Working Families Party and our candidates powered a wave of winning working class candidates in the 2025 election cycle. WFP candidates ran on affordability and economic populism platforms — our north star — and it was a winning message. The remarkable results show that voters want a different kind of politics — one that prioritizes working people, not billionaires.

As Trump and the Republicans drive up the cost of health care and household staples, that focus on affordability is something voters are looking for from their candidates. 

WFP and Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani’s win was one for the history books, not the least because it exemplified a national wave of victories for pro-working families candidates that swept big cities, small towns, and rural communities in New York and across America. 

Mamdani will become New York City’s next mayor after withstanding $40 million in Super PAC spending to defeat disgraced former Governor Andrew Cuomo. Mamdani ran on a bold affordability agenda for the working class, including free and fast buses, a rent freeze, and universal childcare. 

Zohran won more than a million votes — the most votes cast for any candidate for NYC mayor since 1965. The WFP received more votes on its line than any mayoral election in the Party’s history, with more people voting on the WFP ballot line than the Republican ballot line. 

WFP backed Katie Wilson, a transit activist, in her longshot campaign as the new mayor of Seattle. Her win is no less seismic than Zohran Mamdani’s in New York City. She unseated Bruce Harrell, a well-funded two-term Democratic incumbent, with an electorate fed up with his corporate cronyism. 

WFP powered hundreds of electoral victories throughout 2025. Here are just a few standouts:

A New Class of Mayors: In Dayton, OH, WFP candidate Shenise Turner-Sloss upset incumbent mayor Jeffrey J. Mims, Jr. In Colorado, Emily Francis in Fort Collins and Susie Hidalgo-Fahring in Longmont won their mayoral races. Meanwhile, three other cities in New York State joined NYC in electing WFP-backed mayoral candidates, including Sean Ryan in Buffalo, Sharon Owens in Syracuse, and Dorcey Applyrs in Upstate New York. Jersey City voters elected James Solomon over yet another former governor who had previously resigned in disgrace.

• A New Bench of City Councilors: We gained ground in many cities where the WFP has been working to build power over several election cycles, including Denzel McCampbell and Gabriela Santiago-Romero in Detroit as well as Kelsea Bond in Atlanta, and Dionne Foster’s win against the City Council president in Seattle, and many other cities. Meanwhile, we flipped the city council of Aurora, CO from red to WFP orange, and elected a WFP-aligned majority. Jersey City now has a WFP majority on its city council.
  
• Red to WFP Orange: WFP played a significant role in winning ground held by Republicans this cycle. Bobby Sanchez ended 15 years of Republican rule in New Britain, CT, and we provided key support in county executive races in formerly Trump-leaning districts like Erie County, PA, where we helped elect Christina Vogel. And WFP-endorsed candidates Elizabeth Guzmán, Kim Pope Adams, Nicole Cole, Leslie Mehta, and Jessica Anderson flipped Republican-held districts in Virginia, helping to build the biggest Democratic caucus in a generation.

• A Clear Defeat for MAGA: WFP played a crucial role in the defeat of MAGA in key statewide races that lay the ground for 2026, by focusing on what we do best: talking to, persuading and mobilizing working people. In California, we mobilized disaffected voters to support Prop 50, which could add five new Democratic-leaning districts to the state’s delegation next cycle. In Pennsylvania, we led a coalition that successfully retained three sitting Democratic Supreme Court Justices. We spent more than $300,000 on field and advertising efforts to move Black and Latino voters to reject the Republican’s gubernatorial candidate in New Jersey. In Georgia, we helped Dr. Alicia M. Johnson flip a seat on the statewide Georgia Public Service Commission, which could be a major bellwether for 2026. 

• A Party for the People: Voters say in poll after poll they are hungry for alternatives in this two-party system, so it’s no surprise that this year saw an unusual surge in candidates running and winning as WFP-only candidates. In our two party,  first-past-the-post electoral system that’s remarkable and a sign of the electorate’s hunger for more choices. Some standout wins include Shontá Browdy, the Board of Education Chair in Hartford, CT, as well as BOE candidates Rob Traber and Joe Sokolovic in Bridgeport, CT, Tamika Stewart for city council in Newburgh, NY, and County Legislator Nicole Watts in Onondaga County, NY.