By Dave C.- A Portland DSA Member

Socialists are the underdogs. We are constantly fighting on hostile terrain and in uphill battles. It’s easy to get lost in the play-by-play of each election, but our goal isn’t to win just a single match; it’s to take home the trophy. (That means one day wholly defeating capitalism and creating a society for the benefit of all people, not just the billionaires.) To do that, it’s the job of our socialists in office (SIOs) and our movement to construct and take advantage of moments where we can beat back the capitalist forces and their faux-gressive candidates.

Portland DSA and our SIOs helped create the conditions for Dr. Tammy Carpenter’s successful takedown of her Chamber of Commerce-backed opponent. Let’s look at some of the key pieces and events that helped shape this match-up and how we assembled the forces that could win a tough election.

Palestine Solidarity

Shortly after October 7th 2023, DSA member Rep. Farrah Chaichi became one of the first public officials in Oregon to condemn the genocide of Palestinians.  Rumors started to circulate that she would face a Zionist-friendly challenger.

In January, Portland DSA worked with Intel employees to speak out against the genocide and the ways Intel was supporting it. This resulted in a massive divestment of Intel from Israel later in the year which the BDS Movement organization called “the largest BDS victory ever.” Importantly it started to prove that support for Palestine wasn’t simply a cause for the lefty super-activists in Portland but rather something a lot of people in the suburbs also cared about. 

Rep. Chaichi’s opponent, a military drone salesman, suffered a brutal defeat in the May primary. Rep. Chaichi and all of the pro-Palestine incumbents won that spring, which was a crucial piece to proving that pro-Palestine people belong in Washington County leadership. Creating and defending this space for Pro-Palestine politics laid the groundwork for later actions.

Strike Solidarity

Massive strikes rolled through the Portland metro area. Portland DSA helped to shape the political nature of these strikes both through public solidarity and communications about the meaning and stake of the strikes that expanded public consciousness. 2023 saw a massive teachers’ strike in the fall. This nearly month-long strike galvanized public support and worked to shift the narrative from blaming public sector workers to focusing on the state providing more funding. Corporate actors tried desperately to quash this energy, but did not achieve their ends.

In January of 2025, workers across the state of Oregon went on strike against Providence. This strike was unparalleled in size and scale to anything Oregon had ever seen, and made waves nation-wide. Patients over Profits and Safe Staffing were key phrases that DSA helped to promote and foster. Our work to bolster class consciousness from strikes helped build an environment primed for pro-worker messaging and for the public to believe that wins were possible, a necessary foreground to both our 2024 electoral wins and creating the ground we would operate on in 2026. 

Socialists in Office

There is a deep credibility crisis for elected leaders. A deep cynicism is felt widely and deeply that any elected official will actually pursue change. Our DSA City Councilors have worked to buck this cynicism and socialists (and the broad community) have reaped the rewards. 

These socialists:

• Stood up for workers in union disputes not just with the city or already powerful unions but for forming ones as well like Starbucks Workers United, and New Seasons Labor Union;
• Pulled money away from an over-bloated police budget to public parks;
• Uncovered unspent funds for housing and made a plan to use them to fund Rent-Assistance, a first of its kind Social Housing Fund, and Eviction Defense;
• Banned AI Price Fixing;
• Launched a BDS Pledge and local divestment investigation; and
• Stood strong against billionaire giveaways for a sports stadium.

Even when their efforts didn’t yield a result, the public advocacy has been noticed. What people have learned in the Portland area is that when socialists say something they mean it, that socialists show up for the cause of working people across the city. This is a key part of the socialist difference. We are winning over people away from cynicism. For an electoral project to take hold, people must believe that a better world is possible and be willing to believe those who take up our banner to fight for it. Our Socialists in Office can help create fertile ground for others.

Preparing for 2026

In the run-up to our endorsements for 2026, Portland DSA became much more serious and engaged in expanding and protecting our public profile and identity. This meant extensive efforts went into cohering and promoting a socialist bloc at city hall, and seriously upgrading the focus of our public communications.

We also understood that chapter buy-in had to be built. Deep organic connections are required to have leaders and systems ready for a strong DSA-centric campaign. Farrah Chaichi’s campaign helped raise our profile in Washington County. The organizing of Justin and Karin S around school issues in the Beaverton School District along with the revival of the washington county branch (now referred to as Tualatin Valley branch) were important to cultivating our presence in the area.

Our chapter had developed a sense for both opportunity and danger after the May 2025 school board elections both struck hard. Tammy Carpenter, a DSA member and school board director on the Beaverton School Board had organized a pro-labor slate in the recent elections. Only one of the pro-labor candidates won. Zionists outraged by Tammy’s advocacy and emboldened by the election results worked to cook up an investigation into Tammy’s pro-palestine and anti-genocide social media presence. You can read more about this here.

The upshot Portland DSA united around Palestine and Tammy with a large rally helping to create chapter buy-in around Tammy’s campaign and build her presence and legitimacy further in the community.  This moment, though not final or definitive, was a serious point of preparation for Tammy’s endorsement later in the year. Also relevant Tammy’s ongoing and purposeful connection to the chapter throughout her time on the school board.

By the time we were ready to endorse, we already knew Tammy would be a bold voice for justice, for socialism and a credit to everyone who worked with her.

Tammy recruited DSA members to her Kitchen Cabinet and hired a DSA member as campaign manager. Tammy had both organic connections and a strong group of advisors to help her formulate her campaign, her platform and her connection to DSA. She was the first ever to seek and get a Cadre Endorsement from Portland DSA. Unlike any other campaign we were simply the whole shebang for a significant period.

This race was always going to be difficult. The establishment had a real favorite in city councilor Ashley Hartmeier-Prigg, a Chamber of Commerce darling, and one of the best faux-gressives out there. Ashley secured endorsements of nearly every democratic incumbent early and her kick-off party was a veritable directory of insiders and lobbyists. We knew we needed an incredible field game and a strong focus on differentiating ourselves from the squishy language of progressives. We needed a socialist champion. Dr. Tammy Carpenter stepped into the ring.

Playing Our Hand

DSA and Tammy together built such a strong field program with incredibly clear and bold messaging. We quickly garnered attention from potential endorsers as the most legitimate campaign with a connection to voters. Endorsers understood the campaign had DSA at the core. We kept strong messaging and democratic socialist ID throughout the campaign.  We knocked over 10,000 doors in the early part of our campaign eclipsing any other field effort in the state and racked up 35,000 over the course of the campaign. It was a struggle to get our coalition partners and even our media consultants to understand the importance of using the words democratic socialism. It’s clear that we would have benefited from a socialist media team, and that our constant and impressive field presence was crucial to showing that Democratic Socialism wasn’t a fringe word but a key part of running this winning campaign.

As the campaign progressed it became clear that a major local issue was shaping public sentiment: Data Centers. Socialists in office and candidates across the state were weighing in against and this naturally fit our basic mantra: Tax The Rich.

As reports of layoffs and funding deficits have rocked the public as well as many people’s personal lives, the idea of tax giveaways to Amazon and other large tech companies for data center building grew a substantial grass roots resistance. The only working champions of such ideas were the building trades whose members hoped to get work from the construction of those facilities. Dr. Tammy Carpenter helped to champion a local moratorium petition on data centers, and kept socialist messaging about who should pay for public goods at the center. KGW interviewed candidates opposing data centers and then mysteriously canceled airing it, this just served to make people even more interested in hearing what Dr. Tammy Carpenter had to say. (Read more about data centrism here)

As the race started to reach the end, our opponents made blunder after blunder, supporting deeply unpopular policies. Tammy’s opponent even sent out texts describing DSA as “too extreme” and fear mongering that we were going to take away peoples’ homes. The icing on the cake of this moment is that socialism was supposed to be the bogey man that our opponents wielded against working class candidates. It now appears to have had the opposite effect. The chamber of commerce used some sneaky polling that actually gave DSA credit for multiple other candidates running insurgent races. Whatever happens next it’s clear there is no excuse for hiding socialism in the closet, it’s actually a benefit to credibility and popularity to be a real out and loud socialist!

Preparing for our next Match

We are sitting in an incredible position in the Portland Metro area. Many of our incumbents are likely to win in their next personal match-ups, but when we are building a movement, it is insufficient to rest on the laurels of a few elected socialists. We must shape the ground for the next match-up where scrappy socialists can take on political machines by preparing people to fight for not just bread, but roses too. 

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Procedure Steps

1. The Chapter Member(s) wishing to make an expenditure request (hereafter referred to as the “Requestor”) fills out and submits the Milwaukee DSA Expenditure Request Form at least one (1) week in advance of any deadlines associated with the request.
2. The Chapter Finance Team and/or Chapter Treasurer (hereafter referred to as the “Reviewer”) reviews the request within one (1) week. The Reviewer then determines if the request meets the following:
   • Criteria:
     • If the request meets both these criteria, the next steps of this procedure are then performed. If the request fails to meet any of the above criteria, the Reviewer denies the request and informs the Requestor of the reason(s) for denial, after which this Procedure is complete and no further steps are necessary. 
     • It is qualified for consideration according to the Governing Documents of Milwaukee DSA
   • If the request meets both these criteria, the next steps of this procedure are then performed. If the request fails to meet any of the above criteria, the Reviewer denies the request and informs the Requestor of the reason(s) for denial, after which this Procedure is complete and no further steps are necessary. 
3. The Reviewer determines what body of the Chapter is required to approve or deny the request (hereafter referred to as the “Grantor”), and refers the request to the appropriate party.
4. The Reviewer contacts the Requestor to inform them of the date, time and location at which the Grantor will consider the request, and asks if the Requestor or another person is available at that date and time to explain and motivate the request to the Grantor.
5. The Grantor approves or denies the request at the next available opportunity, and informs the Requestor of their decision. 

Purpose

The Internal Communication and Moderation policy will ensure that chapter communication spaces remain welcoming, constructive, and aligned with the DSA’s Code of Conduct for members as well as Milwaukee DSAs Online Code of Conduct policy and Meeting and Events Code of Conduct.  By establishing consistent moderation practices and clear guidelines, this Policy will help facilitate productive discussion, reduce disruptive behavior, and protect the ability of members to organize effectively online. 

Community Standards

1. At all chapter meetings and events, members must adhere to the Policy: Meeting and Event Code of Conduct.
2. For all online communication, members must adhere to Policy: Online Code of Conduct. 
3. Members may appeal a moderation decision through the Procedure: Moderation Appeal Process. All thoughts and concerns regarding a moderation action may not be shared on public platforms. Any questions regarding a moderation appeal or action must be asked privately and directly to a moderator or HGO.

Platforms

1. Milwaukee DSA members may use the Discord server, moderated by the chapter (hereafter referred to as the chapter Discord) to communicate with other active members, to discuss among themselves as individuals, and to advocate for their own individual perspectives. With the exception of announcements from moderators or duly elected or appointed chapter officers, posts are understood to represent individual opinions, not official decisions or positions of the Milwaukee chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.
2. Signal should be used occasionally, concisely and for person to person, immediate communication. Signal may also be used in the event that said communications need to be encrypted.
3. The Milwaukee DSA Signal Chat has been terminated. There is no official Milwaukee DSA Signal Chat. 
4. The primary official method of outreach shall be through regular direct outreach to members and supporters at the contact information they have shared with DSA and Milwaukee DSA (e.g., email newsletters and occasional phone calls or texts). Chapter officers shall organize this outreach. Outreach using chapter contact lists shall be conducted using DSA resources to ensure members’ privacy. Scripts and emails shall be approved by duly elected or appointed chapter officers to ensure that they reflect the collective decisions of Milwaukee DSA.

Role Definitions

1. Moderators: members who moderate and monitor discussion in chapter chat servers
2. Harassment and Grievance Officers (HGOs): responsible for overseeing the investigation of Members accused of engaging in prohibited behavior according to the Harassment Policy (Resolution 33) of DSA. See chapter bylaws for more detail. 
3. Administrators: Maintain membership in the chapter chat server, adding in new members and channels plus removing members who are no longer in the chapter. Admin roles will be given to mkedsaoutreach@gmail.com and milwaukeedsa@gmail.com and be maintained by the Secretary, Outreach Officer and Communications Officer. More admins will be added on an as needed basis.

Role of Moderators

1. To remove, mute or ban any content or person that does not follow all applicable codes of conduct and policies 
2. To document all incidents in which the moderation team removed, muted, or banned content or persons
3. To seek advice from those on the moderation team for guidance on how to proceed with member infractions/removals
4. To cooperate with Chapter HGOs in the event of content needing to be retrieved for an HGO filing
5. To keep discussions and other chapter business on topic and concise
6. To receive feedback from members regarding content or user interactions, and clarify to members why the moderators modified their participation in the chapter server
7. Provide 48 hour notice to members who receive infractions or banning

Guidelines for Moderation Actions

1. This set of community guidelines follows a “three strikes you’re out” guideline for removing members from the chapter server. Once a member has acquired three or more infractions, they will be removed from the chapter server for a year or possibly more, depending on the severity.
   • Infraction #1
     • Member(s) will be notified by a moderator why the content they shared did not follow the Community Guidelines within 48 hours of the incident occurring
     • Member and Moderator will discuss and/or re-educate the member about how to interact with the chapter chat server in the future
   • Infraction #2
     • Member(s) will be notified by a moderator why the content they shared did not follow the Community Guidelines within 48 hours of the incident occurring.
     • Member will be banned from server ranging from a day to a week, depending on severity
     • Member and Moderator will discuss and/or re-educate the member about what they can do in the future
   • Infraction #3
     • Member(s) will be notified by a moderator why the content they shared did not follow the Community Guidelines within 48 hours of the incident occurring.
     • Member will be banned from server ranging from one  to indefinitely, depending on severity 
     • Member and Moderator will discuss and/or re-educate the member after the length of the ban time to determine if both parties are ready to bring the member back into the server.

2. Moderators will use their best discretion to enforce all applicable Community Standards (see section I.) and to maintain an orderly and safe place for all members to organize.  
3. At any point a member may discuss with the moderation team about why they received any moderation actions (deleted posts, account banned or muted)  against them. Questions regarding a moderation appeal or action must be asked privately and directly to a moderator or HGO. Members may appeal moderation actions through the Procedure: Moderation Appeal Process. 
4. In the event that a conversation is generally heated and may escalate, a moderator may temporarily put a channel or thread into “slow mode” to allow all parties time to cool down. Moderators should consult other moderators and/or HGO(s) if they chose to put a channel in “slow mode”  

Choosing moderators

1. Chapter Harassment and Grievance Officers (HGOs) will manage the moderation team under the purview of the Executive Committee; they will not personally moderate membership posts except in the case of inappropriate moderator behavior or when immediate emergency action is needed.
2. There must be at minimum 2 moderators (not including HGOs). The Executive Committee may appoint additional moderators as recommended by the moderation team. Appointed moderators will be subject to a confirmation vote by membership at a General Meeting.
3. Moderators must be members in good standing
4. A Moderator’s term shall be no longer than 1 year following their confirmation vote, unless reappointed by the Executive Committee. All moderators are subject to appointment or reappointment by the Executive Committee in June each year.