Socialists In Office Are Building Power On The Local Level

By David Duhalde, In These Times

One of the downstream impacts of Donald Trump’s election last month has been a renewed interest in socialist organizing. That has been reflected in the growing ranks of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which has seen its membership increase by nearly 3,000 members since November 5, for a total of around 69,000 (still down from a high water mark of nearly 95,000 in 2021). DSA has also hosted hundreds of trainings, welcome calls and other meetings in chapters across the country to respond to the incoming Trump administration and the threat it poses to the working class.

DSA chapters organize around issues ranging from growing the power of labor unions to supporting abortion access to demanding an end to the war on Gaza, and over the past decade have worked to elect hundreds of socialists to office across the country, up and down the ballot. And while Democrats lost control of the White House and the Senate this November, 32 nationally DSA-endorsed candidates won their races, and will join the ranks of socialist officials in local and national government.

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.”