01/01/2026
The Guardian
Working Families bet on 2026 as the right time for a third US party after a wave of wins
The progressive party is now active in 18 states and much of its expansion happened in the past five years
The “time has come” for the Working Families party, the progressive third party’s national director said after a year of big wins and a growing hunger among voters for a home outside the two major political parties. “For 26 years, we’ve been building this argument,” Maurice Mitchell said. “And the argument has met the moment. ”The party, founded in 1998, helped elect Zohran Mamdani as New York City mayor, worked to get rid of an electoral process in New Jersey that prioritized party insiders, and saw its endorsees win races across the country this year. The party has made inroads beyond deep-blue cities too, with endorsees winning in Dayton, Ohio, and Buffalo, New York. In next year’s midterms, it will ramp up its involvement in primary elections, supporting candidates that emphasize working-class politics and seek to disrupt the political status quo. Already, Democratic candidates have laser-focused on affordability – something the Working Families party has advocated for. The Working Families party describes itself as “a multiracial party that fights for workers over bosses and people over the powerful” that seeks to build “an America which realizes the promise – unrealized in our history – of freedom and equality for all”. In practice, candidates the party supports often run in Democratic primaries as insurgents aligned with its goals of affordability, improved conditions for workers, a stronger social safety net and reforms to the democratic process. Candidates can be endorsed by both Working Families and the Democratic party. “We cook what we have in the kitchen,” Mitchell said. Part of Working Families’ success stems from the Democratic party’s flagging brand with some voters, who see it as too moderate or simply unwilling to fight for the interests of its voters. As the Democrats spent the last year soul-searching over how to improve their standing with voters, Working Families peeled off some of those who previously called themselves Democrats. Could the US have a true third party? Mitchell said he wouldn’t do the work if he didn’t think it was “both necessary and possible”. The party is also working to dismantle structural barriers that make the rise of third parties difficult in the US, he said. “Less and less people are identifying as being a Democrat or Republican,” he said. “The brand of the Democratic and the Republican parties are underwater consistently. I don’t think there’s been a better and more right time for a third party to emerge in this country that speaks to the interest of everyday working people. I believe that our time has come. ”Working Families is now active in 18 states, with the party appearing on the ballot directly in three (New York Connecticut and Oregon)and much of the party’s expansion happening in the past five years. The party has endorsed people in most states – this past November, it endorsed more than 700 people, most of whom ran in Democratic primaries. It counts more than 600,000 members, not including voters registered as party members in states with the option to register as Working Families voters. It has more than 100 staff members. Part of the party’s work includes organizing in non-political spaces. Nelini Stamp, strategy director for the party, ties politics into fandoms – she’s created the Real Housewives of Politics to tap into Bravo fans and organized Dungeons and Dragons nights. Mitchell, who describes himself as a “political nerd”, said he used to look at the culture war tactics of the right as a distraction from the issues. Now, though, he sees the culture war as the “main event”. People form their identities and values in the culture – politics needs to meet them where they are already gathering. Candidates like Mamdani – and Barack Obama and even Donald Trump – “invited people into a movement” that went beyond politics, he said. “As much as I disagree with Maga and Trump, that is their political project: winning a world,” Mitchell said. “The Democrats are focused on winning an election. ”Where it’s working In the New York City mayoral race, Working Families started early to form a slate of candidates who were mutually supportive of each other so they wouldn’t split the vote. It helped mobilize volunteers to canvass and phone bank across the city and, through an independent expenditure group, spent money on ads against Andrew Cuomo and to boost Mamdani. Not only did Mamdani win in an upset, but more people voted for mayor on the Working Families ballot line than those who voted on the Republican party line. Mamdani voted for himself on the Working Families line. (His name, and the name of Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa, appeared on ballots twice, under different political parties, part of the city’s practice of “fusion voting” where parties can nominate the same candidate.)Mamdani joined Working Families for its 2025 victory party in December, saying he was “so thankful for the party’s belief in me and the people who call this city home”.The party’s rise has also brought with it nefarious actors: Republican operatives have run candidates on the Working Families line as a way to pull votes from Democratic candidates, Politico reported. Mitchell called the tactic “desperate”, but a sign of the power of the party’s brand. Across state lines, in New Jersey, the party has worked for years to get rid of a system referred to as the “line”, where party bosses would select preferred candidates to appear in a prioritized column on the ballot, dinging challengers by making it harder for voters to find their names. The party, and others making similar arguments, succeeded in abolishing the line in 2024 – and multiple candidates aligned with Working Families have now been elected. “It’s been a watershed moment in New Jersey politics,” Mitchell said. In Jersey City, for example, a Working Families-endorsed mayor, James Solomon, won, and the party also gained a governing majority of its endorsees on the city council. Candidates who didn’t have the support of Democratic county party bosses won seats in the general assembly as well. Katie Brennan, one of the Working Families-aligned candidates who won without Democratic party backing, said voters are tired of a broken system and yearning for a party and candidates that will hear their concerns and act on them. Familiarity with the Working Families party is growing now, she said. “This is really the first time that there’s been Working Families candidates that ran outside of the Democratic party structure, and so we’re building what that future looks like and what it means,” Brennan said. “They’ve grown and have been making progress year in and year out, and this next year will be big for us. Now we’re in the statehouse, and what does that mean? I think it’ll continue to bring attention to the Working Families party. ”The party believes 2026 will be a wave year for the left nationwide, so it will be aggressively recruiting candidates for state legislatures in hopes of flipping chambers – not just from red to blue, but from red to Working Families orange. It has announced primary challengers for three congressional districts already – Nida Allam in North Carolina, Mai Vang in California and Brad Lander in New York – and plans to announce more in the new year. This week, the party launched a recruitment effort for candidates who oppose datacenters .“If there’s going to be a wave election, the ink hasn’t been dried on the character of that wave, who led that wave, and how that wave was won,” Mitchell said.
