Longtime Buffalo Resident and Founding Executive Director of the Fruit Belt Community Land Trust Gains First National Endorsement
Contact: Johanna Kichton, 202.660.0605, [email protected]
WASHINGTON, D.C.–People’s Action today joined its member organization, Our City Action Buffalo, to officially endorse India Walton in her bid for mayor of the City of Buffalo. Walton is running a movement politics, people-powered campaign and will fight for the People’s Action People’s Platform once elected. Walton spoke last night during People’s Action’s livestream to Reimagine Safety Up and Down the Ballot, and is a Homes Guarantee champion who pledged to reject developer and real estate contributions.
“As we emerge from the pandemic’s grasp, we have a critical opportunity to build a democracy that works for everyone and centers the multracial working class,” People’s Action Movement Politics Director Ryan Greenwood said. “We trust no one more than India Walton to lead us there. She will transform the conditions in Buffalo so that everyone is cared for and protected.”
“For progress, for community care, for a future that is for us and with us, that is why Our City Action Buffalo wholeheartedly endorses India Walton in her campaign to be the next mayor of the City of Buffalo,” Our City Action Buffalo Board President Maria Ta said. “India is so much more than a political candidate. To many of us she is a neighbor, a mother, a sis, a comrade, and a friend. I have watched in awe at the courage and tenacity that India brings to each and every space I am able to share with her. She will fight for us and she will care for us. It has been too long and for some of us there has never been a time where we have been able to say that about the mayor of our city.”
“I am running to be mayor because I have the courage to care,” Candidate for mayor of the City of Buffalo India Walton said. “The courage to prioritize people over profit. To provide resources rather than punishment and bring true accountability and transparency to our city government. The endorsement means that movement politics in Buffalo is now supported by the power of People’s Action.”
ABOUT THE CANDIDATE:
Born and raised on Buffalo’s East Side as one of six children, India became a full-time working mother at the age of just 14. She earned her GED while pregnant with twins who were born prematurely, an experience that inspired her to become a nurse in the same NICU where her boys’ lives were saved. As a healthcare worker, India became a representative in the 1199 SEIU union, standing up for both workers and patients from picket lines in Buffalo to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, where she was invited to speak at a national women’s rights rally in 2014. Continuing to serve as a nurse in Buffalo Public Schools, India witnessed the health disparities among our most vulnerable citizens and became determined to change the systems that cause these injustices. India’s commitment to systemic change called her to become a community organizer for Open Buffalo, establishing herself as a thought leader on a wide range of issues including criminal justice reform and fair housing. Her work on the latter led her to be named the founding executive director of the Fruit Belt Community Land Trust, for which she worked with longtime residents to develop permanently affordable housing.
People’s Action’s Movement Politics program recruits, runs, and elects progressives into local and statewide offices across the country. Since 2016, People’s Action has helped elect over 380 movement politics candidates. The program focuses on electing women, people of color, and low-income people who are grounded in progressive movement building with our member organizations.
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People’s Action is a national network of 40 state and local grassroots, power-building organizations in 30 states, united in fighting for justice. We operate the largest progressive rural organizing project in the country. People’s Action and its member organizations coordinated one of the biggest distributed organizing programs in rural areas this election season.