What happens when billionaires try to buy an election?
Kali Sipp, Working Families Party
What happens when three right-wing billionaires put $7 million behind an out-of-touch candidate in a mayoral primary? They lose.
On Tuesday, Philadelphia's voters showed up to the polls and voted for Jim Kenney as the Democratic nominee for Mayor of Philadelphia. In a city as heavily Democratic as Philly, that's usually tantamount to victory.
His opponent, Anthony Hardy Williams, got $7 million from out-of-town corporate billionaires -- more than the war chest of all the other mayoral campaigns combined -- and still lost.
It was a hard fought battle, but we were behind Jim Kenney the whole way -- making calls, knocking on doors, and getting voters to the polls! We want to keep this winning streak going, but we can only do it with your help.
We just showed that it doesn't matter how much money you have: grassroots organizing beats corporate special interests hands down. Not only did we win the mayoral primary, we also helped elect 6 progressives to City Council!
According to the Huffington Post, "Philadelphia mayoral race stands out as one of the largest financial investments at the city level since the Supreme Court's 2010 Citizens United ruling opened the door for unlimited independent spending by corporations, unions and, ultimately, wealthy individuals."1
This is just the latest in a growing list of victories against big moneyed interests in 2015. Together, we elected state legislators solely on the Working Families line for the first time ever in New York and Connecticut. In Chicago we helped labor and community activists push the "unbeatable" Rahm Emanuel into the race of his political career -- all while expanding the city's progressive caucus and helping build United Working Families, a progressive powerhouse that will outlive Mayor 1%. And now, we've had a big win in Philly! Pretty good so far for an off year.
We can't stop here. We've had great success in these races, now we need to recruit and train hundreds of progressive candidates nationwide.
Thanks!
Kati Sipp
Executive Director, PA Working Families
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