When Brian Poindexter made his first fundraising calls in his campaign for Congress (OH-7), he phoned a fellow ironworker and asked for fifty dollars. His buddy said he couldn’t help, since he’d been laid off. It’s hard to imagine Poindexter’s opponent, Republican Congressman Max Miller, having a conversation like that — Miller, an heir to one of Cleveland’s wealthiest families, has millions at his disposal.

That contrast is the whole idea behind the Blue Collar Brigade, the joint fundraising alliance Poindexter launched this summer with four other working-class Democrats running for Congress. They pooled their money because none of them had access to the wealthy donor networks traditional candidates rely on. They are betting that a firefighter (Bob Brooks, PA-7), a flight attendant (Kaela Berg, MN-2), a smokejumper (Sam Forstag, MT-1), an ironworker (Brian Poindexter, OH-7), and a son of Central Valley California farmworkers (Randy Villegas, CA-22) are Democrats’ best shot at winning back critically important, working-class-heavy swing districts.

The Brigade’s gamble on working-class, economic-populist candidates is a smart one. Our research at the Center for Working-Class Politics has shown again and again that non-elite candidates are a genuine asset with working-class voters, and that an upper-class background is a serious liability. In turn, we’ve consistently found that running on a populist platform that puts working people at the center of America’s story and calling out economic elites and corrupt Washington politicians (ideally from both parties) is a winning formula.