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The Working Family Party on Monday approved Elizabeth Warren's candidacy for the presidency, procuring both a victory for the Massachusetts senate and a shock to her liberal rival, Bernie Sanders.
"Senator Warren scares the hearts of robbers who have manipulated the system and offers hope to millions of workers who have been excluded from our democracy and our economy," said Maurice Mitchell, national party leader, in a statement.
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"Our job now," Mitchell added, "is to help Senator Warren build the mass movement that will make his transformation plans a reality."
This approval, 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 backing from the United Power Workers, Radio and Machine America. Sanders' national policy director, Analilia Mejia, was formerly Executive Director of the New Jersey Working Families Alliance.
Warren beat Sanders in a vote of the workers' family members, garnering 61% of the vote, compared with 36%. Half of the votes were attributed to party leaders and the other half to members who registered their choices online. Some Sanders supporters were upset that the party refused to publish the individual results.
"WFP has a rich history of struggles for workers in New York and beyond," said Bhaskar Sunkara, a supporter of Sanders and former vice president of the US Democratic Socialists. "It's Sanders' pedigree too. It's unfortunate that they did not approve the candidate who best embodies their mission. "
In 2015, Sanders won the first-ever presidential support of the Working Families Party, a third party from the labor movement and deeply rooted in his hometown of New York.
People familiar with the WFP approval process said they were expecting a tighter vote, but Warren and his team impressed the members with a mobilizing force that put value on engaging members, asking for feedback and build relationships.
"She has put forth bold policies and put to work," said Nelini Stamp, director of WFP's National Organizing Program. "Our members really wanted to know that they were doing everything possible to beat Donald Trump and I think our members have seen it."
Several people familiar with the process did not want the vote to be presented as a rejection of Sanders, but they also said that WFP wanted to endorse the process early to help the left to beat the wing more effectively. centrist of the Democratic Party in the presidential primary. This suggests that they believe that the left is stronger when it is consolidated behind a candidate.
Approval is important for Warren to attempt to be seen as a viable viable alternative to Sanders, but it is unclear how much this endorsement will matter early in the primary school, given that WFP does not have an endorsement. There are no locals in the state of Iowa or New Hampshire. But if the primary continues, its organizational infrastructure in states like Wisconsin and Pennsylvania could be a valuable asset.
While members were debating approval, Sanders' most common arguments were his long career in progressive politics and movement building, which helped to make medicare for all of the periphery party. For Warren, members mentioned her struggles with banks, especially in the aftermath of the financial crisis, and mentioned that she was a progressive woman who was not neoliberal.
Warren celebrated the public announcement while he was in the silent car of Amtrak en route for a speech in New York on Monday night. She posted a video of her applaud, silently.
"In recent weeks, @ewarren and the team are all out for the @WorkingFamilies approval, "wrote Warren's senior advisor, Dan Geldon, on Twitter. It is an exciting and important partnership. "
Workers' Family Day was instrumental in Bill de Blasio's 2013 victory for the Mayor of New York. But de Blasio, who is currently running for president, did not live up to the group's approval for 2020, even though his campaign staff have ties to the party.
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