This opinion piece is part of an ongoing debate in Maine DSA about candidates in 2026. Pine and Roses welcomes contributions. 

***

A funny thing happened on the way to Graham Platner’s political funeral. Platner took responsibility for his past views, issued a heartfelt apology for harm done, and explained that he had changed his mind. As he put it to a crowd of 500 in Ogunquit, “I am not proud of what I said, but I am proud of what I am today.” Maine AFL-CIO communications director Andy O’Brien read all 750 pages of Platner’s old threads and concluded, “I won’t give up Graham. I believe in him, the policies he is championing and his values. There is no one else in the race who comes close.” As for the tattoogate, Platner plausibly explained that he didn’t know the skull was linked to the SS when he got it and had it inked over, taking his shirt off on local TV to prove it. He made the same points to 1200 people on a campaign conference call on Sunday. 

I spoke to Platner for fifteen minutes over the weekend in a small huddle of union folks, so I don’t have any special insight into his soul. However, I think Occum’s Razor applies here. That is, what’s the most obvious way to explain the skeletons in Platner’s closet? 

Platner was a soldier. He participated in brutal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He reveled in it for a time, got a macho tattoo, and joined Reddit. War brutalized his mind and body. He developed PTSD and a profound sense of alienation from the system he was fighting for. As he says, treatment at the VA “saved my life.” He reconsidered his views and came to resent the “stupid wars” he fought in. He looked around and saw how the billionaires are laughing all the way to the bank. He listened to Bernie. He changed. He decided to do something about it. 

[Read next: No Kings speech by Portland city councilor Pelletier]

From what I’ve seen, the vast majority of his supporters appear willing to accept this simple explanation and are ready to move on. Why? First, many of us are sick and tired of social media outrage and political mudslinging. Second, even as Susan Collins has enabled the Trump administration’s attacks, Gov. Mills—despite the credit she earned for standing up to Trump—has burned bridges with large numbers of working-class and progressive voters over her two terms. Third, Platner’s political platform is meeting the moment. In a nutshell, Platner argues that the billionaires have screwed the working class and that both corporate Democrats and Republicans have aided and abetted them. Now that fascism is at the gates, playing centrist DNC games is not only insufficient to turn the tide, it is downright dangerous. Instead, we need to put workers living standards first, fight for Medicare for All and union power, and defend our LGTBQ siblings and immigrant brothers and sisters. As Platner would put it, the time for bullshit is over.

Platner may or may not be the perfect messenger, but the message is getting through. 

Which brings me to Troy Jackson, Democratic candidate for governor. Like Platner, Jackson has changed his tune over the years. Born into a hardscrabble logging family from northern Maine, he began his political career as a Republican before registering as an independent and then a Democrat. He served as a state legislator, eventually rising to be president of the Maine Senate. Along the way, he became a champion of unions, walking more picket lines and protests than any politician you could name and sticking his neck out for Bernie to boot. It’s hard to overstate Troy’s support among the union movement in Maine. He is not only for the labor movement, he is family. He’s the kind of guy who doesn’t leave town until workers arrested for picketing are released from jail. He gets choked up in sorrow and anger when recounting fellow workers lost along the way. Eugene V. Debs’ words fit Jackson, “When I rise it will be with the ranks, not from the ranks.” 

There is an eight-month-long road to travel for either of them to win the primary in June and they both face formidable opponents. If you’re looking for a place in the country where there will be a fair fight between competent and accomplished liberal politicians on the one hand and left-wing, working-class populists on the other, Maine is the place to be. Neither Platner nor Jackson’s primary opponents are creatures of Wall Street. In many ways, they are the best the mainstream Democratic Party has to offer. They are scandal free and are, by all accounts, intelligent and honorable people. So what we are going to see—inevitable dirty tricks and tens of millions in campaign ads aside—is a real contest of ideas. And for Platner and Jackson’s ideas to win, they are going to need to turn their campaigns into movements. That is what is at stake in Maine in 2026. 

For many, that is enough and they are ready to fight. 

There are objections to this line of thinking. Of course, from the center, Chuck Schumer and his ilk raise the electability flag. For a number of reasons, that won’t fly so high this time. 

But there are also a surprising number of objections from those standing to Platner and Jackson’s left. These arguments may not hold sway with large numbers of people, but they are important to address for two reasons. First, speaking only for myself as a member of Maine Democratic Socialists of America, we are a very small organization, but we have proven that we can lend a hand. And both these campaigns will need all the help they can get. Second, the best political alliances are mutually beneficial. And if we want socialist ideas to become more influential, then we must learn to work beside people who are animated by solidarity and the desire to fight the bosses and billionaires. And a very large portion of those people will be volunteering for Platner and Jackson between now and June. 

So what are the objections on the left? 

1. We should focus on patient, local organizing. Maine DSA has accomplished a lot for a relatively new organization. We’ve raised the minimum wage and won protection for renters in Portland. We’ve spoken out alongside allies to defeat anti-trans bills in the legislature, protested against genocide in Gaza, and helped organized the biggest May Day march in memory. Much of this work has taken root in local contexts. On the other hand, the biggest statewide campaign we helped lead—Pine Tree Power—went down to defeat despite our best efforts. Naturally, this contrast has raised questions. These are worth thinking through carefully. But the dynamic is different here, rather than being relatively isolated and exhausted as we were during Pine Tree Power, we will be embraced and lifted up by the Platner and Jackson campaigns. We must analyze each new situation based on our own experience, a knowledge of history, and the best guess we can muster. That is the art of politics.

[Read next: Harness street power: Endorse No Kings!]

2. Support, but don’t endorse. This argument stems from two sources. First, there are people who believe that Platner and Jackson will be damaged by any association with Maine DSA. I doubt that very much, but even if it were true (or some staffers believe it), Platner and Jackson spoke to 7000 people in the Cross Insurance Arena last month alongside the world’s best-known democratic socialist, Bernie Sanders. If the centrists and rightwing are going to attack either of them for this association, then they already have all the ammunition they need. Second, some say that the complexity of federal election law is simply too burdensome when it comes to an endorsement to make it worth our while. The law really is absurd—billionaires can buy and sell candidates legally, while we are highly regulated—but with good legal advice and some significant effort, we can both obey the law and do the right thing politically. There is an associated view that Maine DSA members should simply volunteer for the campaign as individuals but not take a stand as an organization. I find this misguided. If Maine DSA is to become a significant force in politics, it won’t be because of what we do on our own, it will be what we do together. 

3. Platner and Jackson are not radical enough. I am sympathetic to this point of view. Genocide in Gaza, climate catastrophe, all out assaults on abortion and trans rights, ICE rampaging through our streets. All these point to the need for a revolutionary change right now. There are many thousands of people in Maine who are, rightfully, in no mood to compromise. This is a sign that a real political movement is being born. But it also means that this new movement must learn strategy and tactics. It is not enough to be convinced ourselves, we must convince others. And most people are not convinced by reading, for instance, an article like this. They are convinced by joining a struggle.

This is one of the mistakes that Bluebird makes in an article in Pine and Roses titled, “Support, but don’t endorse Platner.” Since, Bluebird argues, Graham has not adopted a socialist program, we would damage the socialist cause by endorsing him. Without getting into the weeds here, while some socialists have held this view, it has come under fire from most of the movement’s big guns over the years. As a wise man once said, “ Propaganda and agitation alone are not enough for an entire class, the broad masses of the working people, those oppressed by capital, to take up such a stand. For that, the masses must have their own political experience.”

Bluebird’s second mistake is to radically overestimate our own forces, writing that Maine DSA is the “vanguard of the working class struggle.” If wishes were horses… The reality is that Maine DSA is “very, very weak” compared to what we’re up against—as our wise man said of an early generation of small socialist organizations. That problem has never been solved by holding the “correct” [Bluebird’s emphasis] position in order to “advance a socialist agenda.” Rather, it has been by putting the fight for workers’ power at the center of everything we do while finding creative ways to forge united fronts through compromise and dialogue with other political forces who want to fight back against oppression and exploitation. 

Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to reach such an agreement. Today it is. The question is, will Maine DSA—in addition to all the other important work it does on a daily basis—join the campaigns that will define Maine politics for the coming eight months and more. 

To paraphrase an old song: which side are we on? 

The post Platner and Jackson are standing up for Maine workers appeared first on Pine & Roses.

Silicon Valley DSA (SV DSA) adopted a resolution in support of Proposition 50, also known as the “Election Rigging Response Act.” This state constitutional amendment will appear on the November 4 special election and would allow the California legislature to sidestep the bipartisan commission currently in place and draw a congressional district map for election years through 2030, in response to the Republican Party’s aggressive efforts to gerrymander congressional districts. 

SV DSA recognizes this “redistricting arms race” is a predictable outcome of a broken political system and winner-take-all voting methods that stifle political pluralism and prevent the emergence of new working-class parties. 

DSA actively opposes movements that entrench minoritarian rule at the national level in advance of a far-right agenda. SV DSA believes that, should California fail to respond to these actions, the Trump administration and its allies become further empowered to continue violent and extremist policies that disproportionately harm working-class communities, immigrants, and people of color. 

Concerns were raised by members prior to the resolution vote that alignment with Proposition 50 conflicted with the organization’s movement of championing a free democratic and socialist world. However, as DSA is committed to a framework for ballot measure endorsement of campaigns that would build class consciousness, root socialists in the multiracial working class, and have winnable and transformative objectives, it was ultimately decided endorsing this amendment was an imperative, preventative measure necessary toward the organization’s ongoing efforts to thwart a rogue administration imposing authoritarian rule.

The socialist movement recognizes the evil entrenched in the political system, with both Democrats and Republicans complicit. SV DSA recognizes the passing of Proposition 50 is integral to furthering our advocacy and organization toward measures that align with the democratic socialist movement of restoring power to the working class. Endorsement of this proposition specifically strengthens the foundation of a left-labor coalition in the Bay Area and statewide by creating a specific opportunity for SV DSA to support campaigning initiatives of local organized labor and allied organizations. Silicon Valley DSA has been working actively alongside South Bay Labor Council and other organizations for the purpose of supporting Proposition 50, creating and distributing educational materials that articulate how the current political system is rigged and how a socialist vision offers a democratic alternative. Through canvassing, phonebanking, and tabling, members have been active in the community to frame the redistricting issue with a clear socialist analysis. 

While the passing of Prop 50 would restore voice taken from fellow Americans under the redistricting in Texas, it’s not ideal. Prop 50 merely holds back the tide while organizations like SV DSA continue efforts to combat the far-right agenda and work towards a world where everyone’s basic shelter, food, and healthcare needs are met. While SV DSA efforts include the exercising of mutual aid through our Free Store, organizing for and defending immigrant rights, and pushing back against dictatorial gatekeeping systems through education and de-programming, a chapter priority is organizing for Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), which would disrupt the current electoral duopoly, expanding voter voice and creating a system precluding the “tit-for-tat” nature of amendments like Prop 50 altogether. 

Already in use statewide in Alaska and Maine and in cities like New York City, San Francisco, and Santa Fe, RCV is a proven electoral reform that strengthens democracy by ensuring majority support, reducing negative campaigning, and empowering voters with greater choice. With RCV, if a voter’s first choice candidate is eliminated, their vote would transfer to their second choice, a process that continues until a candidate earns majority support. This eliminates the concept of a “wasted vote” and increases support for independent and “third party” candidates, encouraging a focus on issues rather than party affiliation. Candidates are more likely to campaign to all voters and even build collaboration among themselves to build rapport rather than tearing each other down, as they rely on each other to advocate to their supporters. 

DSA believes a better world is possible: one where we democratically decide on how society is structured for the common good rather than the profit of a few. Join us at https://siliconvalleydsa.org/join/

The post SVDSA Supports Measure 50 appeared first on Silicon Valley DSA.

Mayor-President Sid Edwards and the Metro-Council are currently debating how to proportion the parish's budget. You know that the Baton Rouge police have a history of abuse and violence, and you know that the best way to prevent crime is to fund communities through social programs, homelessness support, good jobs, parks, transportation, schools and other people-centered approaches. The police can only respond to crime, but we can have a safer city by tackling the root causes. Hiring more police officers or paying them more will not address these problems, and they could make them worse.

By: Frederick Reiber

Boston, MA – Kickstarter United (OPEIU Local 153) workers rallied on Thursday outside the 100 Oliver Street offices of Littler Mendelson, America’s largest union-busting firm, to launch their fourth week on strike. Employees from across the country, from Boston to New York City to Seattle, gathered to protest management’s choice to retain Littler Mendelson and press for an “honest, come to the table” negotiation.

Throughout the hour-long rally, workers from across the company spoke on the importance of the strike with reasons ranging from “all workers deserve a living wage” to their children’s futures.  

Kickstarter United haS been on strike since October 2 to defend their 4-day, 32-hour workweek (4DWW) and raise the compensation for the lowest-paid employees of the company. On September 26, 85% of workers voted to authorize the strike after management continued to “block real progress” since bargaining for Kickstarter’s second contract began in April 2025.

A Wall to Wall Union

Consistent in workers’ speeches at the rally targeting Littler Mendelson was the importance of a wall-to-wall union. 

A wall-to-wall is a union that includes all workers at a given shop-floor. Unlike other unions, all workers, regardless of role, are covered by Kickstarter United, with bargaining not centered around a specific trade. 

As one Kickstarter worker, Dannel Jurado, stated:

It was [our] intention from the very get-go for our union to be a wall to wall union… part of what our contract fight here is about is us recognizing we value your work a lot more.

Another rank-and-file worker argued that the strike wasn’t just about those with the large engineer salaries, but also for the workers who “make the platform run… the outreach, customer support, and trust and safety teams.”

Tech platforms and companies often rely heavily on hidden workers, those who manage and moderate the platforms. These jobs, despite being under some of the wealthiest companies in the world, often come with horrible working conditions and third-party independent contracts. Workers are required to filter through violent and explicit material at incredibly fast speeds, while receiving low pay and little mental health assistance. 

One of Kickstarter United’s main demands is to secure a livable wage for these frontline workers. Estimates from the union put the cost of doing so at less than $100,000 per year, something the company can almost certainly afford given the high cost of anti-union lawyers.

Tech Organizing in the United States

This is the second American tech strike, following the New York Times Tech Guild strike in late 2024. The NYTimes strike and Kickstarter United’s choice to unionize represent current shifts within American tech. What was once an industry dominated by high-paying jobs and good working conditions has seen continuous backslide as billionaires continue to squeeze workforces for more, with increasingly undesirable work conditions.  

Organizing so early in tech means that much of the playbook is still being written. As Jurado put it:

It’s scary, […] it’s a lot of unknown stuff, but at the same time, I think it’s important. We wouldn’t be doing this work, we wouldn’t be out here at this rally if we didn’t think it was important.

One of the significant challenges is figuring out how to organize and strike digitally. Kickstarter is a fully remote workforce, meaning workers do not have an office, instead working from home.

Increasingly, tech workers are finding ways to overcome this barrier.

To some extent, Kickstarter United workers are not new to labor. It’s been five years since Kickstarter buried its fluffy reputation as a startup “public benefit corporation” prioritizing creativity over profits under petty managerial tyranny and vicious union-busting. Littler Mendelson is only the top of the iceberg; in 2019, when workers organized the shop intially, general counsel yelled at rank-and-file workers and then punished them for using company-provided feedback channels. Workers were brought into hostile meetings disguised as feedback meetings during the union “incident.” Workers started Googling how to start a union after discussing their shared fury through digital channels.

As recorded in the Engelberg Center at NYU Law’s Kickstarter United Oral History Project, during the 2019 campaign for Kickstarter United:

This idea of worker feedback as a kind of punishable insubordination would come up again and again as a key tactic in management’s anti-union strategy.

The 2025 fight by the Kickstarter United shows this has not changed.

Remote work may be a perk of the job, but it also means that the process of winning power in the workplace through the strike looks fundamentally different.

Kickstarter workers run digital community events that build the union’s bonds. For example, Kickstarter workers have recruited individuals to sign creator petitions and encouraged them to put pressure on management at events. Workers have also brought in pro-labor academic, political, and journalistic leaders to speak, including Eric Blanc, Brad Lander, and Kat Abughazaleh, to maintain momentum and deepen solidarity as organizers build the campaign.

Other approaches to remote union-building include workers using more recreational venues such as live streaming on Twitch, running Dungeons and Dragons with Kickstarter creators, and, finally, in-person pressure rallies where workers meet for actions in places like Boston.

Reflecting on Organizing and Community

The October 24 rally may have been targeted, but it also embodies the growing desire and need for unions and community across the board. As the workers at Kickstarter were quick to point out, resisting oppressive work conditions doesn’t happen when we withdraw – it happens when we talk to each other. Jurado stressed:

We need to be more in community with our coworkers, with our own communities, with our neighborhoods.

What the Kickstarter workers made clear is that community is not a side effect of unionization; it’s the goal. In a moment defined by alienation, surveillance, and political fear, the simple act of standing together is itself an act of resistance. That’s what organizing looks like: not grand gestures, but everyday commitments to one another.

Readers can tell management to meet the Kickstarter United”s demands here.

Readers can also donate to the union’s solidarity fund here.

Frederick Reiber is a PhD student at Boston University researching collective action and technology. He is a member of SEIU 509, Boston DSA, and covers tech, labor, and education for Working Mass.

The post Kickstarter Workers Rally in Boston to Launch Fourth Strike Week appeared first on Working Mass.

Seattle DSA was proud to march alongside an estimated 90,000 protestors in the streets of Seattle and 7 million across the nation during the recent No Kings Protest. The immense scale of this mobilization sent a clear message – millions of working people are demanding change. This massive turnout is a clear indicator of a deep-seated anger and a collective refusal to accept Trump’s authoritarian attacks on workers. 

The frustration is a direct response to the relentless, multi-front war being waged against the entire working class. From illegal, vicious attacks on our immigrant neighbors to the unacceptable cuts to healthcare and the ongoing government shutdown, which threatens to plunge millions into food insecurity, the ruling class continues to make clear that they are perfectly comfortable sacrificing the well-being of the vast majority in order to further consolidate their power and wealth. The No Kings March was a collective refusal to accept the divide and rule tactics used to protect a capitalist system in crisis.

As socialists, we recognize that protests such as No Kings, can be a crucial entry to organizing for many, but it cannot be the final destination. As organizers, Democratic Socialists of America recognizes that to defeat the Trump administration, we must defeat the entire capitalist, imperialist system. We cannot wait until midterms next year or rely on the Democratic party to save us.To truly fight back and win, we must build an independent working class party and be prepared to escalate our tactics by building toward our most powerful leverage: a mass general strike. History has shown that our most significant victories are won through the collective power of working people withholding their labor. We need look no further than 2018, when air traffic controllers’ coordinated sickouts, which grounded flights and forced the government to restore funding. This is the kind of organized power we must build to provide the most effective fight back to win reforms that benefit working people.

The path forward is clear: We must channel the incredible energy from the streets into our workplaces and communities. Talk to your coworkers about organizing your workplace. Join Seattle DSA to become part of an organized socialist movement. Together, we can transform this collective anger into a lasting, powerful political movement that can shake the very foundations of capitalism and usher in a world that puts the needs of working people over corporate greed. 

The post “No Kings”, Now What? appeared first on Seattle Democratic Socialists of America.

Reprinted from Art Young’s Inferno

Art Young was one of the great cartoonists and satirists of the US socialist movement, working largely in the 1910s and 20s. That famous image of the Gilded Age, of a tycoon with a sack of money for a head, is Art Young’s creation. Like many socialists before him, Art Young was an avid fan of Dante’s Inferno and loved using the imagery of ‘social hell’, that hell was here on Earth.

During the depression, Art Young wrote his Inferno, depicting a Hell which had been overthrown in a capitalist revolution. This is the dictionary from that book. – J.A.

---

For rich people to laugh at – for poor people to respect.

That’s LAW.

About money and the way to acquire it.
That’s CONVERSATION.

The joy of mating, made miserable by fear of its money consequences.
That’s LOVE.

A fortune made in a single fight by a prize-ring champion while a family of four – father, mother, and children – struggle all year round for a bare existence.
That’s THAT.

Sitting with all the power of government behind him, he sentences sinners to confinement, debt, or annihilation, who may be no more sinful than he.
That’s a JUDGE.

One who works at something he doesn’t like because he must have a weekly wage.
That’s TO BE SENSIBLE.

One who works at something he likes, but can’t make money at it.
That’s a POOR SIMP.

The man who gains some leisure, although too late to appreciate it –
He’s a LUCKY DEVIL.

When the employed man wants higher wages, it’s GREED – when the employer wants more profits, that’s a JUST RETURN ON INVESTMENT.

Muddle the people’s minds, iterate and emphasize things of no importance until they become big issues.
That’s STATESMANSHIP.

Spending millions annually to make people buy things they cannot afford and do not need, with competition between hundreds of brands, almost alike, but made to appear almost different by the skills of writers, artists, and radio coaxers, paid to work up enthusiasm over things that do not interest them –
That’s ADVERTISING.

Those who are the most greedy, the most cunning, and have the thickest hide, whose natures embody the characteristics of a pig, fox, and rhinoceros to the exclusion of human qualities – That’s SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST.

Romantic emphasis on the lowest instincts in human nature: fighting, revenge, lux-urious ease, and narrow notions of honor and duty
That’s a MOVING PICTURE.

Ten percent for the poor and ninety percent for the overhead –
That’s CHARITY

When a woman sells her body–
That’s DISGRACEFUL.

When a man sells his mind –
That’s ALL RIGHT.

The post The Hell Dictionary first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

In this bonus episode, we keep the mics rolling with Kelly Latimore as we discuss icons, Bonhoeffer, and subversive religious practices.

Reflections from a first-time delegate to DSA National Convention.

The post Thinking of Going to DSA National Convention? Here’s Why You Should Consider It! appeared first on Democratic Left.

Announcing DSA San Diego’s November 2025 Special Election Voter Guide! This year, San Diego has one decision on the ballot — Proposition 50. DSA San Diego’s Electoral Working Group has prepared the above-linked guide expanding on what’s at stake with Proposition 50, along with content that describes our approach to voter guides generally. [...]

Read More... from Nov 2025 Special Election Voter Guide

The post Nov 2025 Special Election Voter Guide appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America | San Diego Chapter.

by Austin DSA

On November 4, 2025, Austinites will be voting to approve a property tax increase for the city, called Proposition Q. Our chapter is working in coalition with local labor and social justice organizations to win this tax rate election (or “TRE”). We believe the property tax increase will fund city workers and programs that are necessary to care for our neighbors during the worst of the second Trump administration. We’re asking all comrades (those who have campaigned before and those who haven’t) to help us turn out our base citywide: we will be canvassing, tabling, and relational organizing to win this one, and we need your help to get us over the line.

So:

• Get out and vote early! Polls are open 7AM–7PM through 10/31, with select sites open until 10PM on 10/30 and 10/31. You can check your nearest poll site at votetravis.gov and review a rundown of the full ballot here. 
• Come canvass with us! Dates and times are listed on our linktree, we encourage you to RSVP for as many as you can: linktr.ee/PasstheTRE 

What’s a TRE?

A TRE is a tax rate election. Since the passage of a 2019 state law (SB2), cities like Austin have been required to seek approval from voters any time the city budget increases by more than 3.5% in a given year—previously, increases of up to 8% could be passed by council. The city is seeking voter approval for an additional 5¢ of revenue per $100 of property value to continue funding public services that we expect and the workers needed to make it happen. If approved, the TRE would increase local property tax by around $25/month for the average Austin homeowner.

Why are we doing this?

1. Because of the 2019 law, our city has been forced into a structural deficit: in recent years, inflation has been as high as 7%. With budget increases capped at 3.5% and property values flat or in decline, gaps in revenues have been filled from reserve funds, transfers from our public utilities, and fee increases that disproportionately affect the working class. Property taxes are based on the assessed value of people’s homes, meaning people who have more pay more. This is in contrast with other ways of generating revenue like utility rate increases, fees and fines, all of which disproportionately affect the working class. Austin is a majority-renter city, and our policies should reflect that, instead of the preferences of the wealthier, more conservative minority that traditionally dominates off-year elections. 
2. Because of the federal government removing vital funding from cities like Austin as a political punishment for standing up for ourselves. They’re using austerity as leverage to force cities to enact regressive and undemocratic policies and legislation that further criminalize and punish the multiracial working class, those seeking abortion, our queer, trans, and intersex neighbors, the homeless, and people with disabilities. We can take care of us, but we’re not going to get any outside help doing it for the foreseeable future. 
3. Because protecting our neighbors needs sustained investment. We’ve seen the benefits of housing trust funds, family stabilization grants, community violence intervention programs, council at first appearance, food pantries and parent support specialists in schools—Texas and the federal administration don’t want to admit these programs work, so they’re trying to shut them down instead.

What about APD funding?

We know that public safety doesn’t come from policing, it comes from stability and community. The budget we’ll be voting to approve allows us to continue investing in real public safety and stability during an especially turbulent time. The budget we’re voting on includes emergency housing vouchers, 24/7 EMCOT mental health response teams, funding for the Sobering Center, parks, pools, and libraries. The alternative is the carceral and punitive police state, where APD is not just the primary, but the only city agency funded to respond to public safety (through the most destructive, most expensive, most inequitable means available).

As a chapter, we fought hard to prevent city council from increasing APD’s budget last year: we believe that the contract they approved did not provide the oversight we won at the ballot box; we knew the money the city put in there can never be reinvested in real public safety and stability. Our chapter’s NoALPRs campaign in particular understands the danger in unlimited funding for carceral policing and the surveillance state, and that Texas law mandates that cities like ours can never decrease their police budget. 

Who’s opposing Prop Q?

The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, Matt Mackowiak (Save Austin Now), the Real Estate Council of Austin, ATX Servicing LLC (associated with Frontier Bank of Texas), the Sandhill Family Partnership, to give you a sense of it.

What happens if this doesn’t pass?

Austerity, layoffs, service cuts. This would be the first time a tax rate election has been rejected, so there isn’t a clear playbook for how budget cuts would play out here. Many of our comrades who make the city run may lose their jobs, and all of them would be paid even less of the worth of their work. The most likely outcome if the TRE is rejected is that our friends, family and neighbors will suffer, and our shared quality of life as a city will suffer with it. 

What can I do to support?

Austinites want to do the right thing, but historically, off-year elections have been dominated by more conservative, wealthier homeowners instead of the working class. The opposition is spending heavily on misinformative billboards, scare tactics and online ads, but is doing no canvassing. We’ve already generated strong results, knocking thousands of doors and getting strong positive responses from our neighbors. We intend to continue this ground game because we’ve seen it work before, especially in low-turnout elections like this one is likely to be.

We want the results of this election to be a representative reflection of Austin’s majority-worker, majority-renter priorities. We think that by dedicating as much of our canvassing resources as we can to letting working Austinites know what’s at stake in this election, we can win this one and help protect our neighbors for the next four years. 

First, we need you to vote! Polling stations are open for early voting citywide from 7AM–7PM until 10/31, lines are short, and strong support from our full membership could be the deciding factor in this race. You can check your polling location and view a sample ballot at votetravis.gov. 

Second, we need you to talk to your friends, family, neighbors, and coworkers about Prop Q! The more people get to know about what’s in the budget we’re voting on, the more supportive they’ve been. Stay tuned for more on this front as we get closer to the election.

Third, we need you to sign up for canvasses between now and November 4th. This is the best way to have the biggest impact on the race: you can only vote once, but you can canvass as many times as you’d like. Each time you do, you’ll be helping get vital information about this election into the hands of voters we need. If you’ve never canvassed before, we’ll show you how and set you up with a partner. Canvass event links below, and solidarity forever:

• THIS FRIDAY, 10/24 at 3:30 PM
• THIS SATURDAY, 10/25 at 10:00 AM
• THIS SUNDAY, 10/26 at noon
• Monday, 10/27 at 3:30
• Friday, 10/31 at 3:30
• Saturday, 11/1 at 10:00 AM (with Mike Siegel, Vanessa Fuentes and Zo Qadri)

The post Call To Action: Vote Yes On Prop Q first appeared on Red Fault.