FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Democratic Socialists of America
November 6, 2019
Contact: Lawrence Dreyfuss, 212-727-8610, [email protected]

Across the US, Democratic Socialists of America are again in the spotlight as more Socialists won elected offices in 10 states across the country. Thousands of voters in rural communities, suburbs, and cities showed up to show that policies that benefit the working class win elections.

“Today it’s city council races, tomorrow it’s the White House” said DSA nationally elected National Political Committee member Abdullah Younus. “Today was a test of the strength of our grassroots movement as we head into 2020. From Philadelphia to San Francisco, the wealthiest people in the United States poured money into races to try to maintain the billionaire class. In response, the DSA has once again sent the message that people power triumphs over the rich.” In City Councils like Boulder, CO and Knoxville, TN, where the DSA already has one member in office, our influence is only growing, electing Junie Joseph and Amelia Parker to Council seats, respectively.

This new group of socialists in office is just part of rising working class action across the nation in recent months. Many union members – from UAW to Chicago teachers – have gone on strike to win change. “People are waking up to the inequality rampant in the policies of their elected officials and are tired of equivocating between the interests of the rich and the interests of us all” continued Younus. In Philadelphia, a coalition of progessive organizations led to an historic win with Kendra Brooks of the Working Families Party taking a city council seat away from Republicans. In Virginia, voters elected Charlottesville DSA co-founder Michael Payne to City Council, a bold rejection of the lazy appeals to scare-mongering about the spectre of working class politics.

People across the country are waking up to the realization that politics aren’t defined by a party line, but by the wealthy elite who seek to sow division among our myriad identities – and that with class solidarity we can unite to resist it. A Green New Deal, Medicare For All, Education For All – these aren’t just platform policies, they are tools working people can use to make a better world for the many, not just the few

###

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) has 55,000 members and 250 local groups (as of November 2019) building working class power while establishing an openly democratic socialist presence in United States’ communities and politics.