The \u201ctime has come\u201d for the Working Families party, the progressive third party\u2019s national director said after a year of big wins and a growing hunger among voters for a home outside the two major political parties.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor 26 years, we\u2019ve been building this argument,\u201d Maurice Mitchell said. \u201cAnd the argument has met the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
The party, founded in 1998, helped elect Zohran Mamdani<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n In next year\u2019s 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 \u2013 something the Working Families party has advocated for.<\/p>\n The Working Families party describes<\/a> itself as \u201ca multiracial party that fights for workers over bosses and people over the powerful\u201d that seeks to build \u201can America which realizes the promise \u2013 unrealized in our history \u2013 of freedom and equality for all\u201d. 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.<\/p>\n Candidates can be endorsed by both Working Families and the Democratic party. \u201cWe cook what we have in the kitchen,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n Part of Working Families\u2019 success stems from the Democratic party\u2019s 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<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n Could the US have a true third party? Mitchell said he wouldn\u2019t do the work if he didn\u2019t think it was \u201cboth necessary and possible\u201d. The party is also working to dismantle structural barriers that make the rise of third parties difficult in the US, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cLess and less people are identifying as being a Democrat or Republican,\u201d he said. \u201cThe brand of the Democratic and the Republican parties are underwater consistently. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n 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\u2019s expansion happening in the past five years. The party has endorsed people in most states \u2013 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.<\/p>\n Part of the party\u2019s work includes organizing in non-political spaces. Nelini Stamp, strategy director for the party, ties politics into fandoms \u2013 she\u2019s created the Real Housewives of Politics to tap into Bravo fans and organized Dungeons and Dragons nights.<\/p>\n Mitchell, who describes himself as a \u201cpolitical nerd\u201d, 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 \u201cmain event\u201d. People form their identities and values in the culture \u2013 politics needs to meet them where they are already gathering.<\/p>\n Candidates like Mamdani \u2013 and Barack Obama and even Donald Trump \u2013 \u201cinvited people into a movement\u201d that went beyond politics, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cAs much as I disagree with Maga and Trump, that is their political project: winning a world,\u201d Mitchell said. \u201cThe Democrats are focused on winning an election.\u201d<\/p>\n Where it\u2019s working<\/p>\n 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\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n 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<\/a> 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\u2019s practice of \u201cfusion voting\u201d where parties can nominate the same candidate.)<\/p>\n Mamdani joined Working Families for its 2025 victory party in December, saying he was \u201cso thankful for the party\u2019s belief in me and the people who call this city home\u201d.<\/p>\n The party\u2019s 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<\/a>. Mitchell called the tactic \u201cdesperate\u201d, but a sign of the power of the party\u2019s brand.<\/p>\n Across state lines, in New Jersey<\/a>, the party has worked for years to get rid of a system referred to as the \u201cline\u201d, 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 \u2013 and multiple candidates aligned with Working Families have now been elected.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a watershed moment in New Jersey politics,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n 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\u2019t have the support of Democratic county party bosses won seats in the general assembly as well.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is really the first time that there\u2019s been Working Families candidates that ran outside of the Democratic party structure, and so we\u2019re building what that future looks like and what it means,\u201d Brennan said. \u201cThey\u2019ve grown and have been making progress year in and year out, and this next year will be big for us. Now we\u2019re in the statehouse, and what does that mean? I think it\u2019ll continue to bring attention to the Working Families party.\u201d<\/p>\n 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 \u2013 not just from red to blue, but from red to Working Families orange.<\/p>\n It has announced primary challengers for three congressional districts already \u2013 Nida Allam in North Carolina, Mai Vang in California and Brad Lander in New York \u2013 and plans to announce more in the new year. This week, the party launched<\/a> a recruitment effort for candidates who oppose datacenters.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there\u2019s going to be a wave election, the ink hasn\u2019t been dried on the character of that wave, who led that wave, and how that wave was won,\u201d Mitchell said.<\/p>\n