The Working Families Party is gearing up to have a banner year in the 2026 midterms at a time when political trends show the Republican Party led by President Donald Trump heading for a major loss.
The party, which is now active in 18 states, is preparing to “ramp up its involvement in primary elections, supporting candidates that emphasize working-class politics and seek to disrupt the political status quo,” according to a Monday report in the Guardian.
The Working Families Party (WFP) had a number of victories in 2025, highlighted by its election of democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City.
Maurice Mitchell, national director of the WFP, told the Guardian that he thinks now is the right time for a populist progressive insurgency given that both Democrats’ and Republicans’ brands are underwater with US voters.
“Less and less people are identifying as being a Democrat or Republican,” he said. “I don’t think there’s been a better and more right time for a third party to emerge in this country that speaks to the interest of everyday working people. I believe that our time has come.”
Although the WFP has traditionally worked within the confines of Democratic Party primary politics, the party this year elected some candidates in the New Jersey General Assembly that lacked backing from state Democratic Party bigwigs.
“This is really the first time that there’s been Working Families candidates that ran outside of the Democratic Party structure, and so we’re building what that future looks like and what it means,” Katie Brennan, a New Jersey assemblywoman-elect endorsed by the WFP who won without official Democratic Party backing, told the Guardian. “They’ve grown and have been making progress year in and year out, and this next year will be big for us. Now we’re in the statehouse, and what does that mean? I think it’ll continue to bring attention to the Working Families party."
One issue that the WFP hopes will propel its candidates to victory in 2026 is the nationwide backlash to artificial intelligence data centers.
In an announcement made earlier this month, the WFP said it is recruiting candidates to run against building AI data centers, which have been blamed for spiking utility bills and draining water resources, in their local communities.
“Billionaires are getting richer from data centers, while working people see their electricity and water bills go through the roof,” said Ravi Mangla, national press secretary for the WFP. "Fortunately, regular people are joining with their neighbors to push back against these big tech takeovers. We’re inviting local leaders who are fighting back to consider running for the seats where decisions about data centers are being made.”
Another reason the party may sense an opportunity is that the Trump-led GOP appears headed for brutal elections in 2026.
Polling expert G. Elliot Morris published an analysis on Monday showing that Trump’s current net approval rating of -16 percentage points will likely translate into a “landslide electoral defeat” for Republicans next year.
Morris added that Trump’s approval on the issue of inflation was “downright catastrophic,” and noted that the president has been bleeding support even in states that voted for him by decisive margins last year.
“Trump’s approval rating is not just underwater because of Democratic resistance,” he observed. “Lots of independents and Republicans disapprove of how he’s running the country, too. In fact, the decline from Trump’s vote margin in 2024 is steeper in redder parts of the country.”
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