Socialists in Office Are Building Power on the Local Level

The Philadelphia conference was part of the How We Win series organized by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) Fund, a 501c3 educational nonprofit that is an affiliate organization to the much larger DSA. The event marks a milestone in the growing movement to build power and implement socialist policies at all levels of government. ​“The Democratic Socialists of America of today is not the organization I joined in 2014” State Sen. Nikil Saval (D-Pa.) explained at a session during the fall meeting. The former magazine editor-turned-socialist officeholder added, ​“DSA has gone from being a small group of well-meaning activists to a real political force. And one that still can grow while united.”

DSA Fund aims to create a lasting network of socialist policymakers who can share strategies, collaborate across jurisdictions, and push forward transformative legislation. Shortly after the election, DSA Fund hosted an online webinar with dozens of democratic-socialist officeholders from around the country to discuss how to resist the Right and defend communities that are set to be targeted by the incoming Trump administration. One of the speakers, Indianapolis city councilor Jesse Brown (D-Ind.), said: ​“Thanks to the network of elected officials that the DSA Fund has helped nurture for years, dozens of us were able to meet within days of the election to plan out how we can serve our constituents and resist the far-right swing in the federal and state governments. Socialists must lead, and we are proudly rushing in to help save the day after the corporate wing of the Democratic Party failed so spectacularly on November 5.”

At the September gathering in Philadelphia, policymakers and staff from several northeastern states were joined by national DSA co-chairs Ashik Siddique and Megan Romer, as well as representatives from six Socialist In Office Committees (SIOCs) from regional DSA chapters. While a separate body in a chapter from the formal leadership, the SIOCs help facilitate work between the socialists in office and chapter heads.

Philadelphia was a sequel to a national gathering the DSA Fund convened for socialist policymakers in June 2023 in Washington, D.C. That conference was cosponsored by Jacobin and The Nation magazines and featured keynote speeches from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.). The 2023 event marked the first dedicated convening of democratic socialist lawmakers in nearly four decades.

Over the past year since the initial gathering, DSA and its elected officials have faced a corporate-sponsored backlash from groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, establishment Democrat primary challengers and a right-wing media dead set on attacking the organization. These anti-progressive forces have spent tens of millions of dollars to support challengers to Rep. Bush and her fellow Squad member Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), DSA-endorsed officials who both lost re-election in their respective primary races. 

The agenda of the How We Win event in Philadelphia was not focused on competing in elections, however, but governing. The regional gathering explored the process of co-governance, where democratic socialist officeholders and their chapters collaborate together to advance the interest of the working class in public policy. This cooperation, which is often advanced through SIOC committees, can take form through the introduction of legislation, ballot measures or other methods to shift the balance of power through policy and law.

The conference began with a session about socialist-oriented policy where panelists spoke about the long-term democratic socialist vision for housing justice, and how efforts to provide greater protections against eviction help strengthen the working class while eroding the power and interests of private landlords. State Sen. Julia Salazar (D-N.Y.) and Ithaca Common Council member Kayla Matos (D-N.Y) reflected on the organizing efforts that went into passing Good Cause Eviction in New York State earlier this year. Without those laws, landlords may arbitrarily not renew leases if they want to raise the rent or otherwise get the tenant out. New York’s law — applicable to New York City and to other municipalities that opt in — limits how landlords can remove tenants from residential housing without defined reasons for doing so. 

Salazar and Matos spoke about the relentless organizing that went into getting Good Cause Eviction passed, as well as the ways that private landlords exercised their own organizing to water down the bill at the state level. Matos pointed to successes in Ithaca and in Mid-Hudson Valley in pushing local municipalities to opt into the Good Cause Eviction framework. 

The Philadelphia conference provided a rare and valuable in-person forum to discuss successful interactions between local DSA leaders and their elected officials across different chapters. Meag Jae Kaman, Co-Chair of Philadelphia DSA, expressed gratitude for having a space ​“where our chapter leaders and electeds could interface, learn from, and get to know other organizers, electeds, and staff. We all have so much to learn from each other and it’s also hugely validating to see others have found valuable lessons in our chapter’s work. I’m excited to share these insights and continue to develop our programs and relationships with lessons learned in mind.”

In addition to the socialist politicians and the chapters that support them, the conference included the aides of the democratic socialist officeholders. The staff are a critical conduit between the electeds and the DSA membership. Benjamin Moss-Horwitz, a staffer for State Rep. Rick Krajewski (D-Pa.) said, ​“spaces where we can talk through our experiences and hone a strategic framework are indescribably helpful. If we are going to seriously rebuild the American Left, we are going to need many more spaces like this.”

Some DSA elected officials have fewer staffers than their non-socialist peers because they pay a living wage, so their budget for hiring is more limited. And some smaller cities and counties do not provide aides to electeds, and in these cases SIOCs can help fill the gap. SIOCs hand socialist electeds a leg up to advancing the socialist policy agenda by providing in-kind support that might otherwise come from an employee.

One policy area that has united socialist electeds is the fight to combat climate change. Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha (D-N.Y.), who is part of Mid-Hudson Valley DSA, spoke with a current chapter leader about the role DSA played in passing New York’s historic Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA). The socialist legislator noted that ​“the upstate/​downstate wedge can be used to stop socialist reforms.” Through a strategy that included mobilizing DSA chapters across New York State, along with allies in labor and other nonprofits, advocates ultimately moved the transformational state-level climate bill over the finish line. This kind of successful grassroots legislative effort helped the Mid-Hudson Valley chapter grow from 180 to over 500 members over the course of the campaign.

The conference also addressed the work of elected officials to pass resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. Socialist officeholders from Tompkins County of New York provided two examples of varying success.

Veronica Pillar, a socialist Tompkins County Legislator, described how her legislative body was presented with a solely pro-Israel resolution amid the assault on Gaza. In response, Pillar organized support for a separate pro-ceasefire resolution. While her resolution failed by one vote, it inspired others in Ithaca, the country’s largest city, to attempt to pass their own ceasefire resolution.

Matos, the Ithaca councilor, learned from Pillar’s experience in the county legislature and shifted their strategy. Matos got buy-in from the mayor to present a ceasefire resolution and avoid it being killed in a ​“study session.” With the support of community groups like Jewish Voice for Peace, Matos introduced the resolution, entitled Support of Permanent Ceasefire and Preventing Loss of Human Life in the Middle East, which sparked a series of amendments and counter resolutions. Through organizing with the other DSA officeholders and allies, Matos was able to amend the counter resolution to add in demands to end the detention of Palestinians civilians held without charge, increase unrestricted aid to those suffering in Gaza and put in place a full ceasefire.

On the local level, attendees of the conference shared experiences working on issues critical to their working-class constituents, chief among them housing. Frankie Santos Fritz, who attended both How We Win conferences, relayed how DSA member and Montgomery County Councilmember Kristin Mink (D-Md.) (who Fritz is a senior aide of) received guidance from Berkeley California Rent Board Vice-Chair Soli Alpert (D-Calif.).

Alpert met Mink and Fritz at the 2023 How We Win gathering and guided the Maryland office ​“on how rent stabilization can be used to hold slumlords accountable for mass violation of the housing code,” according to Fritz. ​“We directly modeled our rent freeze policy for troubled properties on our conservation with Soli,” the senior staffer concluded. The policy is now law in Montgomery County.

This networking is especially important for socialist legislators who don’t have allies in office. Despite representing a district in the home state of Bernie Sanders, State Sen. Tanya Vyhovsky (D/PP - Vt.) is the only socialist among a legislature of 30. She explained how she feels ​“adopted” by the neighboring New York socialists in office, adding that ​“it is lonely to be a socialist in office and this work is impossible without relationships. How We Win events are critical to building and sustaining our movement.”

Salazar, the New York state senator, concluded the gathering by saying:

“The DSA Fund’s How We Win conference is emblematic of a dynamic and extraordinary moment for democratic socialism and the organized Left in the U.S. right now. Gathering with democratic socialist elected officials and local movement leaders from our respective regions at How We Win has personally been the most edifying experience in my time as a legislator. The conference builds strong bonds among socialist legislators nationwide and serves as an exchange of policy ideas that expand our political imagination and push us to reimagine what is possible. Engaging in robust conversations about co-governance models through How We Win has been crucial as we continue to grow the ranks of democratic socialists at every level of government.”

The incoming Trump administration promises newfound attacks on working people and marginalized communities across the country. It will be the job of socialists and other left-wing organizers to not just counter these attacks but to build a movement that can provide pathways toward a more just and equitable future. As the How We Win gatherings illustrate, growing and sharing socialist policy on the local level can play a key role in this effort.