John,
It’s now been a little more than a week since the election. And while the dust is still settling, most of the votes have now been fully counted in races nationwide.
We've got a lot of work ahead of us — and so many of you have already let us know you are ready to join the fight.
Tens of thousands of you from every state have joined virtual calls and organizing meetings with the Working Families Party over the past week to process the election results and plan together how we fight back.
But we also know a lot of you may still be feeling angry, hopeless, or just checked out.
Whatever you are feeling in this moment is okay.
Whenever you're ready, we will be here as your political home. Because if there is one thing that is clear from last week's results it is that we need a political voice that represents and fights for working-class voters of every race. And we believe WFP was built for this moment.
Despite the gloomy headlines, there were a number of important WFP victories worth celebrating in last week's election, like:
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Kam Smith, a Delaware WFP champion and human services professional who unseated the sitting Speaker of the House in a Democratic primary earlier this year;
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Ruwa Romman, a Georgia WFP champion, Palestinian-American and the first Muslim woman re-elected to her seat in a purple district in the Georgia House of Representatives by an 18 point margin;
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Monique Worrell, in Florida, who successfully reclaimed her State’s Attorney seat in Orange County after Gov. Ron DeSantis removed her from office in a shameless authoritarian power grab;
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And so, so many more.
To see our more comprehensive breakdown of Working Families Party results nationwide, please bookmark our post-election memo here to read later.
Or keep scrolling down to read about some more results from last week:
In our effort in Congress…
Last year, WFP organized and launched two new broad labor and community coalitions to fill a much-needed field mobilization gap in blue states: Battleground New York and Battleground California. And in both states, those efforts ended up winning seats in multiple target districts.
In New York, we picked up three new districts: Josh Riley in NY-19, John Mannion in NY-22, and Laura Gillen in NY-04.
In California, winners included George Whitesides in CA-27 and Dave Min in CA-47, and we're still closely watching competitive races in other seats as the final mail ballots get counted.
We also prioritized defense for WFP-endorsed incumbents in tough seats: Pat Ryan in NY-18, Jahana Hayes in CT-5, and Gabe Vazquez in NM-02. All three expanded their margins over two years ago.
We’re disappointed that NJ WFP director Sue Altman fell short in NJ-7 in her uphill race. But we’re delighted to add a new WFP champion to Congress in Lateefah Simon in CA-12, who succeeds Barbara Lee.
Further down the ballot…
In Connecticut, WFP-endorsed Democrats picked up SIX Republican-held districts in the State House, thanks to campaigns from Nick Menapace, Rebecca Martinez, Kaitlyn Shake, Nick Gauthier, Ken Gucker, and MJ Shannon. We also re-elected three incumbents in the State Senate, Julie Kushner, Jan Hochadel, and Martha Marx.
In Wisconsin, WFP candidates won four seats to help break the Republican supermajority: Angelina Cruz, Christian Phelps, Rep. Jenna Jacobson, and Rep. Robyn Vining.
In Pennsylvania, Democrats held a bare majority in the state house before Election Day. Though WFP’s top Republican-district candidate Anna Thomas fell just short, Democrats held their ground and blocked Republicans from flipping the chamber.
In Arizona, Republicans hold narrow majorities in both chambers. Unfortunately, Republicans actually slightly increased those majorities this cycle, with our top purple-district candidate Judy Schweibert falling short. However, WFP incumbents like Rep. Lorena Austin held their seats as other Dems lost.
In New York: we elected three working class women of color, Claire Valdez, Gabriella Romero, and Larinda Hooks to the state legislature.
In New Mexico: a slate of eight WFP champs defeated corporate Democrats in legislative primaries, including: Joseph Hernandez, Michelle Paulene Abeyta, Sarah Silva and Heather Berghmans.
In California: our work to build WFP power in the legislature continues as we elected WFP champ Sade Elhawary to the state Assembly in Los Angeles.
And one year ago in Virginia’s off-cycle legislative elections, WFP helped flip the Virginia House of Delegates after winning 5 of our 7 priority legislative primaries, including ousting two corporate Democratic incumbents.
Lastly, we secured several wins at the municipal level…
In Portland, Oregon, we helped elect Tiffany Koyama Lane, Angelita Morillo, and Mitch Green to City Council, securing a progressive majority for the first time in recent memory. And in Multnomah County, where Portland resides, Shannon Singleton and Meghan Moyer were elected to County Commissioner seats.
In Seattle, WFP champ Alexis Mercedes Rinck defeated a Chamber of Commerce-backed candidate for a seat on the Seattle City Council.
WFP-endorsed Phoenix City Council candidate Anna Hernandez won a tough four-way race with 53% of the vote.
And in Los Angeles, WFP-backed Ysabel Jurado, a tenants rights attorney, unseated Los Angeles City Councilmember Kevin de León.
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We know that these wins may feel like a mere consolation prize. But the fact of the matter is that real change for working families isn’t exclusively or even mainly found in the halls of Congress or the White House. Stronger and more empathetic communities should ALWAYS be celebrated.
And if you’re looking for a new political home or community of your own, we encourage you to join us. Our work isn’t over. It's just beginning. And we would love nothing more than for you to be a part of it going forward. You can become a dues-paying WFP member by starting a recurring monthly donation here.
In solidarity forever,
Team WFP
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