Forget the Lincoln Project. Biden Owes His Victory to the Multiracial Working Class.
By Alan Minsky, Executive Director – Progressive Democrats of America
Friday, November 6th, 2020
For Immediate Release
PRESS CONTACTS:
Jonah Furman, Coordinator, United Against Trump, jonahfurman@gmail.com, 847-903-2376;
Natalia Salgado, Political Director, CPD Action, nsalgado@populardemocracy.org;
Johanna Kichton, People’s Action, j.kichton@peoplesaction.org, 240-206-1145
Philadelphia, PA–In the final days of the 2020 election, an unprecedented multiracial working-class movement filled the gaps left by the Democratic Party and delivered Joe Biden a mandate for bold political change.
The Trump presidency was a disaster for working people, so working people, young people, and people of color fought back. Voters with an annual family income under $50,000 voted against Trump by a 15 point margin. Voters under the age of 29 rejected him by a 27 point margin. And voters of color broke for Biden by a 46 point margin. Not only did they vote against Trump, they organized during a pandemic to eject him from the White House. Latinx-led organizations hit the doors in Phoenix and made tens of millions of phone calls in Pennsylvania. Progressive youth-led organizations turned out students in massive numbers. In Phoenix, hundreds of laid off union members knocked thousands of doors, joined by allies from across the country. In Kenosha, African American organizers turned protest power into electoral power, mobilizing the Black vote to defeat Trump.
“After the shooting of Jacob Blake, everyday Kenoshans–Black, white, and brown–were the ones who mobilized to demand racial justice and turn out voters to defeat Trump,” said Tanya McLean, a friend of the Blake family and the director of Leaders of Kenosha. “Biden owes his victory in Wisconsin not to high-powered lobbyists and corporate Democrats, but to working people in Kenosha and across the state. And once in office, we expect him to commit to a bold agenda of racial and economic justice for our community and beyond.”
“In the midst of unprecedented national crises–from COVID, to climate, to police violence–Joe Biden has a critical window to deliver for working people,” said Daniel Sherrell, Campaign Director for VoteTrumpOut.org. “That means stepping up and passing pandemic relief, the BREATHE Act, a Green New Deal, and much more. We have to remember that Trump was a symptom of a broken and unequal system. If Biden doesn’t take ambitious steps to level the playing field, then the next Trump will be even more dangerous than the one we just defeated.”
“Those calling for a return to “normalcy”–the Lincoln Project, the Never Trumpers–are the same people who built the Republican Party that Trump easily took over,” said Natalia Salgado, Political Director of CPD Action. “And when you’re trying to rebuild the country after four years of racism, greed, and corruption, you probably shouldn’t take your cues from the DC consultants whose biggest accomplishment has been playing a small role in helping to undo the mess they created. It’s time for Joe Biden to listen to everyday working people. We represent the heart, and the future, of the Democratic Party.”
###
United Against Trump is a unity campaign to reach millions of people in the multi-racial working class: Black, Indigenous, people of color voters, young people, and white working people to defeat Donald Trump, and move a transformational agenda in 2021. It consists of People’s Action, CPD Action, Make the Road Action, RootsAction, United We Dream Action PAC, Working Families Party, Seed the Vote, Sunrise Movement, Student Action, Progressive Democrats of America, Our Revolution, Generation Rising, and more.
I don’t believe you should discount any and all help that got Biden elected, ie. Lincoln Project. They spent millions in advertising, were and are a voice on Tweeter which DID help to alert voters to Trump’s failures. I was a Repub and changed when they attacked Bill Clinton. I was Dem until Trump was elected. Hillary Clinton offended me with her lack of security issues but I voted Democratic. Now I am NPA and looking for a third party. This PDA platform fits me except it is part of the Dem Party. Just saying.
I appreciate Barbara Thomas’ comment and think we all need to pay attention to framing the complexity of the US and what’s happening right now too simplistically. And I also think we need to be very careful about framing Trump as a fluke – he is absolutely a product of a warped system that has valued capital over all else. And issues of racism, greed, corruption has been a part of the US political system for a long time. The Trump presidency has revealed that in a dramatic way. How do we make the Biden administration accountable to those who don’t want to go back to how it was? How do we talk to those who see Trump as a harbinger of possibilities?