CPD Action Endorses Senator Bernie Sanders for President

75 Percent of Grassroots Network Votes to Endorse the Vermont Senator

NEW YORK -- Today, the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD) Action announced that its affiliate network would endorse Senator Bernie Sanders for President of the United States. The Vermont Senator received 75 percent of affiliate votes cast to determine the network’s first-ever endorsement in a presidential election.

The endorsement is the culmination of a four-month process that brought CPD Action’s network of community organizations led by and for Black and Brown people, working families, women, and immigrants into direct contact with a number of Democratic presidential candidates. Through video interviews, in-person dialogue, and analysis of the candidates’ policy platforms, the community organizations narrowed the field to Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Secretary Julian Castro in November. 

In the final voting period, each affiliate with a political arm had a chance to cast their votes. After a first ballot in which none of the three candidates received the 60 percent threshold necessary for an endorsement, affiliates voted on a second ballot between the top two vote-getters: Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren. Bernie Sanders received 75 percent of votes on this ballot. 

“Bernie Sanders is the powerful movement candidate we need to defeat Donald Trump. From ending mass incarceration and deportations to the $15 minimum wage and Medicare for All, Sanders is working hand-in-hand with our communities to champion the policies that we need to thrive,” said Jennifer Epps-Addison, Co-Executive Director and Network President of CPD Action. “Senator Sanders is committed to bringing all of our communities to the center so that we can hold power together and transform America into a country where we can all live with dignity.” 

The organization’s network includes grassroots mobilization groups in the battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. In the primary, CPD Action has plans to direct field, fundraising and organizing capacity to these key states and others through independent expenditure, with the goal of catalyzing turnout. 

“The dignity and safety of immigrant communities, communities of color and working-class people are on the ballot in 2020. In endorsing Senator Bernie Sanders, our network has chosen a champion for people who have been historically forced to the margins,” said Ana Maria Archila, Co-Executive Director of CPD Action. “From the beginning of his career in politics, Bernie Sanders recognized that our democracy works best when politics moves beyond candidates and elections and into movement building. We are excited to work alongside him to build a more just country by making democracy come alive with our activism and votes.” 

CPD Action has made a name for itself in progressive advocacy. In its federal platform, CPD Action articulates its vision of dismantling structural inequality. The multi-issue, multi-racial network has advanced campaigns on Medicare for All, repealing the 1994 Crime Bill, passing tenant protections and ensuring a fair workweek for retail and fast-food workers. Its network has been behind corporate campaigns to pressure Amazon to relocate its second headquarters from Long Island City, Queens, halt banks from financing private prison companies, and compel private equity to create a hardship fund for laid-off Toys R Us workers. 

CPD Action made its first endorsements during the 2018 midterm elections. During that cycle, the network knocked five million doors, which contributed to wins in 25 congressional races and eight gubernatorial races, gains in 110 state legislative seats, and six victorious statewide ballot initiatives. 

###

Media Contact: Lia Weintraub, lweintraub@populardemocracy.org