Happy Holidays, Pinellas DSA members! Another great year of organizing is coming to a close, which means it’s time for celebrating, sharing good food, and of course, voting in annual chapter elections. Read this year’s final newsletter for all the details on the upcoming 2026 Steering Committee elections, an update on how our chapter is supporting Starbucks workers on strike, and a look into the sketchy anti-municipal power lit showing up on residents’ doors in Clearwater (you’ll never guess who’s behind it).

November Highlights

Our chapter hosted an election night watch party where we came together to celebrate Zohran Mamdani’s historic victory in New York City. We had a great time chatting with both longtime DSA members and local community members inspired by his campaign. This was a big win for DSA, but it was far from our only win that night — more than a dozen DSA candidates across the country won their races in cities like Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Detroit.

Highly publicized elections with DSA candidates often bring more people into the movement, and the national organization announced last week that DSA has officially surpassed 90,000 members! If you have friends or family who are curious about DSA but haven’t become members yet, now is the time to ask them to join. Generate your own unique referral link on the Fall Drive Website and recruit 3+ people to win a limited edition t-shirt.

Earlier this month the Ecosocialist Working Group, together with longtime member Joe W., hosted a volunteer morning focused on gardening and grid talk at the Bartlett Park Community Garden. Joe has been organizing gardening days at this site for years, and the space provided a perfect setting to connect with members and curious neighbors about recent updates and brainstorm on future plans.

Starbucks Workers United is on strike! Workers are demanding higher take-home pay, better hours and staffing, and an end to the company’s union-busting tactics. Pinellas DSA members have shown up in solidarity by flyering outside local Starbucks locations and asking customers to get their coffee elsewhere instead of crossing the picket line. The union is holding a rolling strike, which means that more stores go on strike every week that Starbucks fails to agree to a fair contract. Stay tuned to the Labor Committee channel in Discord for updates about how you can help support SBWU locally as more stores join the strike.

Upcoming Events

International Solidarity Working Group Meeting
Tuesday, December 2 at 6:30 PM — Allendale UMC in the Wesley Room & Virtual
Zoom Link

Steering Committee Meeting
Wednesday, December 3 at 6:30 PM — Allendale UMC in the DSA Office & Virtual
Zoom Link

Housing Working Group + St. Pete Tenants Union Flyering at The Morgan
Thursday, December 4 at 6:00 PM — Meet-Up Location: In front of the Family Pak and Ship at 2822 54th Ave S

Housing Working Group + St. Pete Tenants Union Tenants Meeting at The Morgan
Friday, December 5 at 6:00 PM — 1401 62nd Ave S, St. Petersburg
This is a Tenants Meeting for residents of The Morgan to discuss the severe issues facing their complex — from structural damage to unclean common spaces — and what we can do about them.

Tri-Chapter Cookout
Saturday, December 6 from 12:00–3:00 PM — John Chesnut Sr. Park (Picnic Shelter #11)
2200 E Lake Rd S, Palm Harbor
RSVP Here
Come out for our first-ever tri-chapter social bringing together Pasco-Hernando, Pinellas, and Tampa DSA chapters! We’ll have a cookout/potluck, outdoor games, and plenty of camaraderie. Please bring a dish if you can. The food sign-up sheet can be found in the RSVP form alongside a map of the park.

Housing Working Group + St. Pete Tenants Union Meeting
Monday, December 8 at 7:00 PM — Allendale UMC in the Hybrid Room & Virtual
Zoom Link

Unions 101
Tuesday, December 9 at 6:30 PM — Allendale UMC in the Hybrid Room & Virtual
Zoom Link
The fourth and final installment of our annual core education series (the other three are DSA 101, Organizing 101, and Capitalism vs. Socialism). This session will focus on the relationship between socialism and the labor movement and the basics of union organizing.

Fundraising Committee Meeting
Thursday, December 11 at 6:30 PM — President Barack Obama Main Library in the Obama Room
3745 9th Ave N, St. Petersburg

December General Body Meeting
Sunday, December 14 at 2:00 PM — Allendale UMC in the Community Center & Virtual
Zoom Link
Our biggest business meeting of the year! This month’s meeting will include annual elections for Steering Committee offices (see below) as well as voting to recharter working groups. All Pinellas DSA members in good standing are encouraged to attend this meeting to participate in discussion and cast their votes in our chapter’s democratic process. We will also be hosting a chapter social after the meeting to celebrate the holiday season and the end of a year of socialist organizing together!

Steering Committee Transition Meeting
Thursday, December 18 at 6:30 PM — Allendale UMC in the Hybrid Room
This is a meeting for the 2025 Steering Committee to turn over their roles to the incoming 2026 Steering Committee. The meeting is open to all members who want to observe. It may be subject to rescheduling based on the availability of the members elected to these roles.

International Solidarity Reading Group: Cuba: An American History
Saturday, December 20 at 4:00 PM — Allendale UMC in the Hybrid Room
Join the International Solidarity Working Group for a book study on Cuba: An American History by Ada Ferrer, which looks at the history of Cuba and its relationship with the US. Please read up to page 153 for the first session.

2026 Steering Committee Elections

At our Sunday, December 14 General Body Meeting, we will be holding elections for next year’s Steering Committee, our chapter’s elected leadership body made up of six members who serve one-year terms.

Below is a list of Steering Committee offices:

• Co-Chair (2 seats)
• Treasurer
• Organizer
• Secretary
• Social Media Coordinator

Members in good standing may nominate or self-nominate candidates. Holding membership for at least thirty days is a requirement to vote. You will not be eligible to vote in this election if you became a member of DSA after Friday, November 14.

To nominate yourself or another member, please fill out this form.

See a current list of nominees here.

Once a nomination is accepted, the Nominations Committee will send a short questionnaire to the nominee. You can view the questionnaire responses that we have received so far here.

Voting will open during the General Body Meeting via ranked choice voting. The Nominations Committee will distribute the URL for the ballot in person, on Zoom, and in Discord. Voting will open after nominations close and all candidates have spoken (around 2:30 PM) and will close toward the end of the meeting (around 3:30 PM). Results will be published on Discord by Monday, December 15 at noon.

Dump Duke Campaign

Since the last update, Duke has been hard at work, but not to improve service or lower rates. Their current focus is spreading misinformation and putting pressure on Clearwater officials.

You’ll likely see some of their propaganda in the coming weeks if you haven’t already. It may come directly from Duke, from the lobbying group Edison Electric Institute, or from one of their newly formed dark-money 501(c)(6) organizations, Clearwater Energy Alliance and Pinellas Energy Alliance.

How much money are they spending on these efforts? It’s difficult to know because 501(c)(6) groups often obscure the sources of their funding and how the money is used. One thing is almost certain: they’ll pass the cost of this massive social media campaign on to us.

So, the most important thing we can do right now is show our support for Clearwater officials. Even if you do not live within the city limits, take a moment to let them know in your own words that their work is monumental and historic. Click here to send a message of support to Clearwater leaders.

Back at Halloween on Central in October, member Jason Sniffen put together a video featuring our socialist in office, St. Pete City Council Member Richie Floyd, asking local residents how they feel about Duke Energy. You can watch the video on Instagram or YouTube.

Upcoming Canvasses
Saturday, December 13 at 10:30 AM — Lake Maggiore Park
3601 Dr Martin Luther King Jr St S, St. Petersburg
RSVP Here

Saturday, January 10 at 10:30 AM — Lake Maggiore Park
3601 Dr Martin Luther King Jr St S, St. Petersburg

We also have two upcoming neighborhood association meetings this month! If you’re interested in helping or know a group that would like to hear from Dump Duke, respond to this email or reach out directly to Marley or Jason.

If you would like to create an event on the Pinellas DSA calendar, please submit a Meeting & Event Request Form no later than two weeks prior to the requested event date. You can always check the Pinellas DSA website for our full chapter calendar and email us with any questions at dsa.pinellas@gmail.com.

We hope to see you at some upcoming events!

Follow us on social media:

Instagram: @pinellasdsa
Twitter: @pinellasdsa
Bluesky: @pinellasdsa.bsky.social
Facebook: facebook.com/pinellasdsa
YouTube: @pinellasdsa

Atlanta DSA is proud to once again endorse our comrade Gabriel Sanchez for re-election to the Georgia State House, representing District 42. 

In 2024, we made history by electing Representative Sanchez, the first Democratic Socialist in Georgia’s State House, on a platform of housing, healthcare, and an economy that works for all of us. Now, he’s running for re-election in 2026 to continue to fight for working families, stand up to fascism, and build a better Georgia for all. Atlanta DSA is thrilled to back our comrade once again.

Gabriel has been an active member of Atlanta DSA since 2019 and has spent years supporting striking workers on picket lines, organizing to Stop Cop City, campaigning for abortion rights, and advocating for a Free Palestine. During his first term, Gabriel continued fighting for working Georgians in the State House with support from a staff made up of DSA members. He introduced bills to raise the minimum wage to $20 and end corporate ownership of Georgia homes, voted to eliminate subminimum wages for disabled workers and against tax cuts for the wealthy, and authored and held a hearing for a bill to end rental price fixing via AI software. Gabriel also brought his many years of experience as a community organizer into his first term. Over the past year, he has hosted in-district mutual aid events in partnership with Atlanta DSA, as well as town halls and meet and greets to speak directly with residents about the pressing issues they’re facing right now. Our chapter is extremely proud of the work Representative Sanchez has done, and we look forward to continuing to build a Georgia for all alongside him.

As a proud Democratic Socialist, Gabriel is refusing money from corporations or their PACs. Just like last time, we’re running a grassroots campaign of, by, and for working people, and we need your help to win this election. Donate now at SanchezForGeorgia.com 

In the lead-up to the 2024 election, Atlanta DSA knocked thousands of doors in District 42 to talk directly to voters about Gabriel’s campaign for housing, healthcare, and an economy for all. We’re planning to do the same next year. Sign up now to volunteer with our campaign at atldsa.org/Volunteer4Gabriel and stay tuned for info about a kickoff canvass in the new year. Let’s re-elect Representative Gabriel Sanchez!

There are several ballot initiatives circulating petitions this cycle. The members of the GRDSA are proud to endorse Invest in MI Kids, MOP Up Michigan, and Rank MI Vote. If successful, these initiatives would mean real change for Michiganders.

We are circulating petitions! Our goal is to contribute 1,000 collected signatures for the Invest in MI Kids and MOP Up Michigan campaigns. If you are interested in volunteering, please fill out this form.

Invest in MI Kids – investinmikids.org

We support this ballot initiative because every student deserves access to excellent public education. This excellence requires proper facilities, educational material, and well-paid teachers. To fund these vital elements of education, this initiative would create a 5% fair share surcharge on income over $500K ($1M filing jointly) to be deposited in the State School Aid Fund. It will also add a requirement that money from the School Aid Fund be spent exclusively on local school districts.

MOP Up Michigan – mopupmichigan.org

MOP = Money Out of Politics

We deserve fair utilities, a clean environment, and honest elections. But as our bills continue to grow, utility companies use political contributions to avoid accountability and slow down reform. This ballot initiative would reign in corporate control of government by prohibiting companies with over $250,000 in government contracts from making campaign contributions. Additionally, the initiative introduces finance laws which would require donor information to be made more clear in political communications.

Rank MI Vote – rankmivote.org

NOTE: The Rank MI Vote campaign has suspended signature gathering for their 2026 statewide campaign.

We believe every voter should feel comfortable voting for their best option, rather than the better of two bad options. Rank choice voting is an alternative voting system where the voter ranks up to five candidates for each office, as opposed to picking one option. This allows the voter to rank their favorite candidate first, even if they aren’t likely to win, before ranking their second, third, etc. Voters may still vote for just one candidate or leave that office/section blank. If the votes are tallied and no candidate has enough votes to win, candidates with less votes are eliminated and back up choices are used until one candidate wins.

Dishonorable Mention

There are a few bad petitions circulating as well. There are some that would require IDs to vote and one to cut taxes, Ax MI Tax. Decline to sign these regressive initiatives.

The post GRDSA for the Many – We support money out of politics, funding education, and rank choice voting! appeared first on Grand Rapids Democratic Socialists of America.

Happy belated Thanksgiving, and apologies for the tardy newsletter. Remember that it’s now flu season, so make sure that your immunizations are up to date (or you too might fall behind on your work!).

The legislative season is around the corner, and legislators are dealing with the fallout from federal budget cuts, with which come an intensification of the ever-present calls for austerity. This year, some of our most vulnerable friends and neighbors were thrown on the street and left without food. GMDSA believes not just that everyone deserves housing and food, but that the money exists — what we need is the political will. That’s why GMDSA’s second annual convention voted to make Tax the Rich our priority campaign for 2026. 

Our members also voted on a new slate of officers and committee chairs. Congratulations in particular to Will Fritch, our new East Branch Co-Chair, and Nana Brownell, who will be returning to that same role for West Branch. 

Upcoming Events

• GMDSA is sponsoring “For Ukrainian Self-Determination: Building International Working Class Solidarity,” featuring our very own Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky and Traven Leyshon. Discussion begins December 15th at 5pm at Migrant Justice (179 S. Winooski Ave., Burlington) .

• Talk about your job and learn about shop-floor organizing from peers at Workers' Circle (co-hosted by the Green Mountain IWW) on the second and fourth Wednesdays of each month. The next one is at 6pm and is also at Migrant Justice on December 10th.

GMDSA Meetings 

• Labor Committee meets December 8 at 6pm 

• Membership Committee meets December 8 at 7pm

• Electoral Committee meets December 9 at 6pm

• Communications Committee meets December 

• General Meeting on December 20th (details TBA; check our calendar)

TState News

• Burlington’s democratic, member-run, GMDSA-sponsored cinema is now open for business. Congrats to Partizanfilm on its successful opening!

World leaders continue to show the necessity for the development of ecosocialism at the local level. Faced with capitalist ecocide, ecosocialism demands ecological balance.  As noted by Anti*Capitalist Resistance, environmental issues are not luxury concerns, because the same people polluting the planet are the people oppressing the working class. The fight against capitalism’s waste and inequity must begin locally and spread internationally. 

One example of an international shortcoming is the November 2025 United Nations Climate Change Conference (also known as COP30, the 30th meeting of the Conference of the Parties, in Belém, Brazil) ending without an agreement on phasing out fossil fuels.  This is not surprising, considering COP30 had around 1,600 attendees who were fossil fuel lobbyists, outnumbering every national delegation other than Brazil.  This is in addition to the voices of petrostate attendees like Russia and Saudi Arabia and the absence of the United States, one of the world’s largest emitters of greenhouse gas, which did not send a delegation.  A group of U.S. leaders did attend in an unofficial capacity, however, and they discussed how U.S. cities and states are addressing the climate crisis.

Although absent from COP30 and with leadership that increasingly rejects climate science, the U.S. is experiencing the devastating effects of climate change. Across all regions of the United States, people are experiencing warming temperatures and extreme weather conditions, including flooding, wildfires, and hurricanes. Low-income areas and communities of color disproportionately feel these effects. 

But there are economic costs, too, as the first half of 2025 was the costliest on record for major disasters in the U.S., totaling over $100 billion.  The United States will continue to face direct and compounding challenges as average surface temperatures continue to rise.

For the above reasons and many others, the journey to national (and, eventually, worldwide) ecosocialism must begin locally.  Localities, particularly cities like Chicago, have the potential to successfully implement ecosocialist goals.  These goals include efficient and universally accessible public transportation, local food sovereignty, and the elimination of fossil fuels. 

The work the Fix the CTA campaign has been doing will strengthen Chicago’s public transportation system.  If Zohran Mamdani achieves his goal of free public buses in New York City, such an accomplishment can serve as a model for Chicago and other municipalities. New York City’s congestion pricing should also be a model for municipalities, as the corollary for free and efficient public transportation is the reduction of private vehicles. 

Despite inequities and reliance on multinational corporations, Chicago can accomplish local food sovereignty through, among other things, greater support for local growers and kitchens. 

New York’s Build Public Renewables Act, which authorizes state-owned clean energy projects, is an example of favorable decarbonization that resulted from years of organizing by DSA. Although New York is unique in that it has the nation’s largest public energy provider, passage of the Build Public Renewables Act shows that grassroots organizing works. People in every jurisdiction can organize for clean energy sources like solar power. 

On a daily basis, people in every jurisdiction can recycle and use other sustainability efforts to minimize our own ecological footprint. Reusing items also serves the dual purpose of minimizing the flow of money from corporations to dangerous regimes. 

Of course, the final boss of ecosocialism is capitalism as a whole. Ecological balance is inconsistent with capitalism’s profit maximization that commodifies both people and nature. In that vein, ecosocialism requires a widespread and revolutionary social transformation and collectivization of the means of production. But the roots for ecosocialism are planted at home. 

The post Grassroots Red-Greens  appeared first on Midwest Socialist.

Enjoy your December National Political Committee (NPC) newsletter! Our NPC is an elected 27-person body (including both YDSA Co-Chairs) which functions as the board of directors of DSA. This month, check out hot labor solidarity across the country, sign up for volunteer opportunities for the New Year, and more!

And to make sure you get our newsletters in your inbox, sign up here! Each one features action alerts, upcoming events, political education, and more.

• From the National Political Committee — Bringing the Light
• Workers Demand More Forever Program Committee — Apply by Friday 1/9/26
• DSA Archive Volunteer Opportunity — Deadline Saturday 1/10/26
• Be Part of the DSA National Editorial Board! Apply by Thursday 1/15/26

From the National Political Committee — Bringing the Light

Dear Comrades,

Cultures around the world have found ways to celebrate the time around the winter solstice, using candles and lights to cut through the early darkness, and celebrations and rituals to combat the isolation and sadness that comes with the winter’s chill. 

As socialists, this is a time to pause and remember what we are fighting for; to look past the commercialism and commodification and understand that we deserve to have the space and safety to make community, the resources to enjoy the company of our loved ones, and the right to rest. As the old slogan goes, “we fight for bread, but we fight for roses, too.” We, the working class, have the right to have our basic needs fulfilled, and we also have the right to lives full of joy and celebration and relaxation. 

The symbolism of the season holds true: everywhere you look, you can see our comrades in DSA finding ways to bring light into the world. Chapters across the country, from Atlanta to Detroit to Denver and beyond, are standing strong with our partners at Starbucks Workers United and saying “No contract? No coffee!” If your chapter isn’t already engaged in Starbucks solidarity but you’d like to be, get in touch with DSA’s National Labor Commission and get started, and in the meantime, don’t hesitate to find a nearby picket line and jump in!

With the final runoffs in the bag, season is officially over for the year and just across the river from the soon-to-be-Mamdani-led New York City, two socialists and proud North New Jersey DSA members, Jake Ephros and Joel Brooks, won their Jersey City Council races, bringing a socialist legislative bloc to the city in one fell swoop. 

And from coast to coast, chapters are taking on Trump’s fascist deportation machine: participating in ICE Watch programs, organizing for sanctuary city legislation, and making ICE collaboration a toxic decision for businesses like Avelo Airlines.

There is so much more critical work happening everywhere in the country as DSA works to build working class power and take back our rights and dignity from the fascists and their billionaire funders. If you are not yet a DSA member, join us now. And if you are a member, you’ve still got time to jump in on the Fall Drive, recruit three new folks and win yourself a limited edition 2025 Fall Drive t-shirt, designed by Chattanooga DSA leader and labor artist Tabitha Arnold!

And Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA), our youth and students section, is preparing for next year’s organizing too. Are you a student interested in building the movement for democratic socialism on your campus? Know someone who is? Registration for the 2026 YDSA Organizing Conference is open! The Conference will be held from 2/20/26 to 2/22/26 in Chicago, Illinois. The weekend will be full of inspiring speakers, opportunities to connect with other organizers from across the country, and tons of skills workshops. You can register at the link here. Early bird rate of $99 ends this Sunday, 12/21!

2026 will demand a lot of our energy, so we genuinely hope that you have the chance to recharge your batteries with warmth and light and your favorite holiday snacks and plenty of rest over the next few weeks. The fight continues, and we’ll see you in the new year!

In Solidarity, Comfort, and Joy,

Megan and Ashik
DSA National Co-Chairs

Workers Demand More Forever Program Committee — Apply by Friday 1/9/26

Applications are now open for the Workers Demand More (WDM) Forever Program committee! As a reminder, Resolution 34, Workers Deserve More Forever, was passed at this August’s National Convention. The 13-member program committee calls for four at-large members in good standing. To apply, see here. The application deadline is Friday, January 9th at 11:59pm PT.

This committee is time bound. After its tasks are completed, the Program committee will dissolve and the NPC members who had been on the committee will be the primary liaisons and stewards to the organization’s various bodies and socialists in office to support and promote the effective use of WDM.

DSA Archive Volunteer Opportunity — Deadline Saturday 1/10/26

The Archives Policy of the Democracy Commission (CB01-01) was passed by the 2025 DSA National Convention to create an archive of DSA meeting minutes, Convention results, and standing policies available to all members, and empowered the NPC to designate a group of members to assist with the archiving project, with their efforts concluding no later than January 1, 2027. Archive documents can be submitted here.

The Archive Committee will be undertaking this effort over the next year to ensure the archive is completed, and will assist the NPC Secretary in regular reporting and expanding the scope of resources to be available in the Archives. Applications are due by Saturday 1/10/26.

Be Part of the DSA National Editorial Board! Apply by Thursday 1/15/26

Applications are now open to the 2025-2027 DSA National Editorial Board. The Editorial Board is a 9-member body appointed by the NPC that oversees the organization’s two national publications, Democratic Left and Socialist Forum. The Editorial Board is composed of members with various points of view on important political questions. It does not exist to develop a single theoretical or strategic perspective. As a result, the publications reflect the wide range of views within the organization. The goal of the Editorial Board is not to espouse a particular “party line,” but to maintain strong editorial standards for our publications. As such, the process prioritizes familiarity with DSA and editorial experience in appointment to positions on the board.

If you are interested in being appointed to the Editorial Board, please fill out this application by Thursday, 1/15/26 at 11:59PM Hawaii Standard Time.

The post Your National Political Committee Newsletter — Bringing the Light appeared first on Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Tried and true tips to help labor organizers stay focused on what matters most: worker self-activity.

The post 20 tips for new organizers from 1199 appeared first on EWOC.

A member of the National Political Committee shares lessons learned from growing up in a political crisis.

The post How to Survive as a Teen Under Trump appeared first on Democratic Left.

By Halsey H.

The past decade of the Democratic Socialists of America has been defined by shockingly successful moonshot campaigns that catapulted socialism into national conversation, leaving organizers scrambling to meet the moment without sacrificing their principles. First, we had Bernie’s 2016 presidential campaign and its 2020 encore, and then just a few months ago, Zohran Mamdani shattered expectations with his election as  mayor of New York City. Now, it might be Wisconsin’s turn: MADSA member and State Rep. Francesca Hong announced her bid for Governor at our September General Meeting. Since then, there has been widespread debate in the chapter, but one thing we all seem to agree on: this race could be a huge opportunity for socialists in Wisconsin. The question is – are we ready?

MADSA members have been thinking about this race in the context of our preference for “cadre campaigns,” where we slowly and deliberately build our organization from the ground up by sending candidates into office who are drafted to represent DSA’s politics in office. I believe this is the best strategy for building our independent electoral apparatus, and laying the groundwork for a party – but it’s not the only strategy. In some ways, our relationship to Fran’s campaign might look more similar to the Bernie campaigns, where DSA reverse-engineered a socialist organization out of an electoral campaign. The comet’s going to pass whether we like it or not, and we know people are already watching it. We also know that the only thing that can win socialism is a mass working class organization, so we need to make sure that when people look around with new eyes, they find us and the movement we’re building. That means the question of whether this race will advance the class struggle can only be answered by our ability and willingness to rise to the occasion and build that movement.

In my mind, the decision to get involved in any electoral campaign (or other organizing project) should come back to three simple questions (distilled by comrade Marianela D’Aprile):

1. Does it make more socialists?
2. Does it build the power and organization of the working class? 
3. Does it build the power of DSA? 

I believe that Fran and her campaign team want the answers to be yes, but I don’t think it’s entirely up to them– it’s up to us. There’s a very real chance that we get to live in a world where Fran runs as an extremely open socialist everywhere, endorses all of our downballot candidates, uses her platform to uplift DSA’s priorities, and encourages people to join DSA at campaign events. In that world, we are firing on all cylinders for most of 2026. We’re running her canvasses in Madison and across the state, including in districts where we don’t have enough of a footprint to run downballot candidates, and using them to recruit like crazy – since we’ll be the field leads, and hosting the after-canvass cookouts. We’ll be expanding our membership, expanding and deepening our coalition relationships, and building internal infrastructure – and potentially building toward a statewide DSA legislative campaign. Win or lose, a race like this can change the landscape of WI politics for the better, and build DSA’s capacity to take on state-level policy fights – and other struggles – in the future. Some of it will be on Fran, but a lot of it will come down to whether or not MADSA and our comrades around Wisconsin have the capacity to use this campaign to make more socialists, empower our class, and build our organization.  For the record, I want to be convinced, because I fear the gravitational pull of a statewide race will be too much to resist for the majority of the chapter. We might as well try to get the best endorsement situation we can.

Below I’ve laid out my understanding of the state of the race, our relationship with Fran and her campaign, and the chapter’s strengths and weaknesses. Finally, I propose what an ideal campaign would look like, and what commitments it will take from Fran AND from MADSA to get us there. If we don’t feel like those commitments are possible, then we shouldn’t endorse. If they are, we may very well be foolish not to.

Some context: as the co-chair of the chapter and active member of the Electoral Working Group, I have been privy to many conversations about and with Fran. I have also been involved in several DSA campaigns, including as a DSA rep to a campaign coalition team. There are definitely aspects to this campaign and our political terrain that I don’t have insight into, and I encourage other comrades to elaborate upon or argue with what I’ve laid out here. I do think this reflects the gist of the conversations about Fran’s campaign in EWG, and I hope this will be a useful framework for chapter members thinking about this huge decision in the coming weeks. Thank you to comrades Wesley, Justin, Adithya, Athnie, and others for your contributions!

The Fran We’re Dealt

In assessing this race, it’s helpful to understand MADSA’s current relationship with Fran. It is true that Fran is not a homegrown cadre, drafted by our organization to represent us in the Assembly as part of our political strategy. Despite this, we maintain a positive, but limited, relationship with her, and she behaves in office as we’d hope any socialist would – introducing legislation like the Economic Justice Bill of Rights, elevating the demands of organized labor and social movements, and taking the fight to the Democratic Party when necessary. To be frank, I think the reason we’re so distant is that for most of Fran’s time in office, MADSA hasn’t had the electoral or legislative capacity to build the relationship to the point where it would have been mutually beneficial.

Some background: Fran was elected in 2020 at the top of a crowded field that included at least one other DSA member, Marsha Rummell. (MADSA did not endorse in that race, but did endorse Fran’s current chief of staff, Nada Elmikashfi, for State Senate District 26). After the election, Fran joined DSA. Fran was re-elected in 2022 and again in 2024, which is when MADSA endorsed her for the first time and about when she joined the WI Legislative Socialists Caucus. We didn’t get involved in the field for her 2024 State Assembly race, as she was a popular incumbent with no primary challenger. Instead, we endorsed on paper and threw our weight behind another race that needed more capacity, Maia Pearson’s unsuccessful challenge to incumbent Rep. Shelia Stubbs. I believe it was a mistake not to get more involved in Fran’s campaign, or at least bring her into greater communication with the chapter, as doing so would have given us more opportunities to deepen our working relationship. 

Despite this, she was involved in MADSA’s 2024 priority campaign: Free School Meals for MMSD, and played a crucial role in connecting that local coalition to a state-level one. Occasionally, Fran has attended chapter and working group meetings and participated in DSA events, most notably the YDSA Organizing Fair shortly after the 2024 election, and the Hands Off Medicaid Town Hall earlier this year. We have reason to believe that she’d be willing to have a stronger relationship with us, if our chapter 1) had more capacity – and a strategy – for state-level legislative work and 2) had a formal communication channel with Fran and her office that could keep her in the loop on chapter priorities and facilitate her giving regular reports to MADSA membership. As a popular and highly-motivated activist Assemblywoman, Fran has a lot of political capital – much more than MADSA. She also has a lot of voices in her ear, and unfortunately, we haven’t been strong enough to earn a place amongst the loudest ones. 

Unfortunately, the fact that she has political capital above and beyond MADSA’s means that her decision to run for governor is not an expression of DSA’s democratically-decided strategic priorities. I won’t lie – it’s not ideal that we’re getting involved so late and have so few cadre in the commanding heights of the campaign. As we know from her work in the legislature, Fran is a great fighter, but I think it’s safe to say that this is not a fight MADSA would have picked. If we’d been a factor in Fran’s decision to run for governor, we probably would have come out against it, both because of scale and because of the contradictions inherent to governing as a socialist executive under capitalism. There is a non-zero chance that Fran could win! That does feel like a bridge we’ll have to cross when we come to it, but we do owe it to ourselves to be serious about what that will entail, before the rubber hits the road. If we’re lucky, we can get some progressive stuff done with her as Governor, but there is a real tension implicit in having to govern, as we’re seeing with Zohran in NYC. We need to make sure having a socialist executive won’t backfire or fracture our movement, and see our role as creating the conditions in which a socialist executive can succeed.

My belief is that the strength of any socialist elected depends on the strength of the movement that supports them, their ability to elevate movement demands, and how well they communicate back to the movement about the compromises they are forced to make – because there will be compromises. Even if Fran was the ideal cadre candidate in every conceivable way, there would be decisions she’s forced to make where there’s no good option. If we get involved in this race, we should get realistic about what we hope to achieve on the inside, and where she’ll need movement pressure from the outside – both to advance a popular mandate for socialist transitional demands, and to defend that mandate from the backlash of capitalists and their allies in the state and federal government. 

Can MADSA Meet the Moment?

While the weakness of the relationship with Fran is partially due to the weakness of our chapter in the past, our chapter is in a vastly different place than it was even a year ago. Our membership has nearly doubled since November 2024, and our active membership, though harder to quantify, feels like it’s quadrupled. Dozens of new members are pouring in every month, bringing new ideas, skills, energy, and enthusiasm. New members are taking on new responsibilities, building an increasingly comradely and democratic culture. 

We have a chapter that is committed to the ultimate vision of building an independent socialist party, and an Electoral Working Group eager to expand our electoral machine. And in Madison, we can prioritize non-partisan campaigns on a local level, and focus on a vision of building up cadre candidates — leaders developed through our ranks. Our working group is committed to only recommending endorsements for campaigns where DSA will have a significant impact. That vision has driven some skepticism about Fran’s campaign, since it is 1) a Democratic Party primary in a high-stakes general election 2) not a cadre campaign and 3) would require a massive commitment from the chapter, potentially taking away from other cadre candidates. This skepticism has allowed us to take seriously the opportunities and challenges offered by this race, and given us time to build the relationships we need to make it work.

It has also forced us to take stock of what we have to offer, which at this point in MADSA’s development, could be quite a lot. Thanks in part to our recent local program canvassing, we have at least a dozen people who could be field leads tomorrow, and another dozen who could be running shifts by the end of the month. We have countless more people who could canvass and take on other field volunteer roles, and many who can bottomline town halls, socials, and fundraiser events. This will take a tremendous amount of training and development work, but luckily, we have a strong and constantly improving Membership Engagement Team which is building an onboarding pipeline in conjunction with the Political Education Working Group. We have a good track record of comradely coalition work and connections throughout Madison, and have members with connections to smaller towns and cities across the state, who could help host events, train field teams, and even seed DSA chapters in parts of Wisconsin where we’re still punching below our weight.

While we bring a lot to the table, some things are still in the oven. Our Electoral Working Group was chartered just a few months ago, and although it is doing great work and holding 20+ member meetings on a biweekly basis, the group has quickly borne the stress of increased attention on DSA. We went from having no endorsement procedure to handling endorsements at four different levels of government in mere weeks, and will need to keep learning and adapting to changing circumstances. As of this week, we’re now officially in the process of drafting a 2026 Political Platform to replace the outdated version from 2021, which will hopefully guide our organizing work for the next year and give some direction to our small but growing stable of policy people. We also have a desire to develop a coordinating structure to build on our Endorsed Candidate Expectations and support communication between our endorsed electeds and the chapter, but no concrete plans just yet.

All of that information and organizing infrastructure is still getting built, but the foundation is there, and could grow much stronger if we get involved in Fran’s campaign at a high level and bring all of that experience back into the chapter. Both our program/policy work and nascent SIOC team can also help us build a stronger relationship with Milwaukee DSA and other WI DSA chapters, to the point where we could lead the adoption of a Wisconsin DSA Platform and build campaigns around shared statewide priorities. A statewide race is the perfect foundation for that kind of Wisconsin-wide coordination, and would help us build the organizing relationships we’ll need if and when Fran wins the election (and if she loses, too).

The State of Play

It’s been a long few months since Fran first announced her candidacy for Governor, and some of the chapter’s initial apprehension seems to have shifted. Fran has a new campaign manager who is a DSA member, and seems to be drawing a lot of her high-level team from Milwaukee DSA. Several MADSA members are also involved in their capacity as individuals. As a result, we’re seeing improvements in her messaging around “democratic socialism,” which now has pride of place on the front page of her website. There definitely could be a greater emphasis on DSA and recruitment to DSA in her campaign comms, but signs are promising that she’d be willing to work with us to shape her messaging. She has expressed to both Milwaukee and Madison DSA that she’s interested in getting us involved in field organizing in a big way, and sees us a key potential partner in her campaign.

There are also some external forces that may be affecting some of the positive developments, and could continue to push this campaign more into “socialist tribune” territory. The race is almost comedically stacked with good-enough, labor-friendly, progressive-ish Wisconsin Democrats, and the entrance of Mandela Barnes – a classic “progressive except for Palestine” who’s running like he’ll run away with the primary despite his reputation as a loser – makes it even easier for Fran to distinguish herself as not just another progressive, but the true fighter for Palestine and the only unapologetic socialist. To really take advantage of that opening, Fran needs to run like she’s not afraid to lose – because the way the winds are blowing, that’s the only way to win. If she positions herself hard against the establishment and ready to take the battle to both the Republicans who want to flood our state with masked ICE agents and the Democratic Party establishment that doesn’t have any solution for that or just about anything else, she can win over broad swaths of working class Wisconsinites who are sick of business as usual.

With these positive developments, it is looking more likely that the campaign will be ripe with opportunities for socialists in Madison and Wisconsin to build our capacities. Specifically, it opens up avenues to 

1) coordinate and collaborate with other DSA chapters around Wisconsin

2) recruit and develop leaders in communities where we don’t have a strong presence yet, through field work and through building coalition relationships with other organizations involved in the campaign 

3) shore up our policy knowledge, deepen our working relationship with the WI Legislative Socialists, and help us develop our state-level electoral/legislative strategy

4) build up our campaigning capacity for future electoral and other work

5) and above all, to articulate a socialist politics and a vision for our state that speaks to the needs of working-class Wisconsinites.

Playing Our Hand 

Now that we know what cards we’re holding, we need a gameplan. It’s up to the chapter to iron out what our involvement in the campaign could look like, but I think it’s shaping up like this:

• MADSA grinds to deliver Madison for Fran and builds a city-wide base for her key campaign demands, on the strength of issue-forward slate canvasses for Fran and our downballot candidates 
• DSA chapters cohere a statewide DSA network to coordinate around the Fran campaign, and work toward an in-person WI DSA conference. That network will:
  • Go absolutely beast mode on field in towns and cities around the state
  • Train up DSA field leads where we have chapters, and send experienced organized to seed and mentor chapters where we don’t
  • ID campaign volunteers to recruit to DSA
  • Host & run town halls on the key issues, and use them to identity volunteers and local leaders & help sharpen our messaging 
• WI DSA can think about what kinds of campaigns we can lead around issues where Fran’s platform overlaps with ours. If we have that vision in place well before the election, we can bring leaders we meet and develop through the campaign into that work long-term, whether as DSA members or coalition partners.

I’ve said that the ball is mostly in MADSA’s court, but there are definitely some things we need from Fran and her team to make this possible. At a basic level, that looks like her promoting DSA somewhat regularly, and getting some MADSA people getting involved at a high level in the campaign (especially in field but also in comms, fundraising, etc.). We also need her to commit to endorsements for our down-ballot races, so we can campaign for them as a slate and do joint canvasses in Madison and Milwaukee. Finally, it would be great if we could get Fran to do a little political education work with us while on the trail and in office. Hopefully we can come to a shared understanding of what DSA needs and wants from this campaign, and get everyone, including Fran, bought into the idea that DSA can and will throw down if we think we’re building socialism, but will also work very hard to keep the class struggle on track.

Can we Make Better Possible?

I’ve laid out what I think MADSA’s involvement in this race should look like in an ideal world, and what we need from Fran to make it possible. Now I want to lay out concretely what I think we need to put into this race in order to get out what we need from it. 

First, we need to make sure our heads are in the game. We need the whole chapter locked in on being serious, curious, adaptable, and comradely, and thoroughly committed to constructive communication and organizational democracy. Getting involved in a high-profile race like this means a lot of people are going to be circling us, joining, and wanting a piece of what we have to offer. We need to keep our eyes on the prize (socialism!) and make sure that we’re not falling for any opportunistic pitfalls. This will take rigorous planning and creative problem-solving. Internally, we’ll need to set up a democratic structure that can hold the relationship with Fran and the campaign, but not too close to the chest. There should be opportunities for rank and file MADSA members to get involved in the campaign coordinating structure we develop. This will make this project successful, and can help us lay the groundwork for more democratic, accountable relationships with our member-electeds in the future.

Secondly, we need to be ready to grind. This campaign only works if we are all in, and have a large proportion of the chapter ready to do the work – not just canvassing, but learning how to lead canvasses and phonebanks, cut turf, run events, fundraise, and do campaign comms. Having people learn those skills will build up our chapter’s capacity for future fights, but will also take countless hours of chapter member time away from other things we could be doing. If our members, and especially our electorally-inclined members and leaders, are not excited to do that work, they should say so, so we don’t overpromise and underdeliver. We’ll also need to be everywhere all the time, and be representing DSA in a positive way in coalition spaces, at canvass kickoffs, at campaign socials, and at the doors – and then, we’ll need to be identifying potential recruits like crazy and making sure our follow-up game is on point. This campaign gives us a great opportunity to talk to people in Madison and around the state who haven’t heard of DSA, and may be outside of our usual recruitment circles, and we should make sure we’re bringing them into a healthy and welcoming chapter with lots of ways to get plugged in. On top of the campaign work, we’ll need a summer of socials, trainings, and political education. 

We also need to invest in our relationship with Milwaukee DSA and other WI chapters, and make sure we’re building member-to-member social ties and space for political discussion and creative collaboration, not just top-down coordinating bodies. A centralizing priority with such high stakes will be a great opportunity to do any repair work that needs to be done, and to start to articulate what a statewide DSA Program could look like. 

Finally, we need to get aligned internally – or at least start the conversation – about what we want to see from Fran’s administration, and who we’d like to see in it. We need a sense of what we think we can accomplish with a woman on the inside, and what issues we expect to have to push her on from the outside.

That’s a lot to think about, but luckily, we have some time. As of today, Fran is still in the petitioning process, and will have a questionnaire, an interview, and another candidate forum for her to tell us what she thinks. At the same time, we need to be talking amongst ourselves about what we think we can realistically deliver, how much we’re willing to sacrifice to do it, and whether we think it’s worth it in order to make more socialists, grow DSA, and build the power of the working class to defeat capitalism and win social, economic, and political democracy for all. I believe in our chapter’s democracy and our ability to make a strong, empowered, democratic decision about this endorsement, and I look forward to continued discussions about this over the weeks and months to come.