The rise of the Working Families Party

Posted 8/21/12

Most of the attention on the presidential election races is going to the slate of Republican candidates this year—and especially some of the jaw-dropping declarations of real estate mogul and …

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The rise of the Working Families Party

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Most of the attention on the presidential election races is going to the slate of Republican candidates this year—and especially some of the jaw-dropping declarations of real estate mogul and reality TV star Donald Trump. But there is also a race on the Democratic side, and this year a growing, if still small, political party is having an impact on that race.

Since its founding in 1998, the Working Families Party (WFP) has become an important player in state and local elections in New York State. The party has endorsed and given financial support to several candidates in Sullivan County in recent years. This year, Nadia Rajsz, the supervisor of the Town of Lumberland who defeated 20-year incumbent Kathy LaBuda for a seat on the county legislature, ran on WFP as a secondary line, as did Christine M. Saward, who successfully ran for a seat on the board in the Town of Mamakating.

At the state level, WFP was the subject of a lot of attention in the split in the Democratic Party in the primary for the governor’s race last year. Democratic voters in many municipalities in the state, including those in Sullivan County, voted for challenger Zephyr Teachout to become the party’s candidate. Partly because of this, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, by many accounts, worked very hard to keep the WFP endorsement, and he was successful this time around.

In recent years, WFP has expanded operations and now has a presence in 10 states, including Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, as well as Washington, DC, and it successfully endorsed three candidates who gained seats on the Supreme Court who will likely play a role in determining whether the redistricting process after the 2020 census is weighted in favor of Democrats or Republicans. Most of the time, WFP is more closely aligned with Democratic candidates than Republicans, although Rajsz in Sullivan County also ran on the Republican line after losing the Democratic Primary.

Last week, WFP for the first time endorsed a candidate for President of the United States, and the overwhelming choice of the WFP members was Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is running politically to the left of former Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. There was some criticism of the way the choice was made—it was subject to an online vote, which some believe handed an advantage to Sander’s activist supporters, because they were more likely to sign up for party membership and then vote online. The results seems to reflect that, with 87% voting for Sanders, Clinton garnering 11% and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley taking 1.%

Media outlets considered this a significant development. Hundreds of newspapers and other outlets reported the endorsement, including the major papers such as The New York Times.

The WFP and Sanders seem to be a natural fit. Among the stated goals of both the candidate and the party are evening the playing field in the attempt to influence lawmakers and legislation, so that elected officials pay a bit more attention to the agenda of middle class and working men and women, and a little less attention to the agendas of powerful corporations and the wealthiest citizens.

“We want to live in a nation that allows all people to live a decent life, no matter what is in their parents’ bank account or who is in their family tree,” Dan Cantor, WFP national director, said in a statement. “That’s why we’re standing with Bernie Sanders to build the political revolution and make our nation into one where every family can thrive.”

Information on the WFP website could have been lifted straight from the Sanders website: “We believe that our economy is out of whack when wages are stagnant and good jobs are harder and harder to come by, but the very wealthiest just get richer and richer. When college is getting more and more expensive, and retirement more and more insecure. When quality public education is only available for some, but not all, of our children. When as hard as we work, inequality in America is only getting worse.

In New Hampshire, the first state with a primary, likely primary voters favor Sanders over Clinton by 5% to 10%, depending on the poll. Still, most analysts think Clinton will easily take the nomination. Even if that turns out to be the case, the endorsement by the WFP shows that a growing number of people think the growing gap between haves and have-nots is the biggest problem facing our country.

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