Meet the Working Class Party Candidates

Oct 1, 2018

The Working Class Party held a “meet-and-greet” the candidates event in Detroit on September 23, with an enthusiastic audience.

In 2016, the Working Class Party had only two candidates for Congress, this time it has five, covering large parts of four counties in the Metro Detroit area, as well as the Flint-Saginaw-Bay City area. They are:

Kathy Goodwin—for the 5th Congressional District, covering Arenac, Bay, Genesee and Iosco counties, and parts of Saginaw and Tuscola counties.

Andrea Kirby—for the 9th Congressional District, covering parts of Macomb and Oakland counties.

Gary Walkowicz—for the 12th Congressional District, covering parts of Wayne and Washtenaw counties.

Sam Johnson—for the 13th Congressional District, part of Wayne County.

Philip Kolody—for the 14th Congressional District, parts of Wayne and Oakland counties.

In 2016, the Working Class Party had no candidates for State Senate. This time it has four, three in the Detroit Metro area, and one in the far western part of the state, Grand Rapids. They are:

Hali McEachern—for the 3rd District, Michigan State Senate, in part of Detroit, plus Dearborn and Melvindale.

Larry Betts—for the 5th District, Michigan State Senate, in Redford Township, part of Detroit, Dearborn Heights, Garden City, Inkster.

Thomas Repasky—for the 18th District, Michigan State Senate, Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor and Saline.

Louis Palus—for the 29th District, Michigan State Senate, part of Grand Rapids and nearby villages, townships and unincorporated areas.

In 2016, the Working Class Party had only one candidate for State Board of Education. This time it has two. They are:

Mary Anne Hering, a teacher, and Logan R. Smith, who just graduated from the Detroit public schools. Who better to speak about the problems of the schools than someone who works in them and someone who tried to study in them?

Gary Walkowicz opened the meeting with a speech reinforcing the political lines of the campaign, which is that the wealth working people create through their labor has been stolen from us, and that the working class could take it back, use it to create jobs, raise wages and provide services needed. (Gary’s speech is on these pages.)

Mary Anne Hering encouraged everyone to use the next month to talk to everyone they know and ask them to talk to everyone they know. It was this kind of network that got the Working Class Party its votes in 2016—nearly a quarter of a million—and it is what will get the votes in 2018, but this time for 11 candidates, instead of three.

Finally, Sam Johnson concluded the meeting, by challenging the new generations to “get the bigger picture and come on.... If we bring our forces together, we can have a better life, we can run the country for what we need.” (All of Sam’s speech will be reproduced in the next issue.)