Lopes Nominated by Working Families Party

State Representative Rick Lopes (D-24) has received the nomination of the Working Families Party for State Senate in the upcoming special election.

The Working Families Party’s announcement of their nomination of Lopes comes only days after the Democratic Party nominated him at their convention on January 19th.

Lopes will now be the candidate of the Democratic Party and the Working Families Party, placing him on the ballot on both parties’ lines in the February 26, 2019 special election.

Republican Gennaro Bizzarro has also said that he is running for the State Senate seat that is open after State Senator Terry Gerratana (D-6) was appointed as a senior health care policy advisor in the administration of Gov. Ned Lamont (D-CT).

“The Working Families Party is happy to endorse Rick Lopes,” said Working Families Party State Director, Lindsay Farrell, “a candidate with a proven record rolling up his sleeves to get things done for Connecticut’s working people.”

The Connecticut Working Families Party says that it, “is a grassroots political organization that fights for economic and racial justice.”

“We see 2019 as a big opportunity to pass long-sought legislation like a $15 minimum wage, Paid Family & Medical Leave, and an end to Trump’s deportation pipeline in our state,” Farrell said, “and we are confident Rick will be a supportive voice in what could be a historic year for the Connecticut State Senate.”

“I am honored to accept the endorsement of the Working Families Party,” Lopes said. “Since my start as a community organizer working to improve my neighborhood in the 90s, my values have always aligned strongly with the interests of Connecticut’s working people.”

“In the legislature,” Lopes continued, “I’ve been proud to fight with them for common-sense reforms, like increasing the minimum wage and implementing a public Paid Family & Medical Leave program for all our families. This year, I believe we can get a lot of big things done.”

In nominating Lopes, the Working Families Party cited his work in the past, including, “helping establish Connecticut’s first Neighborhood Revitalization Zone (NRZ) in the Broad Street neighborhood to offering employment support for adults with mental illness,” and his votes in the legislature for, “increasing the minimum wage, legalizing medical marijuana, and ensuring driver’s license rights for our undocumented communities.”

The Working Families Party says that its nomination, “comes with strategic campaign support and candidate training.”

“Recent polling affirmed that Working Families’ members vote for candidates who fight for economic justice, tax fairness, living wages, and workers’ rights,” the Working Families Party said. “They also want affordable healthcare, strong public education, and immigration reform.”

When one party nominates a candidate of another party, as in the case of Lopes, a Democrat, being nominated by the Working Families Party, it is referred to as a “cross-endorsement.”

In 2018, the Working Family Party cross-endorsed Lamont, Congresswoman Jahana Hayes (D-5), Gerratana, Rep. Bobby Sanchez (D-25), Rep. Peter Tercyak (D-26), as well as Lopes in his run for re-election to the State House of Representatives.

“All candidates are carefully vetted to ensure that they reflect the views and goals of Working Families’ members,” the Working Families Party says.

The Working Families Party describes itself as, “training and electing the next generation of progressive leaders to office, and fighting for and winning public policies that make a difference in the lives of working people, from raising the minimum wage to increasing funding for public education, to combating climate change, to reforming policing practices and diminishing the influence of big money in politics.”