The People's Party (formerly the Movement for a People's Party) is a self-described progressive political organization in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

aimed at "forming a major new political party free of corporate money and influence." Nick Brana formed the party after the 2016 presidential election as "Draft Bernie for a People's Party." Bernie Sanders declined to be the People's Party's figurehead, instead seeking the presidential nomination in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries. In the 2024 United States presidential election, the party will have ballot access in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

History

In 2017, Nick Brana founded the Movement for a People's Party (MPP) out of the "Draft Bernie for a People's Party" group, which had failed to gain Sanders's support. Brana had worked on Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign as the National Political Outreach Coordinator. In September 2017, the group gave an invitation with 50,000 signatures to Sanders to lead the creation of the People's Party, which Sanders ignored. In August 2020, the organization held a virtual People's Convention that was viewed by 400,000 people on various platforms. Speakers included former Democratic Party

2020 presidential election This national electoral calendar for 2020 lists the national/federal elections held in 2020 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *5 January: **C ...

candidate

Marianne Williamson Marianne Deborah Williamson (born July 8, 1952) is an American author, spiritual leader, and political activist. She has written 14 books, including four ''New York Times'' number one bestsellers in the "Advice, How To, and Miscellaneous" cate ...

, former

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

professor and philosopher

Cornel West Cornel Ronald West (born June 2, 1953) is an American philosopher, political activist, social critic, actor, and public intellectual. The grandson of a Baptist minister, West focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in American society an ...

, Sanders 2020 co-chair

Nina Turner Nina Hudson Turner ( Hudson; born December 7, 1967) is an American politician. A member of the Democratic Party, she was a Cleveland City Council member from 2006 to 2008 and a member of the Ohio Senate from 2008 until 2014. Turner was the Demo ...

, former Minnesota governor

Jesse Ventura Jesse Ventura (born James George Janos; July 15, 1951) is an American politician, actor, and retired professional wrestler. After achieving fame in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), he served as the 38th governor of Minnesota from 1999 to 2 ...

, comedian/political commentator/satirist Jimmy Dore, journalist Chris Hedges and podcaster Ryan Knight. The convention's purpose was to "vote on forming a major new political party free of corporate money and influence," a measure that was approved by 99% of those viewing the convention online. While many speakers expressed distaste for the candidates in the 2020 presidential election, the party did not contest the election. Brana said that their goal was "to form a party beginning in 2021, to run in the midterms in 2022 and, perhaps, to run a presidential candidate in 2024." In December 2020, the first People's Party state organization was registered in

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

. According to Michael Sylvester, the party will focus on pushing congressional officials into supporting a floor vote for

Medicare for All Single-payer healthcare is a type of universal healthcare in which the costs of essential healthcare for all residents are covered by a single public system (hence "single-payer"). Single-payer systems may contract for healthcare services from ...

. In September 2021, the People's Party gained ballot access in Florida, the first state where it has done so. In February 2022, Brana was accused of sexual harassment by Zana Day, former MPP executive director, which was corroborated by coworker

Paula Jean Swearengin Paula Jean Swearengin (born June 13, 1974) is an American activist and politician who was the Democratic nominee in the 2020 U.S. Senate election in West Virginia, and a candidate in the Democratic primary for the state's other Senate seat in 2 ...

. Brana denied these claims, calling them "false and politically motivated," and accused other MPP board members of a "liberal takeover attempt." As a result, he forced out several MPP board members. Before the

2022 United States midterm elections The 2022 United States elections were held on November 8, 2022, with the exception of absentee balloting. During this U.S. midterm election, which occurred during the first term of incumbent president Joe Biden of the Democratic Party (United S ...

, the People's Party announced that it was "aiming to run a dozen or more federal races, including a seat or two in the U.S. Senate." The party never announced any candidates for the 2022 elections. On June 5, 2023,

announced his candidacy for

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

with the People's Party, becoming the first person to run for office under the People's Party banner. Given the group's leadership controversies, its lack of a track record and essentially no nationwide ballot access for a serious presidential campaign, West was quickly challenged and criticized for associating himself with the group. Some progressives called for West to work instead with the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

, which has run presidential candidates for decades. At the same time, some Democrats feared that, without ranked-choice voting, a third-party candidate might be a "

spoiler Spoiler is a security vulnerability on modern computer central processing units that use speculative execution. It exploits side-effects of speculative execution to improve the efficiency of Rowhammer and other related memory and cache attacks. Ac ...

", diverting

swing state In American politics, the term swing state (also known as battleground state or purple state) refers to any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican candidate in a statewide election, most often referring to pres ...

votes from the presumptive front-runner, Joe Biden, in favor of the 2024 Republican nominee. On June 14, West announced that he was instead seeking the endorsement of the Green Party.

Ballot access

* Florida

Notes

References

External links

* *
People's Party
on Ballotpedia {{United States political parties 2017 establishments in the United States Aftermath of the 2016 United States presidential election Political parties established in 2017 Left-wing parties in the United States Progressive parties in the United States Socialist parties in the United States

History

Ballot access

See also

Notes

References

External links