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Rick Rouan The Columbus Dispatch @RickRouan

A faction of local Democrats trying to unseat sitting party members on the Columbus City Council and school board are getting a national reinforcement.

The Working Families Party started about 20 years ago in New York but has expanded nationally, framing itself as the Lefts answer to the Tea Party movement in the GOP. Its deepest ties are in New York, where the group has taken credit for the election of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and it has helped seat dozens of candidates.

Now it has adopted the local Yes We Can movement as its local branch.

Its unclear how much influence the group will have in the upcoming primary election, but it already is providing back-end support for Yes We Can and has hired a staff member in Columbus to work with local affiliates around the country.

Part of that support has been in identifying the most likely voters to turn out in the May primary, where the nonpartisan city-council race will narrow from 11 candidates, including one write-in, to six, and the race for school board will be whittled from eight to six. The remaining six in both races will move on to the general election for three seats in November.

It also will give Yes We Can access to a fundraising infrastructure that it hasnt previously had.

Working Families Partys national political action committee raised about $121,500 last year, according to filings with the Federal Elections Commission, and finished 2016 with about $108,000 in its coffers. That PAC registered with the Ohio Secretary of State in January.

Yes We Can finished 2016 with less than $700 in its campaign account.

Spokesman Joe Dinkin said the organization likely will help Yes We Can identify donors and solicit their contributions. It is less likely to directly contribute, he said.

We will never compete on a financial even footing with people who are tied into powerful special interests and well-funded corporations and developers, he said. We think the most important formula for winning a race like that is enthusiasm.

Franklin County Democratic Party Chairman Mike Sexton said the affiliation wont change how the party runs its campaigns. The party has endorsed the three incumbents in both the council and school board races.

Were just going to keep moving forward, he said. Were just going to keep moving forward in promoting our candidates and doing what we need to do to win the primary.

Yes We Can and Working Families say they share the same goals: from getting money out of politics, to strengthening and improving local schools.

In a document describing the relationship, Working Families says it will seek out, recruit and back Working Families Democrats who will advance our values and challenge corporate Democrats in primaries.

Joining WFP means we're part of a bigger movement of progressives all around the nation who are ready to take the electoral process into our own hands and transform the nation, city by city, town by town, so that our economy and our democracy really work for all working families, said Madeline Stocker, Yes We Can spokeswoman.

rrouan@dispatch.com

@RickRouan

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