Working Families Party


The Working Families Party is a progressive minor political party in the United States. Founded in New York in 1998, it has active chapters in nearly two dozen states. The WFP 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. The party has statewide ballot access in Connecticut, New York, and Oregon.

History

, 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. In the announcement of the formation of the Working Families Party, leaders of the party endorsed Peter Vallone for Governor of New York. The party did this as he aligned with the party's policies and was the candidate most likely to gather 50,000 votes on the Working Families Party line, which in turn would fulfill the legal requirement needed for the party to remain on the ballot for the next election. 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.

Ideology

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.

Electoral strategy

Like other minor parties in New York, the WFP is enabled by the state's electoral fusion laws to allow the party to support another party's candidate. By doing this, the WFP aims to leverage this support to push for candidates to support progressive reforms the party agrees with.
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 and Jeff Merkley, former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo, New York attorney general Letitia James, Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson, and New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani.
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 Bernie Sanders. After Warren dropped out of the race, the WFP endorsed Bernie Sanders.

National presence

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:

1990s

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.

2000s

2000

of the WFP was elected to the New York State Assembly. In the 2002 election, the Liberal Party, running Andrew Cuomo, 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.

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. 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 and Lee Ballenger. In the SC State House elections, the WFP cross-endorsed Democratic Party candidates Anton Gunn and Eugene Platt.

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.

2009

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. 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.

2010s

2010

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.

2011

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.

2012

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.

2014

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.