[ad_1]
The party of working families, the progressive group aligned with the world of work whose electoral influence has increased since the election of 2016, sponsored the Democratic nomination for the presidency of Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, a boon for his candidacy while she's trying to position herself as the main challenger of former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
The party had approved Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the last presidential cycle. At that time, he described "Active Families" as "the closest thing" to "my vision of democratic socialism". The approval of this group by Mrs. Warren on Monday, one of the few by a leading progressive organization at the very beginning of the primary, could turn the heads of leftist democrats eager to defeat Mr. Biden, the most moderate candidate, in a primary election jeopardizing the ideological future of their party.
"If we focus on victory, we will not be delirious," said Maurice Mitchell, National Director of the Working Families Party. "You do not defeat the moderate wing of Democrats by pithy reflections or tweets, you defeat their politics by organizing."
Mr. Mitchell dismissed the possibility that the group's approval would be seen as a sign of splitting the progressive left. Voting among "tens of thousands" of party members allowed Ms. Warren to obtain a massive majority, said a party spokeswoman. she received more than 60% of the votes in the first round of voting.
"Choosing not to make a decision because of the risk or fear of retaliation is a waiver of our responsibility, and I am not prepared to do so," Mitchell said.
Warren has just participated in a debate that was generally well received last week. She is preparing for a rally in New York on Monday that could count among the most important gatherings for a candidate this year. Mr. Sanders' campaign shook her New Hampshire staff this weekend as Warren continued to progress among the progressives.
Also on Monday, Warren unveiled a plan to fight corruption in the government, a central theme of her campaign. The plan is based on a wide-ranging anti-corruption bill she proposed for the first time last year and is the cornerstone of her stump speech during the campaign.
In their talks, Mitchell and other leaders of the Workers' Family Party said that their membership was accompanied by a message to other progressive organizations. Rather than passively observing primary school, these groups should choose a camp and be flexible in their organizing power during the early stages to help overthrow Mr. Biden from his position.
"Senator Warren knows how to hit the Wall Street kleptocrats where it hurts, and she has some really visionary plans for this country to work for as many people as possible," Mitchell said. "We need a mass movement to materialize its projects and we will be part of that work."
The traditional endorsement of unions such as the American Federation of Teachers and Service Employees International Union has not yet materialized, although Mr. Sanders got an endorsement from United Electrical workers in August. It remains less than five months before Iowa caucuses formally start the presidential nomination contest, many organizations still struggle against an extended democratic field.
Mr. Sanders was second in the Working Families Party's preferred choice electoral system of five candidates: Mr. Sanders, Mrs. Warren, former Housing Secretary Julián Castro, Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey , and Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York, who held question-and-answer sessions in person with party members. Senator Kamala Harris of California was stripped of her mandate after canceling her session in August.
Most national polls of the Democratic primaries show a growing number of high-profile candidates – Mr Biden, Ms Warren and Mr Sanders – although Mr Biden has remained at the top of the rankings.
"There will be a moment when progressive voters will have to choose between the candidates who show up – for some today, and for others who will be in caucus or at the primary school party." next year, "said Yvette Simpson, executive director of Democracy for America, another progressive group that endorsed Sanders four years ago. Simpson said her group did not plan to support a candidate until December.
"There is an excellent case for progressives to get together as quickly as possible around one candidate and for others to take the time to see how the competition is evolving," she said. declared.
In the years following the election of President Trump, Working Families Party-sponsored candidates won congressional, state and local competitions across the country, expanding the Acela Corridor group's power base to the West Coast.
Mr. Mitchell took office as National Director of the party in 2018, after being distinguished during the Black Lives Matter Movement, born from protests in Ferguson, Missouri.
Group leaders emphasized that, even with their support, their intention was not to divide the progressive left between Mrs. Warren and Mr. Sanders. Senators are longtime friends and have said they are publicly supporting their nominations.
"I'm with Bernie," Warren said during a Democratic debate over the summer, stating that she was supporting Sanders' single payer health care plan and was reporting their proximity at a time when political observers aspired to an intraparty struggle.
Nevertheless, some more moderate Democrats continued to sound the alarm over the ability of the progressives to beat Mr. Trump, and the chances of Mrs. Warren in particular. And many Republicans see in the adoption of a single payer health system, of "Medicare for all" and ambitious climate proposals such as the Green New Deal, a liability for the general election that is waiting to be exploited.
Substitutes for other candidates – such as Mr. Biden, Ms. Harris and Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind. – attempted to portray Ms. Warren and Mr. Sanders as elite candidates, who speak of noble ideologies instead of pragmatic solutions. .
"What worries me about Sanders-Warren's approach is that it can polarize Americans when we have other ways to come up with bold solutions without further dividing." the American people, "said Buttigieg. says Sunday on CNN.
But Mitchell said he believes the Workers' Families Party could make Democrats skeptical of a far-reaching progressive policy.
"I do not worry about converting people already engaged in a program of structural change," Mitchell said. "I'm worried about the people who are still trying to find out where they are going to land."
Thomas Kaplan contributed to the reports.
[ad_2]
Source link