How One Left-Wing Movement Has Found Success
PHILADELPHIA — With the Democratic Party presidential primary essentially complete, it may be easy to come to the conclusion the left failed. The candidate they put all of their efforts against, former Vice President Joe Biden, is the presumptive nominee. But while the left is set back nationally, it will be local organizations that lead the progressive movement into the future.
Organizations in Philadelphia and across Pennsylvania have organized for years to create a powerful left. This project has arguably been one of the most successful local campaigns in the nation.
Not even five years ago, there were no socialists in the State House, there were no firebrand progressives on the City Council, the idea of a left-wing District Attorney was laughable, and you could not even dream about there being left-wing legislators in the suburbs. All of these previously unthinkable possibilities are now a reality.
One of the organizations that have been at the heart of this local transformation is the Pennsylvania Working Families Party (PA WFP), a state chapter of the national political organization. Vanessa Clifford, a Political Director and dues-paying member of the party for more than 10 years, attributes this change to “a lot of work over a long period of time.”
That work she says began in 2015, the same year the left became revived with Senator Bernie Sanders beginning his first run for the Presidency, when progressive Helen Gym was elected to the Philadelphia City Council.
In 2017, Larry Krasner won a primary and was elected to be the Philadelphia District Attorney (DA), in what became a first in a slew of progressive DA’s elected in cities across the nation.
In 2018, Elizabeth Fielder ousted an incumbent in a primary for a State House seat as a self-proclaimed socialist. In the general election, progressive backed candidates like Joseph Hohenstein and Danielle Otten flipped republican-held seats in the city and the suburbs.
Finally, last year the PA WFP not only re-elected Helen Gym and got Isaiah Thomas onto the city council, but also ousted a republican councilman by electing Kendra Brooks on the WFP party line. This was a major feat as Brooks did not have support from major local party figures.
The wins the left have had here have led to national and local praise. Krasner is celebrated by national progressive groups for his decisions that they believe reform the criminal justice system. Gym with her first-place finish in the 2019 city council at-large ballot was called by Philadelphia Magazine, “the most popular politician in Philadelphia.”
Compare these successes to the national movement and it seems like night and day. But why?
Clifford said the famous phrase, “all politics are local,” and District Attorney Krasner repeated it when I spoke with him.
“Philly and the United States are not identical. Philadelphia is a place that is six or seven to one Democratic… where 40% of the electorate is white and 60% are people of color… it is not the same as the middle of Kansas,” said Krasner.
But despite all of these differences, Krasner still sees ways the left has been able to construct power here.
Krasner thinks the rise of progressivism is a reaction to policies that have been upheld for decades. For his specific position, he says, “the rise of progressive prosecutors being elected is the direct consequence of the fiasco that is mass incarceration.”
The rise of progressivism Krasner believes across the country and here in Philadelphia is not unrelated to progressive’s proposals of reforming established systems. Strong candidates use these reforms to rally a coalition at the voting booth to win. But that idea is not foolproof yet, as if that were the only reason, Philadelphia and the nation’s left-wing movements would be having the same success. That’s where organization comes in.
The left-wing movement here has been lucky in the way they’ve gotten help from organizations like the PA WFP. “We write campaign plans, we train campaign managers,” said Clifford. “For Joe Hohenstein, I came in and ran the end of his race and worked with his campaign manager and his field director to help provide support in terms of campaign planning.”
This experience and helpful strategizing comes from people within these organizations who have been doing this for quite a long time. Clifford said she’s “probably worked on 50 campaigns.” These competent teams know how to organize, and that’s because this isn’t their first rodeo.
But while a good team helps the left-wing succeed, Clifford also attributes the success to finding strong candidates.
“The issue becomes when there are small ideological differences,” says Clifford when discussing the troubles the left has uniting. These differences are very critical when it comes to getting left-wing organizations to endorse a candidate.
Organizations are critical to progressive candidates as they can mobilize their grassroots network to raise the contender’s name recognition, something that usually hinders the left. That’s why the PA WFP finds candidates that can “bring together these groups,” said Clifford.
Councilmember Gym over email described how she was able to win by creating a “public education platform [that] brought together people who believe we had to change our city… from the ground up to counter regressive state and federal politics that were denying people progress.” That bringing people together was critical in Gym’s win, because the left wins when they coalesce as a whole.
These coalitions that are formed make challengers stronger as they go up against more established candidates. Clifford used the example of Kendra Brooks to explain how the party was able to build a coalition that got endorsements “from the [Democratic Socialists of America]… to the SEIU,” two groups that do not always see eye to eye.
The key to sustaining a left-wing movement Clifford believes is “fighting hard to keep everyone together to maintain the coalition.” Therefore, next time the left has to organize for a candidate, it will not be as hard or take as long to get set up and become unified.
While candidates are important, so are the policies they support. Some national left-wing commentators believe the way to start winning is to back off some issues or not be as vocally radical. District Attorney Krasner would not agree with that solution.
“When people ask me a question, I answer the damn question,” says Krasner when describing how he’s honest and straightforward in his stances. He continues by saying, “people who have knowledge in a field and speak from the heart about what they honestly believe have an advantage.”
Krasner is not alone in this thinking. Councilmember Gym believes it’s been through organizations taking stances on issues, like “public education, immigration, criminal justice reform,” said the Councilmember, that has allowed for a “municipal campaign to seize back control of [the] city.”
Clifford believes that backing down from certain policies is not the right path forward to victory either. “I would not tell candidates in Berks to message themselves as a socialist but that does not mean just because they are not putting that on their website they don’t believe in Medicare for All, or the green new deal… We’re very strict,” Clifford says when describing the WFP’s values and the policies of the candidates they support.
The PA WFP uses these policies to guide them in their mission: to build progressive power. They’ll do whatever it means to accomplish the goals they want. If that’s through a primary, they’ll do it. If that’s through putting their party line on a ballot, they’ll do it.
“The important thing to realize is, in contrast, to let’s say a third party spoiler candidate, we believe in actually winning elections and building long term progressive power, and making sure we can… pass laws and change people’s lives.” This may be a signal to the national movement that moderating their platform may not be necessary to eventually win.
In 2020, the PA WFP is looking to continue its success by re-electing Representatives Otten and Hohenstein.
They also have gotten involved in more democratic primaries this year, including against Daylin Leach, who is accused of sexual assault, in support of Amanda Cappelletti in the suburbs for the State Senate. And they are organizing against State Representative Mary Isaacson, who voted for the expansion of the E-Verify program, in support of challenger Andre Del Valle.
In preparing for the general election, the PA WFP team has been organizing to make sure “everyone in our power can vote by mail,” after a controversial election that took place in Wisconsin during the COVID-19 pandemic, Clifford said. They also look forward to working to flip the PA legislature blue, “and do it with actual good progressives.”
While the national movement dreams of success, Councilmember Gym is quick to remind that it was not easy creating the Philadelphia movement. “It took me decades to build up a body of work, to establish relationships, to learn how to win or lose.” It’s only within the last five years that the left has become successful here, but the organization to manifest that has been going on for years.
The District Attorney when discussing the failures of the left nationally says, “it’s apparent progressive politics aren’t there yet.” But what is apparent is progressive politics are here now. And while the left nationally discusses a new strategy, the Philadelphia movement can take their victories as a sign their strategy is working.
