COLUMBUS — The Columbus chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) issues the following recommendations to residents of Ohio.

1. In For Issue 1, YES.
2. In For Issue 46, YES.
3. In For Issue 47, YES.
4. In For U.S. President, NO RECOMMENDATION.
5. In For U.S. Senator, NO RECOMMENDATION.
6. In For Justice of the Supreme Court, vote MELODY STEWART.
7. In For Justice of the Supreme Court, vote MICHAEL DONNELLY.
8. In For Justice of the Supreme Court, vote LISA FORBES.

A detailed rationale for each recommendation follows.

Disclaimer: No recommendations made here are endorsements. Columbus DSA has not endorsed any candidate in this upcoming election. These recommendations are tactical considerations meant to minimize the harm likely to occur to the working class here and abroad as a result of this election.

Do you lament the lack of socialist, abolitionist, and pro-BDS candidates running for office? You can be a part of changing that, whether by running for office yourself or helping us to discover and cultivate future socialists-in-office. To advance the democratic socialist movement in Central Ohio, join DSA today: www.columbusdsa.org/join/.

Endorsed “YES” vote for Issue 1

Issue 1, the Citizens-Not-Politicians anti-gerrymandering ballot initiative, is an absolutely vital step to increase democratic representation in Ohio. We are proud to have overwhelmingly voted to endorse a YES vote for Issue 1 at our September General Meeting. 

Gerrymandering will always be a problem in politics: entrenched power has a habit of working to stay entrenched. Although Issue 1 is unlikely to eliminate the threat of gerrymandering, and we must always stay vigilant, the protections provided by the amendment and the constitutional body it creates to draw districts are much better than the politician-ran redistricting body we are currently oppressed by. Instead of having politicians draw their own districts and keeping power in the hands of political parties, Issue 1 would create a redistricting body made up of representatives from the two largest parties AND political independents (those who do not vote in partisan primaries). 

Issue 1 provides an opportunity for political voices outside entrenched parties – like us – to have a role in shaping the future of the state by creating a more realistic legislature that actually aligns with how Ohioans vote. This would be an incredible blow against the GOP-dominated state legislature, which has entrenched their supermajority not through the power of their politics (which are unpopular and not supported by Ohioans), but through bureaucratic rule-making such as redistricting. Fairer districts would also provide more opportunities for us to run our own socialist candidates in the future, creating additional pathways for us to build the power of the working class and begin to create the foundations of a party that actually serves working people instead of simply using them as an electoral base for liberal half-measures. 

It is absolutely vital that we pass Issue 1, and we strongly endorse a YES vote. Columbus DSA is also hosting canvasses in support of Issue 1 each Sunday at 1:30pm. Visit our calendar at columbusdsa.org/calendar to join one of our canvases.

Recommended “YES” vote for Issue 46

Issue 46 is a property tax levy to fund Franklin County Children Services (FCCS). Columbus DSA supports programs that help both children and families and strive for them to be robust. This is what taxes are supposed to be for: direct, material services to the people. FCCS provides a variety of important services including an abuse hotline, mental health counseling, adoption and foster care, and mentorship services. Columbus DSA has not officially endorsed Issue 46, but we recommend a YES vote to provide funding to FCCS. 

Recommended “YES” vote for Issue 47

Issue 47 is a sales tax levy providing funds to improve public transportation in the Columbus area with the Central Ohio Transport Authority (COTA) and LINKUS. More accessible and widespread public transportation is vital to driving demand away from automobiles. This would reduce pollution, help the climate, make roads and sidewalks safer. Too many of our neighbors have died while simply walking or biking city streets due to cars. The proposed funds would also be used for sidewalks, greenways, and bike paths, making our city more accessible and providing alternatives to personal cars. Columbus DSA wants to see our city thrive, and this is one way to do that while helping the world too. While we have not officially endorsed Issue 47, we recommend a YES vote on Issue 47 to fund COTA/LINKUS.  

No endorsement for President

There are no candidates for President who are fighting for working-class power on Ohio’s ballot. Donald Trump and Kamala Harris; at the end of the day, these are our options for the presidential election. These are also two candidates Columbus DSA cannot and will not endorse. We have already seen the disastrous consequences of a Trump presidency, and while a Harris White House may be less disastrous than another Trump term, Harris has not done nearly enough to earn Columbus DSA’s endorsement. She refuses to end weapon shipments to Israel despite their ongoing genocide of Palestinians and violent invasion of Lebanon. She has withdrawn support for Medicare For All – which she supported in her 2020 presidential run – and has recommitted to increased oil drilling and supporting fracking. Harris has made no commitment to ending the massive wealth disparity between rich and poor, and she has done little to fight corporate power in her time in office. 

Ohio is not even considered a “battleground” state anymore due to the abject failure of the Ohio Democrats to offer Ohio workers anything of value, so considerations of “tactical voting” are entirely worthless. Besides, we are not blind to the fact that Democrats are not working to save us from the corporate-fascist alliance that is building to take power. In many ways, they have aided and abetted it, and this nation is now at a point where half-measures are no longer good enough. 

Therefore, we offer no recommendations for the Presidential race. Members should choose for themselves the best course of action in this race. 

No endorsement in the Senate race

As with the presidential race, we cannot extend an endorsement to either of Ohio’s Senate candidates. Bernie Moreno has been involved in several lawsuits from former employees for discrimination and wage theft. Despite being an immigrant himself, he supports the mass deportation of immigrants, who are just working people just trying to make a living. He has also spoken against bodily autonomy, complaining that women over 50 should not care whether or not we have a right to an abortion. Sherrod Brown has a long history of support for working people and unions, but the majority of his policy focus is on trade, which often favors business owners over workers. These policies often harm working people in other countries for the profit of American big business. While he did vote to send humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in Gaza, he has failed to call for a ceasefire to end the genocide, voting again and again to send Israel military funding instead. While Brown may do less harm than Moreno in the long run, Columbus DSA cannot endorse lukewarm support for working people and failure to stand up against genocide. We offer no recommendations for the Senate race, and members should choose for themselves the best course of action in this race. Furthermore, the Senate should be abolished.

Recommendation for Supreme Court Candidates

Melody Stewart, Michael Donnelly, & Lisa Forbes 

The Ohio Supreme Court has been held under a Republican stranglehold for 40 over years. While many decisions over this time have shown that they are inadequate to be in such a position of power, there have been a few over the past 2 years and some coming up that are why we are recommending Melody Stewart, Michael Donnelly, & Lisa Forbes. One, we endorsed Issue 1(reasoning above), the Republicans on the Supreme Court have shown that they will do nothing to stop their friends, like Frank LaRose, Mike Dewine and other Republicans officials in the state from drawing unconstitutional maps, putting incorrect language on the ballot, to confuse voters and blatant voter suppression tactics, like allowing someone to drop off your ballot at a Dropbox. The Ohio Reproductive Freedom Amendment established a clear framework protecting everyone’s right to access abortion, but it is up to our court system to make sure that this amendment doesn’t just become a meaningless piece of paper. We need justices that will enforce the amendment, not ignore it like they have with anti-gerrymandering legislation. We would also like to have Supreme Court justices that do not change the definitions of words to benefit corporate America. 

by Anonymous

Editor’s Note: An abridged version of this article previously appeared in SUNY Geneseo’s student newspaper, The Lamron. Republished with permission.

Those in administrative positions will never be able to create a sense of community. University bureaucrats imposing policies and procedures onto the general university membership does not allow for a space for an open, united community. Moreover, administrators cannot create a community when the consequence of civic disobedience is institution-sanctioned violence. 

The New York Times estimates that “3,100 people have been arrested or detained on campuses across the country” since April 18, 2024, for their involvement in protesting over the inexcusable mass slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza. This comes after an Associated Press article in January of this year stated, “more than 1,230 people have been charged” for their involvement in the January 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol Attack. 

I find it astonishing that more students/university members have been arrested than attempted insurrectionists. It is outright reprehensible that most arrests were made on peaceful demonstrators. A statement from the Human Rights Institute at Columbia University even mentioned that “The NYPD said that protesters were, ‘peaceful, offered no resistance whatsoever, and were saying what they wanted to say in a peaceful manner.’” Most individuals arrested broke no actual laws but violated unjust, undemocratic campus policies.

Last semester, when I was a student at the University at Buffalo, I witnessed the brutal arrest of fifteen people. The demonstration was peaceful, but despite this, UB called in several different police departments, roughly eighty law enforcement officers, to disperse and arrest the protesters. The officers then turned to the student bystanders and pushed us into the nearby buildings. During this process, officers ripped a student’s hijab off and attempted to use intimidation tactics and language to corral us inside. 

Long after the detained protesters were shipped off using university buses, a smaller police presence remained. Days later, students organized a vigil, which caused part of the campus to be completely shut down, and undercover officers walked amongst grieving individuals. To what point will it be acceptable to call out these colleges for what they are? Antidemocratic hedge funds with at least one functional library.

Colleges and universities nationwide, including Geneseo, are passing tyrannical policies that further limit students’ right to expression and organization. I find it hard to believe these policies would have been rushed through had the protests in the spring been about anything other than universities’ complicity in their investments in war profiteering and, subsequently genocide. Based on the SUNY Board of Trustees’ Rules on the Maintenance of Public Order, students’ right to organize has never been protected. The ability to have a right to freedom of expression means nothing if the right to organize collectively is effectively nullified. 

SUNY has a principle called “Shared Governance,” where policies and decisions are supposed to be worked on not just by administrators, and to be more transparent. While good in theory, it is deeply and seemingly purposely flawed. This only continues the cycle of undemocratic behavior of the university apparatus. According to Geneseo’s Policy on Policies, “All College policies require the approval of the President’s Cabinet. If the policy materials affect student life, it must be approved by the College Council. Such approval should be obtained after the policy is approved by the Cabinet.” This is absurd. Firstly, the Governor appoints members of the College Council. Secondly, it effectively makes the College Council just a rubber stamp. Only one student, the Student Association President, is on the College Council. This is not a good representation of student life. 

I believe that proposed policies related to student life should be discussed with students before they are implemented. Allowing the proposed policy to be discussed and voted on by the Student Senate would increase much-needed transparency at Geneseo. Given the recent slew of policies passed and approved directly related to student rights and responsibilities, it further proves that administrators are worried about students organizing together, which is why to allow more ways of accessible collaboration, rather than separation with a false sense of transparency. 

The lack of accessible transparency is an ongoing problem not just at Geneseo. The President of Monroe Community College (MCC) decided it would be best to supply public safety officers with long guns in the case of an emergency. It was not adequately announced, and it took an article from a local news company that put it on most students’ radar. Students immediately wrote emails to the administration and the college president about their concerns about this matter. One administrator mentioned that there were “already enough meetings” about the matter and that students should have attended them. 

The three meetings in question were mostly inaccessible to the general student population. The first meeting was held in a dorm building. MCC is overwhelmingly a commuter school, with the vast majority of the student population living off campus. How is holding a meeting in a key-card-access-only building accessible to the campus environment? The second meeting was held during a monthly MCC Board of Trustees meeting. Students are not permitted to speak at the meeting without requesting ahead of time. Meeting agendas are posted before, but many students are unaware of the importance of the Board since it is not effectively communicated. 

The third meeting, like the Board of Trustees, was poorly planned. It was here that the Student Government Association was asked to pass a resolution supporting the purchase of long guns. Again, there was no prior discussion that the topic would be discussed, and also the “speak to the senate” section is before resolutions are voted on. If students were not properly informed about the resolutions, how is it fair to speak beforehand? 

If colleges and universities nationwide truly claim to stand for the ideals of diversity, equity, and inclusion, they need to start being more equitable and inclusive. Transparency without inclusivity and diversity is not equity. Transparency without inclusivity and diversity is not equity. If colleges intend to be and continue to be purposely inaccessibly transparent after demands of change, then they are outwardly oppressive.

Student movements may have different main goals, but all eventually boil down to the struggle for democracy. Despite what colleges and university administrators claim about their democratic-adjacent systems, none of that matters if students do not have the right to organize together. We as students may have a student government, but that isn’t enough. We need a student union. A union to protect us while we organize to call out the undemocratic and unjust rules that limit our rights to freedom of peaceful expression. 

Currently, these structures and systems incentivize us to be competitive, not collaborative with each other. Clubs and organizations may foster small communities, but not a united community. Administrators across the country have seen what happens when students are united. Meaningful change happens when students are united. If we want to protect and enhance our rights, we must unite and demand our colleges to be democratic, not bureaucratic. Accessible transparency is worth fighting for. Expressing and organizing ourselves is worth fighting for. Demanding democracy is worth fighting for. We the students deserve nothing less.

The post ON-CAMPUS DEMOCRACY DOES NOT EXIST first appeared on Rochester Red Star.

The Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee is providing crucial lessons for unions and organizing everywhere. It might be an example of labor’s best bet.

The post EWOC Is Modeling a Path Forward for Labor appeared first on EWOC.

The Labor Branch Organizing Committee wants to share some reflections and opinions about the TCDSA Convention, and also invite you to an important labor event. On one hand, DSA union activists were understandably disappointed that our labor priority proposal did not make it in the top three priorities of the TCDSA Convention. On the other […]

You make the most impact in your organizing campaign by talking with your co-workers, but what about introverts? How can they organize?

The post Workplace Organizing Tips for Introverts appeared first on EWOC.

This is a transformative election for the City of Portland, which will select the first cohort of leaders for the brand new city government. Portland DSA’s two amazing candidates will come ready to fight for social and economic justice, offering a fresh vision for Portland following years of rule by candidates committed to regressive policies.

City government has a tremendous amount of power over critical issues like housing, public safety, climate resilience, and more. It’s time for a city that prioritizes the needs of its citizens over downtown developers who live in the suburbs.

Endorsement, Green Lights, Red Lights, and Renter’s Bill of Rights

Endorsed (Rank #1)

Portland DSA’s two endorsed candidates, Tiffany Koyama Lane & Mitch Green, will be listed first — with a “#1” symbol and additional details about our endorsement. We think you should rank them number one in Districts 3 and 4!

Preferred Candidate/Green Light

Portland DSA’s preferred candidates rose to the top through an internal process that included a mock election, extensive research by Portland DSA’s Socialists in Office Committee, as well as a member forum.

Renter’s Bill of Rights: A house icon indicates green light candidates who have signed the Renter’s Bill of Rights.

DSA Member: A rose icon indicates green light candidates who are also members of Portland DSA. Join us!

District 1

For District 1, Portland DSA has greenlighted six candidates and encourages you to rank all of them. None were endorsed by the chapter:

District 2

For District 2, Portland DSA has greenlighted six candidates and encourages you to rank all of them. None were endorsed by the chapter:

*Jonathan Tasini is a member of Portland DSA. We regret the error.

District 3

For District 3 Portland DSA has greenlighted six candidates and encourages you to rank all of them. It includes Tiffany Koyama Lane who Portland DSA endorsed!

Rank Tiffany Koyama Lane #1 on your ballot! Portland DSA was proud to endorse her earlier this year. We have been out non-stop knocking doors and calling voters for Tiffany. Teacher Tiffany is a leader in the Portland Association of Teachers and their successful strike last November. Tiffany comes from a background of collective action based in the labor movement. We consider her election to validate the struggles of educators that were raised in that strike. Nike put their executive in as chair of the school board, we are striking back and putting a union teacher on City Council.

District 4

For District 4 Portland DSA has greenlighted five candidates and encourages you to rank all of them. It also includes Mitch Green who Portland DSA endorsed!

Rank Mitch Green #1 on your ballot! Portland DSA was proud to endorse Mitch earlier this year. We have been out non-stop knocking doors and calling voters for him. Mitch is a mainstay of Portland DSA, picket lines, and karaoke bars. He’s been a member for six years and has served as our treasurer. Mitch is an open, proud socialist who wears his membership on his sleeve.

Mayor

For Mayor we do not have an endorsed candidate and were only able to pick 4 from the list:

Red Light / Do Not Rank

The following is our list of candidates we encourage members not to rank at all on their ballot. These are candidates who were endorsed by the Portland Police Association (police union) and United for Portland / the Portland Metro Chamber (formally known as the Portland Business Alliance). Some are vitriolically opposed to the Renters Bill of Rights. Others are critics of the teachers’ union. None of them belong on your ballot. Portland DSA is supportive of the Don’t Rank Rene movement and we want it to be clear which candidates have stood against our movement and its demands like Jesse Cornett and Jon Walker.

Many candidates for the new Portland city government are not listed in the Portland DSA’s voters guide. Voters might consider ranking these candidates to fill out the ballot if they run out of DSA-endorsed or preferred candidates to rank. Filling out your ballot helps to keep Red Light (Do Not Rank) candidates out of office.

Made it to the end? WOW. Ready to take action and secure a pro-working class majority on Portland City Council? Take the pledge here and join our movement!

When I was canvassing for Jovanka Beckles’s State Senate campaign (Senate District 7) in late September, I spoke with a woman in north Oakland who was concerned that rents in her neighborhood might get too high for long-time residents to stay. It was, she said, that mix of new and older neighbors that made the area feel special in Oakland and, for her, like home. My canvassing partner and I assured her that Jovanka has consistently used her political office to fight for working-class tenants like her.     

Many of the East Bay DSA canvassers who went out that afternoon for Jovanka heard the same thing from neighbors:  thanks that we were the first people to knock on their doors to tell them about a statewide race. 

Active Champion

The DSA campaign for Jovanka has reached voters across the East Bay and has activated new members in the process. We’ve spoken to residents’ concerns by talking with them about our chapter’s campaigns, from our demands that local government divest from Israeli apartheid to our advocacy for fair schedules for transit workers. That integration is possible because Jovanka has consistently been an active champion of all these causes as an elected socialist and as a member of our chapter. 

When I spoke with an Oakland resident in July who was concerned about the unfolding genocide in Gaza, I could tell her that Jovanka has been an avowed supporter of the Palestinian cause and that our chapter was collecting signatures for a local divestment campaign, which the voter eagerly signed. For our canvass focused on labor, we could easily transition from talking with a neighbor about Jovanka’s successful effort to raise the minimum wage as a city councilor in Richmond to asking whether they wanted to organize in their workplace. When we talked with voters about her work as a transit board member, we could tell them about our chapter’s campaign to work alongside Jovanka and the transit workers union (ATU 192) to demand fair and humane schedules for bus operators.    

Talking with neighbors works

Talking at the door about how our campaigns align with Jovanka’s vision helps bring our members and new organizers to our events. At our last two canvasses, I partnered with new members who had joined our chapter within the last month. Talking with neighbors about our work also helps those members see the scope of our chapter’s organizing. 

For canvassers and canvass-ees, Jovanka’s corporate-free campaign starts the conversation. It also sharply distinguishes her from her opponent, Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín. Arreguín has received hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations from real estate lobbyists, a correctional officers union, PG&E and Uber. Jovanka, on the other hand, helped win millions for the community from Chevron, which has a refinery in Richmond. While Arreguín, who proudly took a pro-Israel lobby trip in 2022, has loudly opposed any ceasefire resolution from Berkeley City Council, Jovanka has stood firm in her support for an end to US complicity in the genocide.

Whether in Gaza or in our own East Bay senate district, Jovanka has consistently supported just causes that align with our chapter’s organizing. We can confidently tell neighbors like that resident in north Oakland that she’ll keep fighting against the root causes of displacement and for social services that empower the working class. 

Bay Area DSA members (and those who aren’t yet members!) can join our next canvass for Jovanka and our other endorsed candidates on the morning of Sunday, November 3.  

You can contribute to Jovanka’s corporate-free campaign here.

As we near the November election, California DSA and our local chapters have been ramping up efforts for our Affordable Rent-Controlled Housing (ARCH) campaign. But we’re not the only ones intensifying our campaign. Over the weekend, deceptive text messages were sent to residents of Los Angeles implying that DSA Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Tenants Union do not support Prop 33. Don’t buy the landlord lies!

The ARCH campaign supports Prop 33, which would overturn a 1995 law that drastically limits local rent control, and Prop 5, which would make it much easier to build public housing and infrastructure for middle to low income tenants. There is less than a month left to organize toward a huge victory for renters and there are several ways you can get involved.

A Digital Day of Action

On Wednesday, October 16th, California DSA and our members across the state will be engaged in a “digital day of action” where we’ll be reposting content from California DSA and our chapters, as well as sharing our own stories and content with hashtags like #YesOnProp33
, #YesOnProp5, #StopLandlordLies, and #TenantsAgreeYesOn33. It’s one of the easiest things that we can do to spread the word to our friends and followers about the importance of these ballot measures and the transformative effects they would have.

Landlords are well aware that passing Prop 33, in particular, is a first step in shifting power away from the owner class and into the hands of the working class so they are spending well over 100 million dollars to stop it. 

Take a moment today to spread the word and join our day of action!

Join in with the toolkit here!

October 1st Virtual Kickoff

California DSA’s ARCH Campaign is doing our part to generate grassroots enthusiasm. Over 60 people participated in an October 1st virtual organizing meeting and heard San Francisco DSA member Dean Preston, a long-time tenant/rent control advocate running for re-election to the Board of Supervisors, speak powerfully about the history of Costa-Hawkins (the law Prop 33 repeals) and why we need Prop 33 now. Everyone attending participated in small groups to organize activities in their areas.

Chapters running canvasses

Building on that momentum, DSA chapters around the state participated in a Day of Action on October 5th to canvass hundreds of doors. Members hit the doors in North Central Valley, San Diego, Sacramento, Los Angeles, and Richmond.  Chapters expanded their door-knocking this past weekend. Not surprisingly for an initiative campaign at this stage, the latest group contacted was largely undecided. But voters expressing support far exceeded those currently opposed. That’s significant because of the onslaught of anti-33 ads saturating our screens.

Join the ARCH Campaign!

There’s still timeto help win Justice for Renters. Reach out to your local chapter, send an email to statecommittee@californiadsa.org; or check out the California DSA website for more information about our ballot measure campaign. The entire working class will benefit if you do, and you’ll have bragging rights if Props 5 and 33 pass.

In late September and early October Ysabel Jurado, who is endorsed by DSA Los Angeles for LA city council District 14, hosted two massive canvasses, both heavily attended by rank-and-file union members and DSA activists. Jurado’s campaign for Los Angeles City Council is the first to achieve our chapter’s long-time goal of uniting a progressive grassroots with the political might of labor. If this coalition endures and grows, working class power may become a dominant pole in Los Angeles.

From Rivals to Teammates

DSA-LA endorsed Ysabel Jurado early on in the crowded primary. She had been an active member of DSA and she was running on an unabashedly progressive platform. Very quickly she garnered the support of the grassroots of Los Angeles, generating an encouraging amount of earned media. In a race including three long time Democratic politicians she was always framed as a wild card. DSA-LA helped to build a strong canvassing operation, meeting voters at their door and fostering connections. DSA-LA knocked almost nine thousand doors, while her campaign knocked over eighty thousand.

Labor unions, on the other hand, threw their weight behind Miguel Santiago, a state assembly member with a strong record of supporting organized labor. Rather than a robust field operation, his campaign spent heavily on mailers and advertisements. A week after Election Day, it was clear that Ysabel Jurado had come in first place with incumbent Kevin De Leon coming in second. Miguel Santiago placed third, not qualifying for the runoff. 

With a Kevin De Leon vs Ysabel Jurado match up, it was unclear where union support would land. De Leon obviously had history with the LA Federation of Labor (most recently negative due to the leaked tapes scandal, in which he was caught making racist remarks and plotting to break up working-class voting power in LA) so he was unlikely to garner their support. Jurado on the other hand was a political outsider. Unions might very well have refrained from endorsing if not for Ysabel’s own organizing. 

Following the primary she worked for months meeting union leadership and rank and file members, assuring them that not only would she be supportive of workers’ rights, but a champion for the entire working class. Because of this charm offensive Ysabel has become the first progressive challenger in LA to earn the endorsement of LA Federation of Labor and around 20 local unions including SEIU (2015, 721, CIR and more), UAW Region 6, and Public Defenders Local 148.

A vision for the future

Ysabel’s campaign in CD14 has the potential to be a game changer for DSA-LA and the left more broadly in Los Angeles. A sturdy coalition between the progressive grass roots and organized labor has been the dream of socialist organizers since the 20th century. If we succeed in building a movement that supports not just workers in unions but the entire working class, Los Angeles can be transformed into a city of and for workers. 

Nothing is set in stone, however. Building that coalition will take countless hours of work from DSA members, union staff, and rank and file members. More establishment labor unions will also have to continue to take chances on left candidates, not just against historically corrupt incumbents like Kevin De Leon. Of course, we still need to prove the concept and ensure Ysabel Jurado wins in CD14 again! 

Donate to Ysabel Jurado’s campaign. 

Volunteer to work on her campaign here. 

Silicon Valley DSA is enthusiastically phonebanking and canvassing on weekends for two endorsed candidates in the November 5 election.

Lissette Espinosa Garnica for City Council 

In Redwood City we are working to re-elect Lissette Espinosa Garnica for City Council District 3. They are Redwood city's first open non-binary City Council member and  a former member of the SVDSA chapter committee [WHAT COMMITTEE?]. They have fought for rent control and a Council Gaza ceasefire resolution, and with community organizations to oppose gentrification. Lissette is also the first City Council member to advocate to establish a community land trust for the Ohlone peoples of the San Francisco Bay Area.

Another thing that makes their campaign unique is their position on criminal justice. Noting the disproportionate number of Latine youth in jails, beside doing the usual town hall on the issue Lissette supports the PACE plan (Purposeful, Action, Creation, Engagement) which promotes a “bike life movement” for young people. You may view the other parts of her plan here.

Donate to Lissette Espinosa Garnica.

Volunteer for Lissette Espinosa Garnica

Sally Lieber for Santa Clara County Supervisor

In Santa Clara we have endorsed  Sally Lieber for the District 5 open seat on the County Board of Supervisors. Sally has previously served in the State Assembly, Mountain View City Council, and on the State Board of Equalization. As a badge of honor, she is opposed by the California Apartment Association, which has given her opponent over $170,000. Lieber’s priorities for Supervisor include addressing homelessness and affordable housing, health care and mental health. As housing the unhoused relies on a combined county and city effort, Sally's election would be a great help to us all. Sally is a fierce advocate for renters and tenants and has supported rent control.

One area within District 5, Stanford University, is unique. Here the role of County Supervisor can help shape the university’s use permit. Stanford is the largest landholder in the county, and has an outsized impact on housing, rent and development. One of the community demands addressed to Stanford is that in its $9 billion yearly budget, Stanford provide housing in proportion to the new people that university development will bring in. 

Donate to Sally Lieber

Volunteer for Sally Lieber