Working Families Party

The Working Families Party (WFP) is a progressive 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.
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. The party is primarily concerned with healthcare reform, raising the minimum wage, universal paid sick days, addressing student debt, progressive taxation, public education, energy, and environmental reform.
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. Bill de Blasio, the future mayor of New York City and friend of Cantor, was present for the party's foundation.
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.
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.
WFP follows the ideals of progressive politics, describing itself as a "grass roots independent political organization". The WFP has been referred to by some as the Tea Party movement of the left.
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.
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.
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, Delaware, Massachusetts, Oregon, and South Carolina.
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.
In 2015, the New York WFP ran 111 of its candidates, winning 71 local offices. That same year, the WFP endorsed Bernie Sanders in his campaign for U.S. president, its first national endorsement. In 2016, after Hillary Clinton became the Democratic nominee, the WFP endorsed her for president.
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.
In 2019, the WFP endorsed Elizabeth Warren in her campaign for president of the United States. Warren won the endorsement with 60.91% of the vote, compared with 35.82% for runner-up Bernie Sanders. 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. 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.
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:
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. 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.
Patricia Eddington of the WFP was elected to the 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.
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. James prevailed, becoming the first third-party candidate elected solely on the WFP line.
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).
The WFP elected two party members to the city council of Hartford, Connecticut.
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.
Two candidates for the Board of Education in Bridgeport, Connecticut were also WFP-supported members of the board.
In August 2009, various media raised questions about the relationship between the WFP, a non-profit political party, and a for-profit private company called Data and Field Services (DFS). An editorial in The New York Times questioned whether DFS may be charging select clients below market rates for political services. In August 2010, the federal investigation into the party ended with no charges being filed, and no charges being referred to other law enforcement agencies.
In the same year, the Connecticut WFP endorsed Dannel Malloy for governor. He received 26,308 votes as a Working Families candidate, putting him ahead of his Republican opponent, and securing ballot access for the party in that state.
In Connecticut, the WFP won all three minority seats on the city council of Hartford, eliminating Republican representation. As of 2016, the WFP continues to hold all minority seats on the Hartford City Council. In 2011 Connecticut WFP director Jon Green received a $10,000 fine for failing to wear his badge identifying him as a lobbyist while performing lobbying efforts.
In Connecticut, the WFP backed Chris Murphy's successful race against billionaire Linda McMahon for the US Senate seat that was vacated by Joe Lieberman, supported SEIU/CCAG leader and organizer Christopher Donovan for Connecticut's 5th Congressional seat, as well as defeated a ballot initiative in Bridgeport, Connecticut, that would have abolished the elected board of education.
After considering Zephyr Teachout, the party re-endorsed Cuomo for New York governor despite some dissatisfaction and frustration with his first term. However, Cuomo resisted the party's influence and sabotaged the party electorally. In 2010 more than 150,000 of his votes came on the WFP line. As of November 7, 2014, 120,425 votes came on the WFP line for Cuomo.
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.
On May 5, 2015, Diana Richardson won a special election for a seat in the New York State Assembly, running only on the Working Families ticket.
NY WFP ran 111 candidates in 2015, winning 71 local offices.
In December 2015, the WFP endorsed Bernie Sanders in his 2016 campaign for U.S. president; this was the WFP's first national endorsement. In 2016, after Hillary Clinton became the Democratic nominee, the WFP endorsed her for president.
In the fall of 2015, the Working Families Party conducted a combined membership-drive and open poll among its enrolled members on whom to endorse for president in 2016; the result being Bernie Sanders. Official numbers were not disclosed but party spokesman and co-founder Dan Cantor said the results were "overwhelmingly" in favor of Sanders, with some sources stating it was an 87 to 12 to 1 percent vote with Sanders over Hillary Clinton and Martin O'Malley respectively. The South Carolina Working Families Party cross- endorsed Democratic nominee Dimitri Cherry in his effort to unseat incumbent congressman Mark Sanford in South Carolina's 1st Congressional District; Cherry also garnered the endorsement of South Carolina's Green Party but lost to Sanford in the general election.
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.
On October 3, 2017, a runoff election for Mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, resulted in the election of Randall Woodfin, who had been backed by the Working Families Party.
In April 2018 an endorsement of Cynthia Nixon over incumbent Andrew Cuomo in Cuomo's bid for a third term as New York governor caused a schism in the party in which labor unions including New York's biggest union Service Employees International Union and Communications Workers of America indicated they would not support the party in the election. The withdrawal was believed would significantly hurt the party's finances which in 2018 was $1.7 million and statewide staff of about 15 people. The battle received considerable attention since there were concerns that Nixon might have drained enough votes from Cuomo in the general election to allow a Republican to be elected. On October 5, 2018, the WFP cleared Nixon from their ticket on the general election ballot and agreed to endorse Cuomo, who defeated Nixon in the Democratic primary, to preserve their ballot line placement.
While campaigning in the 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in New York, WFP candidate Liuba Grechen Shirley used campaign funds to pay a caregiver for her two young children. The FEC ruled that federal candidates can use campaign funds to pay for child care costs that result from time spent running for office. Grechen Shirley became the first woman in history to receive approval to spend campaign funds on child care.
On September 16, 2019, the Working Families Party endorsed Elizabeth Warren in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries. In the 2016 primaries the party endorsed Bernie Sanders, one of Warren's opponents in the 2020 primary. Some backlash ensued after that decision was made due to the refusal of the WFP to release the vote; they had previously released the vote in 2016. Jacobin speculated that Sanders had likely won the party's membership vote, which mathematically implied that Warren received 82% to 100% of the leadership vote and only received between 22% and 40% of member support.
On November 5, 2019, the Working Families Party candidate Kendra Brooks won an at-large seat on Philadelphia City Council. The City Council reserves two seats for a minority party, and this is the first time one of those seats went to a candidate not on the Democrat or Republican line in forty years.
On March 9, 2020, after Elizabeth Warren dropped out of the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries, the Working Families Party endorsed Bernie Sanders for president. They endorsed Joe Biden on August 13, 2020, during the run-up to the 2020 Democratic National Convention.
The Working Families Party initially gave a ranked endorsement for the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary, members voted to rank Scott Stringer first, Dianne Morales second, and Maya Wiley third. After Stringer was accused of sexual assault, they rescinded his endorsement and issued a dual endorsement of Morales and Wiley. They then backed Wiley after Morales campaign staff alleged union busting.
The Working Families Party set up a California chapter in January 2022, naming former San Francisco Supervisor and State Director of Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign Jane Kim as its executive director.
Councilmember Kendra Brooks won re-election in 2023 to her at-large seat on Philadelphia City Council, and in the same election, Working Families Party candidate Nicolas O'Rourke secured the other of the two at-large seats reserved for minority party members on Philadelphia City Council, bringing the total of Working Families Party members on Philadelphia City Council to two.
The party released a statement in October 2023 responding to President Biden's address in which he reaffirmed U.S. support for Israel in the Gaza war and subsequent invasion of Gaza. In the statement, federal affairs director Natalia Salgado expressed support for an immediate ceasefire and criticized Biden for providing Israel with military aid, stating "there is no military solution to this conflict, and there never has been." In the WFP response to Biden's State of the Union in March 2024, delivered by Nicolas O'Rourke, the party reaffirmed their opposition to the Biden administration's policies in handling the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, calling again for an immediate and permanent ceasefire and denouncing the "arrogant and extreme-right Netanyahu Regime." The party would join the larger protest vote movements targeting Biden's re-election campaign in the Democratic primaries, with the New York chapter supporting an effort that urged voters to leave their ballots blank in the April primary; the final vote tally saw 40,000 blank ballots, 11.5% of the total vote share. In July 2024, Biden suspended his re-election campaign following concerns about his health and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as his successor. The WFP officially endorsed Harris after she became the presumptive nominee, declaring "overwhelming support" in the effort to prevent Donald Trump from returning to the presidency.
In the open election for California's Class 1 U.S. Senate seat, the WFP endorsed Congresswoman Barbara Lee to succeed the late Dianne Feinstein. The party also expressed support for the re-election campaigns of incumbent senators Chris Murphy of Connecticut, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York.
The state directors of the WFP are Ana Maria Archila and Jasmine Gripper (NY), Sarah Ganong (CT), Sue Altman (NJ), Brandon Evans (PA), Karly Edwards (OR), Jay Hutchins (MD), Delvone Michael (DC), Marina Dimitrijevic (WI), Ryan Frankenberry (WV), Georgia Hollister-Isman (RI), and Jane Kim (CA).
WFP's national director is Maurice Mitchell.
The following notable elected officials won elections solely on the Working Families Party ballot line: