Working Families Party
September 16, 2019

Working Families Party Endorses Elizabeth Warren for President

Warren Wins With 60.9% Support In First Round of Ranked Choice Vote

The Working Families Party today announced its endorsement of U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in the Democratic Primary for President of the United States, after a vote of the WFP’s members, supporters, and national committee. The result comes after a three-month endorsement process in which tens of thousands participated in debate and discussion, online forums, house parties, and live Q&As with five contenders for the Democratic nomination. 

The two highest vote-getters were Senator Warren with 60.91% of the vote, and 35.82% for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.). More than 80% of voters listed Warren and Sanders as their top two picks.

“Senator Warren strikes fear into the hearts of the robber barons who rigged the system, and offers hope to millions of working people who have been shut out of our democracy and economy,” said Maurice Mitchell, Working Families Party National Director. “Our job now is to help Senator Warren build the mass movement that will make her transformational plans a reality.”

The screening process included supporter polls, online membership forums, and a series of Live Q&As watched by hundreds of thousands of people. Each of the interviews made national news. In Warren’s Q&A, the senator announced her intent to repeal large swaths of the 1994 crime bill championed by then-Senator Joe Biden. Democratic candidate Julián Castro unveiled an ambitious and expansive “working families” economic inequality package immediately before joining his Q&A with members in Dallas, Texas.

The endorsement vote was conducted by ranked-choice voting. Half of the total vote share went to the WFP’s supporter base, with the other half going to the WFP National Committee, the organization’s governing body. Warren’s 60.91% vote share in the first round won her the endorsement outright, with no further voting rounds necessary.

“We’re lucky to have two strong progressive candidates leading in this race,” said Mitchell. “Senator Warren and Senator Sanders have both shaped the ideological terrain on which this campaign is being waged. They have proven an effective team on debate stages and in the polls, and we hope that partnership continues. We’re proud to call both of them allies in the fight for a more just America.”

Founded in New York twenty-one years ago, the Working Families Party is a grassroots progressive political party that fights to make our country work for the many, not just the few. WFP recruits, trains, and elects the next generation of progressive leaders to office. It has state affiliates or local chapters in seventeen states, and membership in every part of the country.

This year the WFP is driving a progressive wave in local elections across America. The WFP helped elect longtime tenants organizer and progressive champion Jumaane Williams as Public Advocate in New York City, swelled the ranks of Chicago city council progressive caucus, put public education champions on the school board in Milwaukee, helped make Stephen Mason the first Black mayor of Cedar Hill, Texas, helped insurgent Latinx LGBTQ activist Candi CdeBaca oust a longtime incumbent on the Denver City Council, and elected other council members from Morgantown, W.Va., to Phoeniz, Ariz.  

In 2018, the WFP defeated flipped state senate chambers in New York and Colorado, defeated big-spending political establishments in Maryland and Milwaukee, and helped Tony Evers and WFP National Committee member Mandela Barnes oust Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.  
Working Families Party
September 3, 2019
Important email about our 2020 endorsement process


In June, we officially launched our WFP2020 presidential endorsement process. Throughout the summer, Working Families Party members and supporters nationwide heard from the candidates, discussed, and debated.

Now, it’s almost time to vote!

Our records indicate that you are not currently a dues-paying WFP member.1 In order to vote in WFP's official endorsement vote next week, you MUST sign up and affirm our values before Friday, September 6th.
Sign up NOW to affirm our progressive values and take part in the Working Families Party’s 2020 presidential endorsement vote.
Sign up NOW »
Next week, from September 9th-15th, we’ll be holding our official vote for the Working Families Party’s 2020 presidential endorsement. We will be deciding between five candidates (in alphabetical order): Cory Booker, Julián Castro, Bill de Blasio, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren.2

Here’s how the vote will work:

1. The Working Families Party National Committee — which includes representatives from WFP state chapters and local branches as well as national progressive and movement leaders — will get 50% of the total vote share.

2. Current WFP members and grassroots supporters will also receive 50% of the total vote share. A WFP member is anyone who pays dues of $10/month or $120 in the past year. A WFP supporter is anyone who has previously engaged with us and signed up to WFP's email or text list. You must be a current Working Families Party member or supporter as of Monday, September 2, 2019 to participate in this vote.

All WFP members will automatically receive a secure, nontransferable ballot via email next week. If you are not a dues-paying member, you can still participate by affirming our values at this link before September 6th at 6am ET.

3. Our endorsement vote will be conducted using ranked-choice voting.Here’s how ranked-choice voting works: Instead of just casting one vote for their favorite candidate, everyone who votes will be able to rank their candidate preferences from first to last. If no one’s first choice gets more than fifty percent of the combined vote of WFP supporters and the National Committee, the bottom-ranked candidate will be eliminated and their votes re-allocated to those voters’ second choice. This process will continue until one of the candidates crosses the 50 percent threshold and wins.

Since we launched our WFP2020 endorsement process in June, WFP members and supporters have come together to discuss and debate the issues — at house parties, in an online members forum, and directly with the candidates themselves during Live Q&As where you were able to ask them meaningful questions about their policies and records. We’ve gained hundreds of new members, thousands of new supporters, and over half a million views of our interviews with the candidates.

Now it's almost time for the main event: the endorsement vote!

The Working Families Party is made up of people like you across the country. We need all of your voices to help us decide how best to take on Donald Trump, usher in an era of transformative change, and make sure working people stay united and don’t allow the billionaire class to divide us.
Sign up NOW and affirm our values in order to vote in the WFP2020 endorsement process:
Sign up NOW »
Any questions? Just reply to this email, or contact us at member@workingfamilies.org, and an organizer will be in touch.

Thanks for being a part of this movement,

The entire team at Working Families Party

Notes:

1. This email was intended for xxx and reflects our records for this email address only. If you were forwarded this message, please be aware that only dues-paying WFP members and current subscribers to the Working Families Party’s email or text list as of September 2, 2019 are eligible to vote in our endorsement process. If you have any questions about your membership or supporter status, you can email member@workingfamilies.org

2. Six candidates were initially invited to apply for the WFP endorsement. Unfortunately, Senator Kamala Harris's campaign did not schedule a Live Q&A with WFP members and supporters, and as such is no longer part of our 2020 endorsement process.



https://wfp2020.org/

WFP 2020 Endorsement Process

Step 1: The Candidates

On June 18th, the Working Families Party released our candidate questionnaire and notified all the presidential campaigns. WFP's leadership has reviewed those questionnaires as well as the records and positions of the candidates. Based on that review, they have invited the following candidates to proceed to the next round of the endorsement process: Cory Booker, Julián Castro, Bill de Blasio, Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren

Step 2: Deliberation and Debate

Next, the candidates had the chance to make their case directly to WFP’s grassroots members.

WFP2020 Live Q&As with the Candidates
Each of the candidates invited to apply for the Working Families Party endorsement was given the opportunity to make their case directly to WFP supporters during an online Live Q&A.

Five candidates participated in our online Live Q&As from August 13th- 27th, with WFP members and supporters across the country participating in person, at house parties, and through livestreams that received over half a million views. Those five candidates — Cory Booker, Julián Castro, Bill de Blasio, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren — will proceed to the next stage of our endorsement process.

View recordings of all completed #WFP2020 Live Q&As here.

WATCH THE Q&AS

Step 3: The Vote

After all the debating and deliberating is done, it’s time to make a decision. Our endorsement process will give equal weight to our grassroots membership and to our national leadership.

Next week, from September 9th-15th, we’ll be holding our official vote for the Working Families Party’s 2020 presidential endorsement.

Here’s how the vote will work:

1. The Working Families Party National Committee — which includes representatives from WFP state chapters and local branches as well as national progressive and movement leaders — will comprise 50% of the total vote share.

2. Current WFP members and grassroots supporters will also receive 50% of the total vote share. A WFP member is anyone who pays dues of $10/month or $120 in the past year. A WFP supporter is anyone who has previously engaged with us and signed up to WFP's email or text list. You must be a current Working Families Party member or supporter as of Monday, September 2, 2019 to participate in this vote.

All WFP members will automatically receive a secure, nontransferable ballot via email next week. If you are a current WFP supporter but not a dues-paying member, you can still participate by affirming our values at this link before September 6th at 6am ET.

Ranked Choice
The endorsement vote will be conducted using ranked-choice voting.

Here’s how it will work: Everyone who votes will rank their candidate preferences from 1st to 6th. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the total vote on the first ballot, the bottom-ranked candidate will be eliminated and all votes  re-allocated to each voter’s second choice. The process repeats until one candidate crosses the 50 percent threshold and wins.  

Final Step: Endorse
Whoever wins will get a stamp of approval from one of the  most effective progressive political organizations in the country. They’ll get the benefit of campaign muscle in key primary states, an army of passionate volunteers ready to oust Donald Trump and build an America that works for the many, not the few.

Once we make a decision together, WFP members can count on hearing from us about lots of ways to get involved.

Text WFP to 738674 to join the Working Families Party and receive the latest updates. And stay tuned for more details.