Far-left groups pivot from May Day protests to mobilize voters for 2026 midterms, pushing Dems leftward
Far-left nonprofits are pivoting from their May Day protests last week to mobilize voters for November's midterm elections and push Democrats further left, even criticizing party leaders for shunning their candidates.
In an hour-long webinar hosted Tuesday night by "May Day Strong," an organizing coalition for last week’s protests, speakers laid out an electoral plan to win key races in the 2026 midterm election and "the ballot box."
The far-left Working Families Party, which political experts say is exercising growing influence in electoral races throughout the country, was front-and-center in the presentation. The party was one of about 600 groups with collective revenues of $2 billion that organized an estimated 6,000 events last week for May Day, according to an investigation by Fox News Digital, with many organizations pushing talking points that were anti-American and pro-communist.
Fox News Digital has identified 730 races in 19 states where the Working Families Party is endorsing candidates for offices ranging from the U.S. Senate to the Wauwatosa School Board in Wisconsin and the post of Mecklenburg County Sheriff in North Carolina, according to the organization's publicly available data.
600 GROUPS WITH $2B IN REVENUE MOBILIZE 3,000 MAY DAY PROTESTS IN A 'RED-BLUE' ALLIANCE, PROBE FINDS
During the webinar on Tuesday, Maurice "Moe" Mitchell, national director at the Working Families Party, introduced himself by his political party and title and encouraged attendees to "help elect WFP champions across the country by joining upcoming phone banks and canvases."
"We're going to organize our communities and build working class power at the ballot box," he said,
Neither Working Families Party nor Mitchell responded to requests for comment.
The political refrain about the "ballot box" was repeated by other webinar participants, many of them representing nonprofit organizations with legal restrictions on the amount of political work they can do. Despite those guardrails, much of the call was devoted to electoral politics, voting rights, redistricting, canvassing, candidate support and preparation for the mid-term elections in November.
"We have such an overwhelming amount of support at the polls that this election cannot be stolen," said Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson, a self-described "movement strategist" who moderated the webinar on behalf of May Day Strong.
"We have to legislate, and we have to litigate, and we have to vote. But all of that has to matter because we are organizing them to an expansion of democracy," Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, said.
Jon Reid, a Republican podcast host who lost his race for lieutenant governor in Virginia to a Working Families-backed candidate last year, warned that Republicans and Democrats must face the threat from groups like the Working Families Party moving the country toward socialism, communism and Marxism.
MODERATE DEMS IN ALBANY SHIFT FURTHER LEFT AS MAMDANI PUSHES SOCIALIST AGENDA, ASSEMBLYMAN WARNS
"This is no longer some college student who is reading Karl Marx. There are organized groups – from the Working Families Party to the Democratic Socialists of America – that have clearly put together a plan to execute a takeover of America, city by city. We have to pay attention to them," Reid said.
"They are moving swiftly to try to galvanize the disgruntled," Reid said.
While the Working Families Party doesn’t explicitly identify as socialist, calling itself a "multiracial party of the working class," the organization promotes socialist beliefs, including free universal healthcare, higher minimum wages, free college and heavy criticism of "the rich" and capitalism. It also endorses openly socialist political candidates.
NYC VOTERS EMBRACE DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISM AS AOC, SANDERS STUMP FOR MAMDANI
In 2016, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, described the Working Families Party as the "closest thing there is to a political party that believes in my vision of democratic socialism."
The No. 1 state where the Working Families Party is endorsing candidates is in New York, where it endorsed Zohran Mamdani in his race for mayor last year and is endorsing 393 candidates this year, from Letitia James for attorney general to Brad Lander and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez for the U.S. House of Representatives.
New York state is followed by California, which has 89 endorsements and Oregon with 48. Completing the top five states, it has 38 endorsements in Wisconsin and 35 in Colorado. Pennsylvania ranks sixth with 30, and Georgia follows with 20. Other states with 10 or more endorsements include Maryland (13) and New Jersey (10). A large number of states have single-digit endorsements, with North Carolina and Texas both at nine, District of Columbia at eight, Washington at seven, Ohio and Delaware at six each and Michigan at five. Finally, Illinois, Kentucky, and Maine each have one endorsement.
SOCIALIST WAVE SPREADS COAST TO COAST AS PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS RALLY AROUND ZOHRAN MAMDANI'S NYC WIN
In July 2023, the Working Families Party issued a press release touting the "progressive champions" it helped elect, including Rep. Maxwell Frost, D-Florida, former Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, and Congressional Progressive Caucus Chairman Rep. Greg Casar, D-Texas, among others.
Mitchell took to Capitol Hill in late April, according to his Instagram account, where the Working Families Party held a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol, with Mitchell standing beside Frost, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wa., and Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Ariz.
While using the Democratic Party to advance its agenda, the Working Families Party is also openly battling in primary elections, pushing its large following to denounce candidates backed by the Democratic Party and stand with the Working Families Party’s further-left endorsements.
THE PLOT TO STOP MAMDANI: DEMOCRATS SCRAMBLE TO BLOCK FAR-LEFT TAKEOVER IN NEW YORK
"THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS TRYING TO TANK A WORKING FAMILIES PARTY CANDIDATE FOR CONGRESS WITH THE PRIMARY JUST THREE WEEKS AWAY," the Working Families Party posted to social media on Tuesday, regarding a race in California for the U.S. House of Representatives.
"Well folks, looks like the Democratic party establishment is back again with the shenanigans," the post said.
During the webinar, Mitchell encouraged attendees to take to the ballot box and engage in political activity.
DEM FUNDRAISING GIANT IN THE HOT SEAT AS GOP LAWMAKERS DEMAND ANSWERS OVER DODGED SUBPOENA
"We can rack up more wins in state after state and in Congress too, but we can't win any of that if we don't also defend our democracy," Mitchell told the audience.
Unlike 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) nonprofits, the Working Families Party operates as a political party and a political action committee, allowing it to donate directly to political candidates and make official endorsements.
Between Jan. 1, 2025, and March 31, 2025, the Working Families Party raised $12,586,461.21, according to Federal Election Commission records.
It also has a related 501(c)(4) nonprofit, Working Families Organization Inc., which is allowed to do limited amounts of political work. The 501(c)(4) had $54.3 million in revenues in 2024, according to its last tax filing. The network also has a sister 501(c)(3) nonprofit, with even more restrictions on political work: the Working Families Power Ballot Initiative Project Inc.
Rather than focusing on a specific cause like traditional nonprofits, the Working Families Party organizational structure gives it leeway to focus largely on political activities, campaigns, candidates and elections.
The Working Families Party collects donations through ActBlue, a controversial Democratic fundraising platform that the Justice Department is investigating for alleged improprieties. ActBlue has denied wrongdoing.
On the webinar, Mitchell rallied attendees to win at "the ballot box," saying, "May Day wasn't the end. It was not the end. This is just the beginning. We're getting started."