Reading Group – 11/22
Sunday – November 22 at 2 PM PDT
Join the DSA Ventura County book club for discussions about selected readings. If you love history, the written word, or the world around you, then you belong here!
This will be a friendly, inclusive event open to all, regardless of prior experiences or familiarity with the topic.
“Socialist Surge” Powers “Bluenami”
A post-election victory call showcased newly elected DSA endorsees from all over the country. They agreed on one thing: The work is just getting started.
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Metro DC DSA Condemns Councilmember Christina Henderson’s Attempted Power Grab and Disregard for DC Home Rule
Metro DC DSA Condemns Councilmember Christina Henderson’s Attempted Power Grab and Disregard for DC Home Rule
Date: November 8, 2026
Media Contact: For all press inquiries, please contact media@mdcdsa.org.
Washington, DC: Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America condemns At-Large Councilmember Christina Henderson’s cynical attempt to manipulate the District’s Home Rule laws for her own political advantage, undermining the democratic process and distracting from the urgent challenges facing working-class Washingtonians.
Details: In 2020, Henderson switched her party affiliation from Democrat to independent to run for an At-Large Council seat. Now, following Councilmember Robert White’s resignation, Henderson attempted to reverse that decision, potentially depriving the DC Democratic Party of its authority to appoint an interim replacement and shifting that power to the DC Council. When the DC Democratic Party moved to exercise its appointment authority, selecting Jamal Holtz before Henderson’s registration change took effect, Henderson raised the prospect of legal action. Only after her maneuver failed did she reverse course and re-register as an independent.
Analysis: Home Rule is not a political tool to be invoked when convenient and discarded when inconvenient. It is the foundation of the District’s limited right to govern itself, a right generations of Washingtonians have fought to secure against congressional interference.
Henderson’s actions have all the appearances of a naked political power grab, seemingly designed to strengthen her position for a potential challenge to the Council chairmanship. Whatever her ambitions, Washingtonians deserve better than elected officials exploiting party registration rules to advance their political careers.
This spectacle is particularly offensive at a moment when DC residents face an escalating affordability crisis. Working families are struggling with rising rents, the cost of groceries, and underfunded public services. Instead of addressing these urgent needs, Henderson has manufactured a political controversy over who gets to fill a temporary vacancy on the Council.
The timing could hardly be worse. As the District enters a new political era, with renewed threats to our autonomy and an expanded National Guard presence in our streets, our elected officials should be demonstrating the seriousness and resolve necessary to defend DC residents against federal interference. Instead, Henderson’s political maneuvering makes our local government appear unserious, irresponsible, and consumed by personal ambition.
Bottom Line: The irony of Henderson invoking Home Rule to defend her actions should not be lost on anyone. The District’s right to self-government belongs to its residents, not to politicians seeking to manipulate the rules for personal advantage. The DC Democratic Party’s authority to appoint an interim replacement is established under District law, and voters will have the opportunity to elect their next At-Large Councilmember in a special election.
Metro DC DSA supports respecting the established appointment process while reaffirming our commitment to full DC statehood, which would eliminate the undemocratic congressional restrictions on our local government that helped create this controversy.
Councilmember Henderson should abandon these political games and return her attention to the people she was elected to serve. Washingtonians need leaders fighting for affordable housing, strong public schools, fully funded public services, and genuine democratic self-determination, not politicians more interested in their next promotion than the needs of their constituents.
Our city deserves a government that takes itself seriously, respects the will of its voters, and puts working people first.
The post Metro DC DSA Condemns Councilmember Christina Henderson’s Attempted Power Grab and Disregard for DC Home Rule appeared first on Metro DC DSA.
Steering Committee Meeting – 11/12
Date: Thursday, November 12 at 5:30 pm
Monthly Steering Committee Meetings are open to members to observe but, generally, only Steering Committee members may vote and participate.
A New Generation in Revolt: France’s Revolutionary Student Movement
General Chapter Meeting – November
Date: Thursday, November 19, 6 pm PDT
Many hands make light work.
Please reference our Slack’s events channel, or general, for the Agenda.
Zoom Meeting link will appear upon RSVP.
Seize The Moment! Transform Georgia For The 99%!
This past Tuesday’s election results were a stunning popular repudiation of Trump’s neofascist MAGA movement and the GOP’s vicious brutality over the past two years.
A “Blue Tsunami” and across-the-board leftward shifts have overwhelmed voter suppression, gerrymandering, violent intimidation, and hundreds of millions of dollars in corporate spending to break 20 years of Republican control of the state government.
With the fascists routed, demobilized, and disorganized, we now have a historic opportunity to course correct and advance an agenda that centers the working class to reclaim our democratic, reproductive, and economic rights.
Democrats have won decisive majorities of the statewide popular vote, meaning our state government has a crucial responsibility and moral imperative to live up to the democratic mandate laid down by the people. The new Bottoms administration must seize the moment and deliver the transformative policy change that Georgia workers deserve.
Georgians deserve a state government that:
- passes the Reproductive Freedom Act to end the abortion ban
- transitions to a 100% renewable green energy economy with publicly owned utilities so that the necessities for life are not tools for corporate profit and reliable public transportation across the state
- protects communities from ICE terror by ending the 287(g) program so that immigrants and communities of color can live in the peace that every American deserves
- guarantees healthcare, including trans and reproductive healthcare at all ages, as a human right because healthcare should not be tied to a job in an economy that is focused on replacing workers
- provides reparations for slavery to Black communities to make up for the systemic inequities Black communities still experience to this day
- repeals anti-labor right-to-work laws and makes it easier for workers to unionize, collectively bargain and strike, including in the public sector
- ends partisan gerrymandering and corporate spending in elections through fair, proportional, publicly-financed elections because elections should be about policy, not about how much money corporations and billionaires can spend
- divests from and concretely opposes war and genocide abroad through ending the GILEE program amongst others
- alleviates the burden of the cost of living for working families through deeply-affordable social housing, paid family leave, and a living minimum wage of $20 per hour so that having a family doesn’t mean financial hardship.
The people of Georgia have just delivered a historic refutation of corruption for the ultra-rich billionaire elite, and deserve a state government that works for working people to make everyone’s lives better.
Make no mistake: right-wing forces are already working to sabotage and undermine the people’s mandate. Despite decisively losing the popular vote for State Senate, the Republicans have held onto the chamber by a single vote through their extreme gerrymandering.
The GOP’s continued control of the State Senate runs contradictory to basic democratic principles, is fundamentally illegitimate, and must be shattered and broken through mass popular action.
But these Republicans will not be the only ones standing in the way: the corporations, lobbyists, and billionaires typified by The Atlanta Way will do everything they can to prevent this working class agenda from becoming a reality by leveraging the many moderate cowards, corporate stooges, and sell-out opportunists embedded throughout the Democratic Party to obstruct and co-opt the will of the people.
Over the coming weeks and months, Atlanta DSA and other grassroots organizations will continue organizing to ensure that we overcome resistance from reactionaries in both parties and clear the path for transforming Georgia for working people.
We are entering a new era for our state, and our struggle for social, racial, ecological, and economic justice is only just beginning.
A better Georgia is possible, but only if we work for it.
DSA is growing a mass movement of the working class by building worker power beyond the ballot box, in our streets, communities, and workplaces, and we need your help to do it.
Join DSA today to be part of the fight for a democratic socialist future!
Hakeem Jeffries Wants the Speaker’s Gavel. DSA’s Bloc Quadruples
DSA members and endorsed candidates racked up wins all over the country from local school boards to the U.S. Congress amid a historic rejection of reactionary politics and aggressive wars. This and more in “Red All Over,” Democratic Left’s occasional news roundup.
The post Hakeem Jeffries Wants the Speaker’s Gavel. DSA’s Bloc Quadruples appeared first on Democratic Left.
Remembering Dolores Huerta (1930-2026)
Dolores Huerta, who died on October 28 at the age of 96, was an honorary chair of DSA from 2012-2016. But her involvement with our organization went back as far as being a speaker at a 1975 convention of one of DSA’s predecessor organizations. My wife, Dolores Delgado-Campbell, and I met her even earlier,when we were co-chairs of the United Farm Workers (UFW) lettuce boycott committee in Sacramento.
We entered the fray in 1972 when the corrupt leadership of the Teamsters Union signed sweetheart contracts with grape growers, committing one of the worst examples of union betrayal in U.S. history. These contracts effectively ended the grape strike of mostly Mexican American and Filipino workers that many churches and synagogues had supported. Working with Dolores and the UFW for the next decade shaped our own political and career paths and broadened our political perspectives. We paid a political cost, too.
In 1973, because of her involvement in the lettuce boycott, Dolores Campbell was not rehired (i.e., de facto fired) from her position teaching Women’s History and Mexican American History at American River College in Sacramento. After a seven-year struggle and assistance from her union, she regained the position and became a sought after professor.
In a satisfying footnote to history, more than 50 years after her association with Huerta and la causa made her persona non grata, she brought Huerta to a celebration of women’s history at the college in 2012. The auditorium was filled with students, faculty and staff trying to get into the room.
Dolores Huerta was a relentless bundle of spirit and energy, and it was almost impossible to say “No” to her, in large part because she always worked longer and harder than anyone else. Dolores was also a persistent supporter of DSA’s own Latino Commission (1983- 2004). She is best known for her co-founding of the United Farm Workers union with Cesar Chavez and many others including former DSA honorary chair Eliseo Medina, Philip Vera Cruz, and Larry Itleong.
Her influence has been profound. The creation of the UFW changed the nature of labor organizing in the Southwest and contributed significantly to the growth of Latino politics in the United States.Her frequent public engagements at colleges, universities, and high schools, where she brought a Latina feminist perspective to labor, civil rights, and immigration issues highlights her long history and personal commitment to movement building.
That commitment to community mobilization against corporate power produced a backlash against her. Texas even banned textbooks on U.S. history because they included her story. On the other hand, when I contributed to a popular history book for middle-school students, The Americans: A History of the United States (1970 & 1979), we included a recording Dolores made in 1968.
After leaving UFW leadership in 1994, Dolores traveled the country organizing and encouraging women to step up and take leadership roles in unions, politics, and more. She grew to become one of the leading feminist leaders in the nation focusing particularly on empowering young women and Latinas.
Dolores was raised in the Catholic faith, and her lifetime of work demonstrated her commitment to the ideals of the struggle for social justice.Her thinking evolved constantly. Earlier in her life, she was against abortion; later she was a champion of reproductive justice. Her intensive work, recognized when President Barack Obama presented her with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, illustrated how the fight for union rights and wages also included the fight for women’s leadership in unions, immigrant justice, and reproductive freedom.
In the last year of her life she broke a decades-long silence about being assaulted as a young woman by Cesar Chavez and spoke of the misogyny within the farmworker movement, the labor movement, and society in general.
We consider ourselves blessed to have had many opportunities to learn from Dolores and to have worked alongside her in campaigns. For more information about her lifetime of union and social justice work, read her story at In Memory of Dolores Huerta.
Author Duane Campbell, Dolores Delgado-Campbell, and Dolores Huerta in 2014.
The post Remembering Dolores Huerta (1930-2026) appeared first on DSA Religious Socialism.
Spanish Tenants Have Had Enough
DSA’s Housing Justice Commission hopes to learn from Spanish tenant organizers as their struggle escalates following the eviction and death of Maricarmen Abascal. The commission is backing vigils in solidarity with the general strike called in Spain for Nov. 11.
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