Working Families Party Flexes Power in This Year’s Primary Cycle

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The Third Party Touts Big Wins in NY, AZ, WA, OH, MI, and More

Nearing the close of the 2025 primary cycle, the Working Families Party is touting a major run of victories across the country.

“In red states and blue states, big cities and rural towns, Working Families Party candidates came out on top,” said Maurice Mitchell, National Director of the Working Families Party. “People have had enough of corporate-backed candidates who look and sound like they’ve been engineered in a lab. There’s a real hunger for working-class leaders who aren’t making cold political calculations, but actually mean what they say.”

The Party’s most visible win came in the NYC mayoral race, where the party devised a slate strategy that helped Zohran Mamdani win decisively in the first round of voting. In Arizona’s 7th Congressional District, the Working Families Party played a sizable role in propelling Adelita Grijalva to victory. In Seattle, WFP-backed mayoral candidate Katie Wilson was the top vote-getter in the primary election and now advances to the November general election.

The Party also lined up early behind Rep. Greg Casar, who fended off a potential primary challenge after Governor Greg Abbott redrew the Texas maps to benefit Donald Trump.

But these victories don’t tell the full story. WFP candidates picked up major victories in communities all across the country:

  • The WFP won mayoral primaries in three Upstate New York cities: Sean Ryan in Buffalo, Sharon Owens in Syracuse, and Dorcey Applyrs in Albany.
  • In New Jersey, WFP-backed insurgent candidate Katie Brennan won her Assembly primary against county-backed incumbents. Carolyn Rush (District 1), incumbent Alixon Collazos Gill (District 27), and Chigozie Onyema (District 28) also won their primaries.
  • WFP candidate Dionne Foster finished 23 points ahead of the incumbent Speaker of the Seattle City Council.
  • Selina Barajas and Miranda Schubert won their primaries for Tucson City Council, receiving double the votes of their opponents.
  • In Ohio, all five of the WFP’s endorsed candidates won their primaries: Mounir Lynch and Dr. Antoinette Miranda for the Columbus City School Board; Ajmeri Hoque for Franklin County Municipal Court; Jesse Vogel for Columbus City Council; and Fran Wilson for Akron City Council.
  • WFP school board candidates won across Oregon, even helping to flip a school in Redmond in rural Oregon.

The Working Families Party is regular people coming together to fight for a country that puts working people first. Founded twenty-seven years ago in New York, the WFP has expanded to over a dozen states and elected thousands of leaders at every level of government.