The Connecticut Working Families Party announced Monday the cross-endorsements of 90 Democrats and no Republicans for seats in the General Assembly and Congress, a step that gives the candidates a place on two ballot lines this fall.
In addition, the party also endorsed two candidates for state representative who only will be appear on the WFP line: Aldon Hynes in the 114th House District, a seat held by House Minority Leader Themis Klarides, R-Derby; and Anna Duleep in the 142nd House District, a seat held by Rep. Fred Wilms, R-Norwalk.
The Working Families Party is a labor-funded organization founded primarily to keep pressure on Democrats to back an agenda that includes a progressive tax structure, paid sick days, paid family medical leave, retirement security legislation and a $15 minimum wage.
In rare instances, it has cross-endorsed Republicans.
The party this year backed a liberal Democrat trying to unseat House Speaker J. Brendan Sharkey, D-Hamden. Ultimately, Sharkey did not seek re-election rather than run in a primary. The WFP candidate, Joshua Elliott, won a primary for the seat, defeating a party-endorsed candidate.
The full list of WFP endorsements is available here. They include 87 candidates for General Assembly, plus U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and four of the five U.S. House members. Only Jim Himes of the 4th District, who did not seeking the AFL-CIO endorsement this year, was excluded.
The conservative Independent Party has emerged in recent years as a counter-weight to the WFP, offering its own cross-endorsements to Republicans.