Dear John,
The biggest election of our lifetimes is underway. Voting out Trump is the top priority, of course, more clear than ever after a toxic debate in which he acted not only with contempt for democracy, but like the commander-in-chief of white supremacist violence.
But we know we need to do far more than get rid of Trump. With a public health and economic crisis still ongoing, a rising movement for racial justice, and our climate future on the line, we need a powerful progressive movement fighting for social, racial, and economic justice.
For the last two decades, the Working Families Party has been a central hub for building that movement in New York State -- and a vital political home for me and for many of you.
So I’m voting (in person, early) on the Working Families Party line for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Will you join me and take the #VoteWFP pledge?
Without the WFP, I would not be in electoral politics. It’s not only that they helped me learn door-knocking, voter contact, and communicating about progressive values, and provided critical support when I ran for the first time in 2009. More than that: the WFP has been essential to building the team of progressives -- grassroots community and labor organizations on the outside, and elected officials on the inside -- working together to win tenant protections, living-wage jobs, climate justice, and much more.
That was true back in 2010 when the WFP was central to our work to create the New York City Council Progressive Caucus. When we won the battles for paid sick days, the $15 minimum wage, the Community Safety Act to end stop-and-frisk. And it’s true today: the WFP was critical in the 2018 elections of the progressive NYS Senators who defeated the IDC, the 2019 victory of Jumaane Williams, and of Jamaal Bowman this spring.
Due to callous political retaliation for running a progressive challenger against Governor Cuomo in 2018, the Working Families Party is facing a much higher vote requirement to maintain its ballot line this year and into the future. We must not let the Governor’s cynical centrism defeat the WFP.
So: will you pledge to vote on the Working Families Party line this November? And if you can, help spread the word on social media to encourage others to #VoteWFP as well.
One more reason: Over the past year, the WFP has gained powerful new Black leadership in National Director Maurice Mitchell (who previously organized with the Movement for Black Lives), and New York State Director Sochie Nnaemeka. It’s been an inspiring organizational transition.
At the moment of of public health and political crisis, and of racial justice reckoning, voting on the Working Families Party line sends a powerful message that New Yorkers want elected leaders who will fight for working people, center immigrants, Black and Brown people, and working-class leaders in a just recovery from the COVID crisis, and tackle the epidemics of racism and climate change that we are facing.
That’s the kind of political home that I want. I hope you do too.
It’s a ridiculous understatement to say that there’s a lot on the line in November. That’s why we’re phonebanking every week to help Democrats flip the Senate, hold the House and defeat Trump. But voting for Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and State elected officials on the Working Families Party line is the best way to make progressive change with your New York ballot this year.
Brad
P.S. We’re going to need your help in spreading the word to #VoteWFP to your friends and family too. Can you join us for a relational organizing training on Sunday, October 18 to help spread the word to progressives in your life? (Note that there are several Sunday shifts to select on the sign up page, and any shift you do to help the #VoteWFP campaign is great, but I’ll be hosting the one on October 18th if you want to join me).
P.P.S. If you already received your absentee ballot but found that the name was wrong on one of the envelopes, the NYC BOE will mail you a corrected ballot and envelope to use instead.
