|
(Second column, 16th story, link)
Related stories:
Meet the Socialists on Their Way to Capitol Hill...
More Power Than EVER...
|
|
The last-minute scramble to name a replacement reminds some in the party of the challenges they faced in 2024.
|
|
As a rose-tinted wave of progressives and democratic socialists win Democratic primaries across the United States, we take a look at two of the organizations behind this recent slate of successful electoral campaigns: the Democratic Socialists of America and Justice Democrats.
From Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York to Melat Kiros in Colorado to Janeese Lewis George in Washington, D.C., major victories from self-described democratic socialists and DSA-backed candidates show that "socialism is losing its scare factor." Ashik Siddique, co-chair of the DSA's National Political Committee, explains that DSA's "goal is to reframe politics around class lines in the United States, which is what the ruling class has been doing forever. We want to transfer power from the 1% to the working class, and to replace capitalism with socialism, which means expanding democracy in every part of our lives."
By equipping progressives with alternatives to the traditional money streams relied upon by establishment Democrats, like the pro-Israel lobby or Big Tech, DSA and the progressive political action committee Justice Democrats hope to propel genuine advocates for the working class, unbought by corporate funding, into the halls of Congress.
"We went into this cycle viewing it as an existential one," says Alexandra Rojas, the executive director of Justice Democrats, which recruited candidates like Avila Chevalier and Adam Hamawy in New Jersey. "We see fascism here at our doorstep, and this is a now-or-never moment for our party."
|
|
Leaders of the Maine Democratic Party are still working toward a process to replace Graham Platner, without angering his supporters.
|
|
Graham Platner is one of just a handful of candidates in recent decades who have withdrawn from a Senate race after securing a major party nomination.
|
|
Mayor Zohran Mamdani may be the new kingmaker of New York City politics. In a sweeping affirmation of his affordability-focused agenda, all three congressional candidates endorsed by Mamdani in a set of contested Democratic primary elections declared victory Tuesday night. Manhattan and the Bronx's Darializa Avila Chevalier and Brooklyn's Claire Valdez and Brad Lander were all joined on the campaign trail by the progressive NYC mayor in the weeks leading up to election night. Like Mamdani, Avila Chevalier and Valdez are members of the NYC chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, which backed their campaigns.
We speak to John Tarleton, editor-in-chief of the New York City local independent newspaper The Indypendent, about the insurgent left of the Democratic Party and the potential national ramifications of the Zohran-DSA machine. The races also functioned as a referendum on the growing split in the Democratic Party over Israel/Palestine. While the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC funneled an estimated $50 million into their opponents' campaigns, Valdez, Avila Chevalier and Lander refused to take any funding from pro-Israel groups and consistently emphasized their support of efforts to restrict U.S. military aid for Israel. "If you ignore the Palestinian cause of Palestinian liberation, you do so at your own peril," says Tarleton.
|
|
