Hi John —
As the year comes to a close and we look ahead to what’s next for WFP, I’m reflecting a lot about what we’ve learned this election cycle. Normally, the party in power loses ground in a midterm election — that’s what happened in 2006, in 2010, in 2014 and in 2018 — and political pundits were warning of an inevitable “red wave” in 2022.
In hindsight, we know they were wrong. Here are my four takeaways from this year’s election that will inform the WFP approach in 2023:
1. Voters Rejected Right-Wing Extremism And The Attack On Abortion Rights.
In all five states where we saw abortion access on the ballot, abortion-rights supporters won — and many of the extreme, MAGA-backed, anti-choice candidates lost up and down the ballot nationwide. With Trump-backed, authoritarian, election denier candidates and the conservative Supreme Court’s attacks on abortion rights soundly rebuked, we’ve made progress.
2. Democrats Had An Economic Record To Run On.
Despite conservative attacks regarding inflation, cost of living, and other economic issues — Democrats had delivered on at least some of their promises, cutting costs for working people through prescription drug negotiation and the Inflation Reduction Act.
3. Young People Showed Up.
This year, young people between the ages of 18-29 had the second-highest midterm turnout in the last three decades. As the only age demographic with majority support for Democrats, this packed a punch. Issues like student debt cancellation and gun reform were a huge component of mobilizing this group.
4. Progressives Filled Crucial Gaps.
Despite clear polling on issues like abortion, the economy, and public safety, too many Democrats mirrored GOP talking points. This led to watered down campaign messaging, uninspiring candidates and a failure to invest in progressive races — even once the progressive won the nomination.
We saw the repercussions of this when progressive Senate candidate Mandela Barnes fell agonizingly short — about 1% — in his race against incumbent opponent, Ron Johnson. He was up against millions in spending from GOP group’s racist attack ads, and still managed to remain competitive because of support from people-powered movements like WFP.
If Mandela had the support of the Democratic infrastructure earlier, we would be sending another champion for working people to the Senate — instead, the seat is filled by insurrection-supporting Johnson (again).
Still, WFP’s successes this year will yield fruit in the coming Congress — rising stars like Austin’s Greg Casar, Chicago’s Delia Ramirez, Pittsburgh’s Summer Lee, Florida’s Maxwell Frost will join the ranks of progressive incumbents Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, Pramila Jayapal, who can stiffen the Democratic Party’s spine for the many fights ahead.
WFP is eager to hit the ground running in January, and ensure that the GOP-controlled House is held accountable and we have the resources necessary to continue supporting WFP candidates. With just hours left before 2023 — will you help WFP meet our final fundraising goal of the year with a contribution today?
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Your donation will help us take our learnings from 2022 and years prior and further fine-tune our approach to electing champions for working people up and down the ballot. Please chip in $4 to help us meet our final end-of-quarter fundraising goal of 2022.
In love and radical solidarity,
Maurice Mitchell
National Director
Working Families Party
