2020 Elections Working Families Party endorses Warren in blow to Sanders

The Working Families Party endorsed Elizabeth Warren for president on Monday — delivering both a victory for the Massachusetts senator and blow to her liberal rival, Bernie Sanders.

“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,” Maurice Mitchell, the national party director, said in a statement.


“Our job now,” Mitchell added, “is to help Senator Warren build the mass movement that will make her transformational plans a reality.”

The endorsement, which was first reported by the New York Times, is bad news for Sanders, a democratic socialist who presents himself as a voice for the working class. Last month, he won a rare union endorsement from the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America. Sanders’ national political director, Analilia Mejia, was formerly the executive director of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance.

Warren trounced Sanders in a vote of Working Family Party members, garnering 61 percent of the vote compared to Sanders’ 36 percent. Half of the total vote share went to party leaders, and the other half to members who registered their choice online. Some Sanders supporters were rankled that the party declined to release the individual tallies.

“The WFP has a storied history fighting for working people in New York and beyond,” said Bhaskar Sunkara, a Sanders supporter and former vice president of the Democratic Socialists of America. “That’s the pedigree of Sanders, too. It’s a shame they didn’t endorse the candidate that best embodies their mission.”

Sanders in 2015 won the first-ever presidential endorsement of the Working Families Party, a labor-aligned third party with deep roots to his home town of New York.

People familiar with the WFP endorsement process said that they expected a closer vote but that Warren and her team had impressed members with organizing muscle that put a premium on engaging members, asking for feedback, and building relationships.

"She put forth bold policies and put in the work," said Nelini Stamp, WFP's national organizing director. "Our members really wanted to know that they're putting in the work to beat Donald Trump and I think our members saw that from her.”

While several people familiar with the process did not want the vote to be portrayed as a rejection of Sanders, they also said the WFP wanted to make an endorsement early in the process to help the left more effectively beat the centrist wing of the Democratic Party in the presidential primary. That suggests they believe the left is stronger when consolidated behind one candidate.

The endorsement is important to Warren's attempts to be seen as a viable progressive alternative to Sanders, but it's unclear how much the endorsement will matter early in the primary given that the WFP does not have state or local chapters in Iowa or New Hampshire. But if the primary drags out, its organizing infrastructure in states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania could be a valuable asset.

As members debated the endorsement, the most common arguments for Sanders were his long track record in progressive politics and his movement-building that helped move Medicare for All from the outer fringes of the party. For Warren, members mentioned her fights against the banks, particularly in the aftermath of the financial crisis, and cited that she was a progressive woman who wasn't a neoliberal.

Warren celebrated the public announcement while on the Amtrak quiet car on her way to a speech in New York City Monday evening. She posted a video of her cheering, mutely.

"Over the last several weeks, @ewarren and team went all out for the @WorkingFamilies endorsement," Warren senior adviser Dan Geldon wrote on Twitter. "This is an exciting and important partnership. "

The Working Families Party was instrumental in Bill de Blasio’s 2013 victory for New York mayor. But de Blasio, now running for president, did not come within striking distance of landing the group's 2020 endorsement, despite members of his campaign staff having ties to the party.