Date: 11/5/24
From: Shoshanna Israel, Mid-Atlantic Political Director, Working Families Party
To: Interested Parties
Subject: What We Accomplished in Pennsylvania

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We are once again on the cusp of a pivotal election. This cycle has been the biggest intervention the Working Families Party has made in its history. 

We’re so proud of what we’ve accomplished together. As you will read below, our efforts included dozens of labor unions and allied groups, hundreds of canvassers, and thousands of volunteers who texted, phonebanked, or sent postcards to their friends and family in swing states. 

Our strategy this election cycle can be summed up as “Block and Build”: Block the authoritarian right at all levels of government, build our bench of WFP champions up and down the ballot, and grow the infrastructure of our own party for future elections. 

The right is threatening to destroy the pillars of our democracy and give billionaires like Elon Musk unprecedented power over ‌our government. As a party for working people, we understand we have a responsibility to make sure they aren’t successful.

Trump is already trying to undermine confidence in our elections for his own selfish ends. His MAGA movement is starting another “Big Lie” by spreading misinformation about non-citizen voting, but this is a calculated lie meant to create confusion and division.

On the build side, we need to form a new pole in American politics to organize the working class. We’re building an independent political vehicle offering a different kind of politics, one that gives working people a real voice in the halls of power.

With each successive election cycle, we’re growing our ranks of WFP elected officials, and this year is no exception.

WHAT WE ACCOMPLISHED

Working people cannot afford another Trump presidency. That’s why we built our biggest WFP campaign yet to defeat Trump and elect Harris.

• We knocked on 733,000 voters’ doors across Pennsylvania this year, logging 61,608 positive IDs for Harris/Walz and thousands for candidates down ballot in the primary and general elections.
  • We made over 4.2 million calls to PA voters.
  • We worked with 88,954 voters to make voting plans.

• We made 30,000 ballot curing calls to voters at risk of having their ballots rejected. We have cured over 2,000 ballots.

• The PA WFP State Committee was in lockstep, organizing together to coordinate our massive joint effort. With partners including SEIU, Make the Road Action, Unite Here, One PA, and Straight Ahead, we’ve knocked on more than 3.7 million doors across PA.

VOTING EARLY BY MAIL

Our sister organization, Working Families Power, led a month-long campaign to encourage voters across North and West Philadelphia to cast their ballots early at one of Philadelphia’s eleven satellite election offices. 

During the early voting period, WF Power organized three pop-up concerts near early voting sites featuring local and national performing acts, an Eagles tailgate and watch party, a neighborhood block party, and multiple street canvasses in high-traffic areas.

• As a result of Working Families Power’s outreach, 3,548 voters pledged to vote on or before election day, 2,914 voters pledged to vote early by mail, and 2,187 voters voted early on the spot. We spent nearly $1M on mail and digital campaigns to further turnout for early voting. This work led to thousands of never-before-voted voters voting early. 

OTHER STATE & LOCAL RACES

State House

In HD-137 in the Lehigh Valley, we supported Anna Thomas, who is trying to flip one of Pennsylvania’s most competitive state house seats after coming within 500 votes of winning the general election last cycle. In 2022, the WFP helped Democrats win a narrow legislative majority in the State House. This cycle, we’re determined to keep it. If Anna Thomas wins her seat, we’re in solid shape to succeed. 

We knocked on 20,013 doors in HD-137 and made 17,898 calls to voters to help Anna over the finish line.

In addition to Anna, WFP endorsed other candidates running in tough districts all across Pennsylvania, like Kenya Johns in HD-14; Brad Chambers in HD-41; Sara Agerton in HD-88; Megan Kocher in HD-119; Fern Leard in HD-120; and Trex Proffitt in SD-13. And we are also proud to support numerous WFP champion incumbents for re-election in safely blue seats.

Row Offices

In the 2022 Pennsylvania U.S. Senate race, WFP made an early bet on Malcolm Kenyatta — that a gay, Black, progressive lawmaker who grew up in North Philly could make a run at the biggest race in the state.

Malcolm came up short in that primary, but he (and WFP) campaigned vigorously for the Democratic nominee who eventually flipped that seat. Now, he’s running for Auditor General — a position that audits the Commonwealth’s finances and would benefit greatly from Malcolm’s experience, vision, and leadership.

We were proud to support Malcolm in 2022, and we’re excited about his campaign for Auditor General this cycle. If he wins this primary, we’re confident he’s going to make a real challenge to flip the seat back to Democrats in November.

We’re also excited to support Eugene DePasquale in his campaign for Attorney General. Eugene is running to fight for and protect the rights for all of us: whether it’s reproductive freedom, holding polluters accountable, or making sure everyone can vote in a fair election. 

This is one of the most pivotal elections of our lifetime — and WFP was proud to show up and support candidates up and down the ballot.