201

Increase 53,565[1] (registered voters in state of New York)

    Blue, White (official)
    Purple and orange (customary)

0 / 50

The Working Families Party of New York was first organized in 1998 by a coalition of labor unions, community organizations, members of the now-inactive national New Party, and a variety of advocacy groups such as Citizen Action of New York and ACORN: the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.[10] The party is primarily concerned with healthcare reform, raising the minimum wage, universal paid sick days, addressing student debt, progressive taxation, public education, and energy and environmental reform. It has usually cross-endorsed progressive Democratic and some Republican[11] candidates through fusion voting but occasionally runs its own candidates.

History[edit]

Dan Cantor, the labor coordinator for Jesse Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign, and Joel Rogers wrote Party Time in which they called for a "party within the party". Cantor and Rogers formed the New Party in 1990, and planned on taking advantage of electoral fusion. The party started running candidates, but was losing support by 1997. Cantor, staff from the New Party, Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, and others formed the Working Families Party in 1998.[12] Bill de Blasio, the future mayor of New York City and friend of Cantor, was present for the party's foundation.[13]


The Connecticut Working Families Party was formed in 2002, by organizations that included ACORN, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, Communications Workers of America, and United Food and Commercial Workers.[14]


In 2010, the party recruited and trained thirteen candidates for seats on the New York City Council in the 2013 election. Twelve of these candidates won.[13]

Ideology[edit]

WFP follows the ideals of progressive politics,[15] describing itself as a "grass roots independent political organization".[16] The WFP has been referred to by some as the Tea Party movement of the left.[17][18][19][20]

Electoral strategy[edit]

Like other minor parties in the state, the WFP benefits from New York's electoral fusion laws that allow the party to support another party's candidate when they feel it aligns with their platform. This allows sympathetic voters to support a minor party without feeling like they are "wasting" their vote. Usually, the WFP endorses the Democratic Party candidate, but it has occasionally endorsed moderate Republican Party candidates as a strategy for spurring bipartisan action on its policy priorities.


In some cases, the WFP has put forward its own candidates. In the chaotic situation following 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. 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 ticket and won Brooklyn's 35th City Council district as the first third-party candidate elected there in 30 years. Despite this success, James switched back to the Democratic Party when she ran successfully for re-election in 2008.[21]


Some of the party's endorsed candidates include Connecticut Governor Dan Malloy, U.S. Representative Jesús "Chuy" García, US Senators Chris Murphy (CT) and Jeff Merkley (OR), former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and New York Attorney General Letitia James, and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson.


In 2006, the party began ballot access drives in California,[22] Delaware, Massachusetts,[23] Oregon, and South Carolina.[24]


Edwin Gomes, running in a February 2015 special election for the Connecticut State Senate, became the first candidate in the nation to win a state legislative office running solely as a nominee for the Working Families Party.[25]


In 2015, NY WFP ran 111 of its candidates, winning 71 local offices.[26]


In 2015, the WFP endorsed Bernie Sanders in his campaign for U.S. president, its first national endorsement.[27] In 2016, after Hillary Clinton became the Democratic nominee, the WFP endorsed her for president.[28]


In 2017, Joshua M. Hall, running in an April 2017 special election for the Connecticut House of Representatives, became the second candidate in the nation to win a state legislative office running solely as a nominee for the Working Families Party.[29]


In 2019, the WFP endorsed Elizabeth Warren in her campaign for president of the United States.[30] Warren won the endorsement with 60.91% of the vote, compared with 35.82% for runner-up Bernie Sanders.[31] The WFP received some criticism for not releasing the individual vote tallies between the party leadership and membership base, each of which accounts for 50% of the vote.[32] In the 2016 primary the WFP had endorsed Sanders, one of Warren's opponents in the 2020 primary. After Warren dropped out of the race, the WFP endorsed Sanders.[33]

National presence[edit]

Since 2019, the WFP has recruited major progressive elected officials to deliver a Response to the State of the Union address by the President of the United States, as is customary for the opposition party of the President. The following elected officials delivered a response to the State of the Union, beginning in 2019 with a response to then-President Donald Trump:


2019: Mandela Barnes, 45th Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin[34]


2020: Ayanna Pressley, U.S. Representative from MA-07[35]


2021: Rashida Tlaib, U.S. Representative from MI-13[36]


2022: Jamaal Bowman, U.S. Representative from NY-16[37]


2023: Delia Ramirez, U.S. Representative from IL-03[38]

Campaigns[edit]

1990s[edit]

In the 1998 election for governor of New York, the party cross-endorsed the Democratic Party candidate, Peter Vallone. Because he received more than 50,000 votes on the WFP line, the party gained an automatic ballot line for the succeeding four years.[39] The WFP endorsed Chuck Schumer's original 1998 New York Senate campaign against Republican incumbent Al D'Amato, who Schumer successfully defeated in the 1998 election.[40]

Leadership[edit]

The state directors of the WFP are Sochie Nnaemeka (NY),[83] Sarah Ganong (CT),[84] Sue Altman (NJ),[85] Brandon Evans (PA),[86] Karly Edwards (OR),[87] Jay Hutchins (MD),[88] Delvone Michael (DC),[89] Marina Dimitrijevic (WI),[90] Ryan Frankenberry (WV),[91] Georgia Hollister-Isman (RI), and Jane Kim (CA).[9]


WFP's national director is Maurice Mitchell.[92]

Union organizer

Sekou, Bilal (2020). . University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-2929-9.

Beyond Donkeys and Elephants: Minor Political Parties in Contemporary American Politics

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Official website

Working Families Party article in The Daily Beast