Working Families
And my personal election action plan for the next 40 days
Maybe you’re fired up and feeling that good election energy! Maybe you’re feeling anxious. Maybe you’re trying to reconcile a feeling of excitement with a lot of other feelings — about the devastating violence in Gaza or hearing the Democratic nominee promise to not ban fracking or guns, or any number of other disappointments that accompany this experience of hope.
I’m with you. I’m feeling feelings. And with less than 40 days until the election, I've been trying to find ways to help that are effective and in alignment with my values.
Here’s what helped me. I saw that adrienne maree brown, who I’ve quoted here before and have listed at the top of a note on my phone called “modern day prophets”, was going to be a guest on a post-DNC panel with the Working Families Party along with National Director Maurice Mitchell. On a whim, I tuned it.
Some of my favorite quotes from the mass call:
How do we get in formation in this moment? Not focusing just on the short term goal of this election, but lift our eyes up towards this long term horizon.
I think we have to have a movement broad enough to hold our grief and our rage and the excitement and the possibility and move us to a place where fear is not the primary organizing emotion.
I think that there’s something about taking responsibility that changes your life. My mentor Grace Lee Boggs talked about, Can we take responsibility for our communities? Can we take responsibility for our society What does that look like? It’s harder than yelling at people on the internet. Organizing is much harder than yelling at people on the internet. But it’s much more satisfying.
I just want to keep inviting people to take all that emotion you feel, whatever it is, and pour it into action.
We are not pundits. We should not be lulled into being political observers, simple observing and waiting and wondering what the campaign might do. We are political actors. We actually can shape what that looks like. (This one was from Maurice Mitchell, WFP National Director.)
Working Families Party
Ever since I registered to vote as an 18-year-old, I’ve checked to see if my preferred Dem candidate was also running on the WFP line and filled in the bubble in that column, to amplify progressive values and priorities.
The Harris-Walz ticket is exciting for a lot of reasons (new! folksy! anti-fascist! pro-democracy! pretty good on many progressive issues! fun memes!). I know they’re not the perfect candidates and that they won’t solve all of our problems. But I’m excited because a Harris-Walz administration will provide a much more amenable “battleground” for advancing the policy goals most important to me. Like Rebecca Solnit said, voting is a chess move, not a love letter.
This year, WFP has endorsed the Harris-Walz ticket. In NY, there are also WFP endorsed candidates for the U.S. House, State Senate and Assembly and local elections. So one way I’m reconciling my Major Party Reluctance is by continuing to vote for these candidates on the Working Family Parties line.
I’m not an expert (obviously!) but here’s what I know:
WFP is a registered political party in 15 states, including New York. I’m a registered Democrat and I vote in Democratic primaries. When general elections come around, most of my preferred candidates have also appeared on the WFP line. When you vote for that same Dem (say, Kamala Harris) on the WFP line, it doesn’t split the vote or otherwise dilute it. It still counts toward that candidate the same as if you had voted on the Democratic line. This is called “fusion voting,” which has a nice sound to it. You get to vote for a viable candidate and send a message that you want elected leaders who will work for everyone.
From WFP’s website:
The American political system is rigged to favor the two major parties.
But the Working Families Party is building our own party on top of the two-party system in the United States — and it’s working. We organize outside the two parties, and then we recruit and train people-powered candidates up and down the ballot and run them to win.
Sometimes we run candidates through Democratic Party primaries, and other times we run candidates on our own. We take on elections from city council to U.S. Senate — wherever there’s a path to win, and where winning will advance a people’s agenda, elevate visionary candidates, and help build the multiracial movement we need to win the America we deserve.
The goal isn’t just to win elections. It’s to win the power to govern and shape policy. WFP doesn’t pop up to get attention every four years. It’s doing the year-round work of grassroots organizing and movement building.
From the Vote WFP launch:
If you’re ready to organize and build a New York where everyone has quality health care, clean air and water, and everyone has beautiful housing they can afford, take the pledge to vote for Kamala Harris on the Working Families Party ballot line this November.
If you’re determined to continue to demand an end to the war in Gaza, a return of the hostages, and U.S. foreign policy that recognizes the humanity of every person, take the pledge to vote for Kamala Harris on the Working Families Party ballot line this November.
They’re building the coalition of our dreams. When I read through WFP principles and values, I hear echoes from the Poor People’s Campaign and their “moral fusion” movement work. Regular people joining together across demographic and geographic lines to create a better future.
ANYWAY, if you’re feeling excited but also hesitant you don’t have to change party affiliation and you don’t have to throw away a protest vote. If you want, you can just vote for your favorite candidates on Line D - Working Families Party.
Nobody asked for it, but here’s my personal plan for the next 40 days.
It fits with my family and work responsibilities, it doesn’t involve canvassing or even phone banking and almost all of it can be done from home, in my own time.
Continue monthly donation to Run for Something, which encourages young, progressive candidates to run for office at the state and local level
Letter writing with Vote Forward/Swing Left
Join the NEIGHBORING team and help me reach my goal of sending 1,000 letters this election season 💌
Letter writing to get out the climate vote with Greenpeace USA (and there are a few virtual Greenpeace letter writing parties coming up if you’re interested)
Probably going to join WFP’s 10,000 Strong selfie postcard program, so be on the lookout for a postcard with my face on it encouraging you to vote
Reading FICTION and sitting on the PATIO and enjoying the WEATHER and eating CIDER DONUTS and loving the ELECTION MEMES
This is probably a lot less than many of you are doing. Or maybe it’s more, but maybe that’s because you are really busy or burnt out or caring for more family members. I like that quote about how movement work is like a chorus… we stagger our rests so that the song keeps going? Have you heard that? Did I make it up? Either way, I’m feeling called to these particular actions and I’m able to do them. You might be called to others. I thought I’d share here in case it offers any possibility for people in a similar position and election mood.
PS - I’ve been in Mexico City and Tlaxcala working with and learning from my colleagues at Habitat Mexico this week! Full trip report to come soon.