Thread by @danielmarans

New: Elizabeth Warren won the Working Families Party's endorsement thanks to aggressive outreach, the perception that she is more strongly committed to racial and gender equity than Bernie Sanders, and the view that she has broader national appeal. huffpost.com/entry/how-eliz…

An original bit of information: Sanders did not join a video conference call available to candidates to pitch WFP delegates directly. Warren -- and Castro -- did. Some WFP leaders saw it as part of a pattern of her putting in work to court and build relationships with allies.

“This is the thing about Warren, you see it in her selfie lines: She’ll put in all of the work to try and connect with a voter, to try and secure an endorsement ... and to make her case," @jwestin2

@jwestin2 That was on top of Warren endorsing Kendra Brooks, one of two WFP candidates for Philly city council seats.

Sanders could have one-upped her by endorsing Brooks *and* Nicolas O'Rourke, the other WFP contender. He endorsed neither.

@jwestin2 Sanders has put in a lot of work to diversify his team and his message -- to show he cares about racial and gender inequity on their own terms. I've covered it: huffpost.com/entry/bernie-s…

To some WFP leaders I spoke to, Warren still shines brighter on those fronts.

@jwestin2 Others just think Sanders isn't having as much success outside his left-wing base -- and that that's a problem for his future prospects.

@jwestin2 Sanders supporters have adamantly pointed to his higher polling numbers among working-class voters and voters of color.

WFP leaders backing Warren say it's a matter of time before her support among these groups grow.

@jwestin2 For those interested, I have summarized critiques of the @WorkingFamilies endorsement process and the pushback they offer.

Again, they note that the leaders -- ie, national committee delegates -- had 87.5% of the vote in the 2016 endorsement process, compared with 50% this time

@jwestin2 @WorkingFamilies WFP didn't give me totals of votes showing the breakdown of delegates vs. rank-and-file members and activists. They said doing so would suggest there are differences between one type of the vote and another; they did it in '16 as a show of force for Sanders amid internal dissent.

@jwestin2 @WorkingFamilies The bigger theme at play here: The Working Families Party, which has worked closely with DSA in NYC, is not socialist. It's also part of a broader cohort of pre-2016 progressive activists whose identities are less tied to Bernie and his vision.

@jwestin2 @WorkingFamilies Bernie "got thousands of people involved in American politics at the rank-and-file level ... and that movement has begun to reshape U.S. politics. Those folks do feel betrayed that the power and potential of that movement is not recognized by some people in WFP," @MichaelKinnucan

@jwestin2 @WorkingFamilies @MichaelKinnucan From the cutting room floor: There was some scuttlebutt early on that even allowing Harris to sit for an interview with WFP was a move to bolster Warren (since she'd pick up Harris 1st-choicers in ranked-choice voting).

Well, WFP booted Harris when she wouldn't do an interview.