The Third Party You Are Looking for Already Exists

Over the first month of Trump’s second presidency, there has been a growing revolt among the electorate of the Democratic Party, angered and frustrated by what has rightfully been viewed as an inadequate response by the party’s leadership in Congress. A recent poll showed that only 40% of Democrats approve of the job their own party’s electeds are doing in Congress, while another poll shows that 60% feel their party isn’t doing enough to stand up to Trump. The frustration is palpable on the ground too. I was in attendance at a town hall held by Democratic congressman Paul Tonko last week, during which voters felt that it was time for the Democrats to take the gloves off, take to the streets, and stop playing by the rules if they really wanted to fight back against the ongoing takeover of the federal government by neofascist Republicans. People are looking to the Democrats for real leadership, but they’re not finding it.

The Democratic Party is facing a real crisis right now. Despite raising more than $1 billion during her abbreviated campaign for the White House, Kamala Harris still lost both the popular vote and the Electoral College to Donald Trump. Now many of her billionaire donors are pulling back, frustrated by Harris’ loss and fearful of retribution by the Trump administration. Of course, those same donors are part of the problem; the influence of their contributions drove Harris to abandon a populist economic message that very well could have won her the election. Instead, the Harris campaign adopted a message that alienated many voters, especially those in the working class who feel that the party has left them behind - and they in turn continue to leave the Democratic Party behind.

So, to raise an age-old question, what is to be done about the Democratic Party? 

In recent days I have seen criticism of Bernie Sanders for shepherding disillusioned voters back into the Democratic Party through his runs for President in 2016 and 2020 and by supporting Biden and then Harris in 2024. They would prefer that he and others leave the Democrats altogether and form a new third party, one not beholden to the billionaire class and corporations. I definitely understand this appeal, having previously gone down that same path myself. 

I had been an ardent supporter of President Obama’s reelection bid in 2012 (even more so than my admittedly lukewarm opinion of him in 2008), a campaign tinged by economic populism in the aftermath of Occupy Wall Street. By 2014 however - the first year I was going to be eligible to vote - I was already disillusioned by the direction the Democratic Party was heading in what would turn out to be a disastrous midterm cycle for them. I found myself supporting the Green Party candidate for Governor that year, Howie Hawkins. I volunteered with the campaign, handing out leaflets, making phone calls, even attending a fundraiser for him featuring Jill Stein. On an otherwise depressing election night, I found a silver lining in that the Greens had won nearly 5% of the vote for Governor, moving them up to Row D on New York’s ballot for future elections. I fully expected to vote for Jill Stein in 2016.

And then, a funny thing happened. Bernie Sanders (just as his critics have argued) pulled me back into the fold. Like so many other Americans, I found myself drawn in by his clear agenda and vision for the country - Medicare for All, free college for all, a $15 minimum wage. Although he clearly acknowledged the issues with both parties, he did not treat the Democrats and the Republicans as the same, which I viewed favorably compared to the cynical message of the Greens. 

It was a coincidence that I was living in Burlington during Bernie’s first primary run, attending the college his wife had once been president of. During the first primary debate, I found myself at a watch party in a room filled with people who knew him personally. Though I never formally volunteered with his campaign, I did apply for an internship in his Senate office (I didn’t get it). Bernie Sanders was the first person I ever voted for for president, sending in my absentee ballot as one of the 820,256 New Yorkers who voted for him over our own former senator, Hillary Clinton. I lamented the missed opportunity of Hillary getting the nomination over Bernie. I guess you can even say I went “Bernie or bust” that year, writing him in on my general election ballot (along with, regrettably, Tulsi Gabbard for vice president).  

In the elections that followed, I viewed it as imperative that Trump be both removed from office and prevented from reaching office again. After supporting Bernie again in the 2020 primaries, I voted for Joe Biden in the general that year and then Kamala Harris in 2024. (I did submit a blank ballot in the 2024 primaries, in support of the Leave it Blank campaign.) However, I did not vote for either Biden or Harris on the Democratic Party line. Enter: the Working Families Party.

Ironically, my first experience with the Working Families Party came at one of the most contentious moments in the party’s history: the 2014 New York state convention. I skipped my high school senior prom to instead bear witness to a crash course in New York politics at the Desmond Hotel in Albany. Though I didn’t have a vote there, I ended up backing a Fordham law professor with a funny-sounding name who I’d never heard of before that weekend for governor: Zephyr Teachout. I joined other Teachout supporters in walking around the convention with an orange sign that read “I do not believe” (a reference to the commitments Andrew Cuomo was allegedly willing to make in exchange for the party’s support). In the end, Teachout lost the vote. Over a decade later, the roll call votes for “Cuomo/Hochul” still ring in my head. Dejected, I left the convention and made my aforementioned foray into the Green party.

So, what changed my mind about the WFP? How did I go from practically swearing them off to today touting them as the future of progressive politics in America? It really started with the 2017 local election cycle. By virtue of sharing an office space with them, I was able to see up close just how the WFP operates on a day-to-day basis. I saw the impact the party can have when it commits resources to a candidate. I saw a party that can actually win elections. And that is what the Left desperately needs right now: to win.

In the years that followed, I have come to understand why the Working Families Party is able to serve as a viable progressive third party. Here in New York, the WFP has its own ballot line, which gives it significant advantages. The party does not face the same spending limits as a 501c4 organization does when it supports a candidate. Unlike a PAC, the party can directly coordinate with the candidates it backs. And, with the beauty of fusion voting in New York, it can cross-endorse candidates nominated by other parties, meaning that it can avoid the “spoiler” label that third parties face in our current “first past the post” electoral reality.

There are three ways that the WFP can win elections. First, it can elect a candidate directly on its own line. That is how Tish James won her first election back in 2003; today she serves as New York’s Attorney General, and has been one of the most effective elected officials in opposing Donald Trump. Meanwhile, in Philadelphia, the WFP has elected two members to the city council solely on its line, officially supplanting the Republicans as Philadelphia’s second party behind the Democrats. Depending on the direction that things go with this year’s New York City mayoral primary, it’s possible that the WFP may run its own candidate in the general - another opportunity for the party to demonstrate its political independence.

Second, the Working Families Party can cross-endorse a candidate nominated by another party (typically the Democrats). This can be particularly crucial in preventing Republicans from winning office, especially in close races where every vote matters. For instance, in the 2024 election for New York’s 19th Congressional District, Josh Riley received 6% of the vote on the WFP line - more than his margin of victory over incumbent Republican Marc Molinaro. The WFP also helped save Governor Kathy Hochul from what would have been an embarrassing defeat in 2022. Hochul received 261,323 votes on the WFP line in a race she only won by 377,834 - and surely there are others who voted for her on the Democratic line who were mobilized by the WFP in the absence of the Dems own anemic ground game.

The third way the WFP can win, and arguably the most important, is the party’s ability to endorse candidates running in Democratic primaries. The clearest example of the power this can bring came in 2018, when the WFP backed challenges to the eight members of the “Independent Democratic Coalition”, nominal Democrats who had joined with the Republicans to control the NYS Senate despite a Democratic majority. Six of those members were defeated by the progressive challengers, and combined with WFP-backed challengers to Republican incumbents in the general, this finally ended the decades-long Republican stranglehold on the NYS Senate. This led to some real gains for New Yorkers during the legislative sessions that followed: pretrial reforms to overhaul bail, discovery and speedy trial laws; statewide paid sick leave; major new tenant protections; and passage of major climate legislation. 

The vacuum of leadership and vision for the Democratic Party presents a major opportunity for the Working Families Party to increase its influence over the next four years. While the unique nature of fusion voting in New York (and Connecticut) plays a big role in the ability of the WFP to exercise power there, the WFP has a presence in at least 15 states across the country. The Working Families Party has also been building its ties with national powerbuilding networks like People’s Action and the Center for Popular Democracy. Given the Democratic Party’s abandonment of the working class, and the subsequent abandonment of the Democratic Party by working class voters, the WFP is well positioned to grow with its clear message and vision rooted in the needs of the working class.

There are, of course, measures that could be taken to increase the viability of the Working Families Party as a truly national political party. Drawing in the support of organized labor (which has traditionally aligned with the Democrats since the 1930s) would be huge in building a true working class party. Expanding fusion voting into other states would greatly increase the party’s ability to directly impact election outcomes, as would other pro-democracy reforms like ranked choice voting and multi-member districts with proportional representation. Expanding open primaries into states like New York would allow voters to register with the Working Families Party while still being able to have a voice in primary elections. And reforming ballot access requirements would make it easier for parties like the WFP to be truly independent third parties without having to cross-endorse Democratic candidates for president or governor to ensure their survival. 

The need for an alternative to the Democratic Party is clear. Yet we on the Left have to be strategic about what that alternative looks like. The goal should be to build actual electoral power, not simply a party that can generate a principled protest vote. The WFP is the third party currently best positioned to do that, especially in New York State. By building the party, we can push back against Trump and his neofascist Republican Party, reject the corporate-backed Democrats, and build our own power rooted in the working class. The time to join the WFP is now!