2023 Committee Leadership Candidate Statements
Uncontested Offices
The following offices received a number of nominations equal to or lesser than the number of seats available and are uncontested. Congratulations to these new committee leaders! Candidate statements from uncontested officers are at the bottom of this page.
| Climate Justice Committee Chair | Justin C, Aura V |
| Electoral Politics Committee Member | Benina S, Collin B, Marissa A, Francisco C, Edgar O |
| Healthcare Justice Committee Chair | Denis R, Caroline O |
| Healthcare Justice Committee Coordinator | Steven G, Stephanie T |
| Immigration Justice Committee Chair | Jack SL |
| Mutual Aid Committee Chair | Rich R, Evan H, Monica G |
| Mutual Aid Committee Coordinator | Janet H, Yesi P |
| Political Education Committee Chair | Max B |
| Political Education Committee Coordinator | Dylan L |
Unfilled Offices
The following offices received no submissions. After the election, new committee leadership may choose to appoint members who volunteer to fill these seats. We encourage interested members to submit the 2022 NomCom form, but submissions will not be part of the election and will just be handed over to the new committee leaders.
| Climate Justice Committee | 2 Coordinators |
| Housing & Homelessness Committee | 2 Coordinators |
| Immigration Justice Committee | 1 Chair, 2 Coordinators |
| Labor Committee | 2 Chairs, 2 Coordinators |
| Mutual Aid Committee | 1 Coordinator |
| Political Education Committee | 1 Chair, 1 Coordinators |
Contested Offices
The following offices received more submissions than available seats and the officers will be chosen by election. Ballots will be in your inbox (email as registered with DSA national, be sure to check spam) within the next day or so.
| Housing & Homelessness Committee Chair (2 maximum) |
Harrison L, Ben N, Tommy K |
| Labor Committee Chair (2 maximum) |
Alixandra P, Gabriel O, Frances G |
| Labor Committee Coordinator (2 maximum) |
Daniel D, Daniel LB, Preeti S |
| Mutual Aid Committee Administrator (3 maximum) |
Frances G, Sabrina S, Brian E, Zach F |
Contested Officer Statements
Housing & Homelessness Committee Chair
Harrison L
After several years of inactivity and dwindling membership, the HnH committee is finally developing into it’s own body with a focus on tenant union organizing and integration. This is thanks to the DSA national ETOC program and our committee’s focus on political education over the past year. Our committee already has four cadres of geographically focused tenant organizers across the city who have attended ETOC, and the membership of those cadres continues to grow. These cadres are helping to redefine our chapter’s approach to tenant organizing and how the chapter interacts with LATU, the widely recognized gold-standard of politicized, militant tenant organizing.
If our chapter is serious about committing to multi-racial organizing, I think it’s vital for us to meet LATU, a majority POC org focused on union formation and politicized action outside of electoralism, where they are and I don’t think we can accomplish that without forming tenant union organizing cadres within our chapter.
With this in mind, my intention is to run for a second term as chair of HnH committee in order to solidify and develop these cadres so the committee can replicate itself along these lines.
1. Please describe your previous experience with the Housing & Homelessness committee. – I have been the co-chair, along with Kristina Meshelski, since February 2022. In my time occupying this seat, I’ve done my best to build LA Tenants Union/DSA-LA dual-card cadres through participation in the national Emergency Tenant Organization Committee (ETOC), hosted by the DSA Housing Justice Commission. This was to develop a robust group of chapter members interested in tenant union formation and partnership with LATU, as well as generate more interest in participation in the caucus in the general chapter membership. I also wrote and presented a tenant union organizing/ETOC priority resolution at DSA-LA Convention 2022 which received over 50% support. Lastly, I’ve introduced a semi-regular political education program to committee meetings, a feature conspicuously absent from previous committee administrations. My goal here was for the discussion to generate not only a healthy discussion of the nature of socialist politics in the realm of tenancy, but also a sense of co-ownership and belonging for those who choose to attend the committee meetings.”
2. How do you think the Housing & Homelessness committee should interact with the rest of the DSA-LA chapter? – In my opinion, the Housing & Homelessness committee should be the home base for tenant union organizing and base building within the chapter, an aspect our chapter has not satisfactorily given energy towards. All members interested in organizing their apartment buildings and forming tenant associations, and connecting those TAs to their LATU locals and helping to build out the connection between DSA-LA and the largest, most politicized tenant union in the country should join the committee. While there have been calls from chapter leadership and others for H&H committee to participate in calls to action for legislation through coalitions with non-profits, I personally feel these actions can be performed by the Electoral Politics Committee while keeping H&H a purely base building space which I think would go a long way towards developing a sense of trust between the chapter and LATU. To that end, the branches should agendize ETOC participation in their meetings and direct members to joining H&H.”
3. Do you have any other ideas for the committee in 2023 or information you want to share with voters? (You might consider in your answer that our committee integrates both housed and unhoused tenants.) – My plan is to continue with the work of the past year: get more chapter members to attend the ETOC training, build cadres to form TAs in their buildings and neighborhoods, join those TAs to LATU, and politically develop our members in the direction of base building. Another project for me will be to form a sense of identity for committee members; participation in the committee has been low and inconsistent. In my opinion, this is primarily because of the previous focus in the committee on coalition meeting attendance, calls to action with no bottom-liner, and an overall focus on electoralism and legislation. I believe that members lost confidence in H&H and saw no reason to continue to attend. My project would be to reverse that and develop a permanent population of politicized tenant union organizers within the committee so that it continues the focus on base building within the chapter.”
Housing & Homelessness Committee Chair
Ben N
1. Please describe your previous experience with the Housing & Homelessness committee. – As an LA Tenants Union (LATU) member with over five years of tenant organizing experience (VyBe and Ktown), I acted as a liaison between the H&H Committee and Union Locals during VyBe’s campaign to stop the LA’s proposed “Design District”’ (a city-backed initiative to gentrify Historic Filipinotown). I also attended H&H meetings to discuss LATU’s Days of Rage campaign in 2017.
I have stayed in contact with members of Street Watch and the Echo Park community organizing effort (ending in 2021 with the police raid) throughout my time in LA.
2. How do you think the Housing & Homelessness committee should interact with the rest of the DSA-LA chapter? – The accelerating eviction crisis in Los Angeles continues to be one of the most important issues facing working class Angelinos in 2023. A strong campaign to train volunteers in Unlawful Detainer casework, to fundraise for legal services, and to inform tenants of their rights can not only protect workers at risk of displacement from a record acceleration in rent increases in the city. The practice of building a working group to enact this campaign can direct the electoral and policy arms of DSA while ensuring the organization grows and meets the needs of vulnerable communities in Los Angeles.
The catastrophic increase in unhoused community members is inextricably linked to rising rent and displacement. The broader goals of expanding RSO and bringing property under community ownership depend on the power of organized tenants. Even the most progressive elected leaders will need pressure and direction from a core base.
3. Do you have any other ideas for the committee in 2023 or information you want to share with voters? (You might consider in your answer that our committee integrates both housed and unhoused tenants.) – As evictions return to pre-pandemic levels, stopping displacement will be my primary concern as H&H co-chair. While other organizations (such as LATU) pursue ground resistance and organizing efforts at the apartment level (forming Tenants Associations, physically blocking evictions, protesting landlords), I see DSA LA as INITIALLY contributing to the cause through fundraising campaigns and legal casework, thus alleviating much of the “systemic failure” work that will inevitably overburden and slow other orgs’ movement building.
Housing & Homelessness Committee Chair
Tommy K
Over my several years in Street Watch and in the HnH committee, I have learned a lot from observing and experiencing the various ways that the co-chair position has been used.
And as co-chair I would only use the position to enable, facilitate, and assist members to skill up and take on and share responsibility, and to collectively manage the progress of the committee.
I have seen a tendency among exclusive positions like co-chairs, Which is that restricting important responsibilities to a single person or small group of people has harmful implications for the group.
1) It centers important responsibility on only a few people. Inevitably, when these people falter, become overwhelmed, burn out, lose interest, have other life responsibilities, etc, the responsibilities to the org go undone, as only a few are capable of doing them, and the org is injured. Such as with the previous Treasurer.
2) Allows a small number of people to control or direct the org. I have seen important tasks like agenda-setting or facilitation be controlled by a single person. A single person out of an organization of hundreds, being able to set the pace, tone, rhythm, content of a meeting or what should be a movement, is absurd. When a few people hold a disproportionate amount of power, the direction of the org begins to mesh with their personality, and becomes bogged down by their personal flaws. An org should be directed by its collective motives and objectives, not by the personality of a facilitator.
3) It creates an atmosphere of deference, especially among newer members. Of people feeling like they cannot take responsibility, like it must be given to them by a proper authority. In situations where power is not strictly assigned, I have seen people look to and ask their “leaders” to solve the problem for them. Instead of the members taking the problem upon themselves, and growing in the process, the above mentioned problems of small, centralized decision-making reign. Simply because of the existence of these leadership positions.
4) Again, Because of this assumed non-responsibility, newer members will be very restricted in the growth of their skills and talents. When joining, most people will wait for an authority to tell them what to do, which is an incredibly *dis*-empowering position to place people in, and the above-mentioned problems of limited capacity loom larger. People should be encouraged, supported, and enabled to take power in the organization. It has an incredibly positive effect for that person’s imagination, as well as being healthy for the org to have many people that are capable and experienced. If empowered, newer people will also be encouraged to contribute their ideas. Ideas which a small, centralized group would never have thought of. Which will expand our range of possibility, and we will be stronger for it. And for a member to lead a project from idea to completion is a really great skill for the organization. Ultimately, empowering more members by de-emphasizing elected “leadership” will result in a more effective and powerful organization.
Restricting authority and responsibility to a small number of people like co-chairs is actually the org injuring itself. It isn’t necessary, and it restricts our growth, our capacity, and our collective strength.
As co-chair, I would ensure that the members of the committee are able to collectively and autonomously manage the affairs of the committee, without me being an overbearing or directive influence. I would ensure that no single member becomes too powerful and therefore a bottleneck on the organization. I would ensure that members are encouraged to share the responsibilities of the committee, to learn and grow in the tasks they are capable of handling, to support and mentor other members to be able to step up and share those tasks, to ensure that we never falter due to the lack of an individual, that we are continually becoming more powerful, and are moving in a direction that is collectively determined. Which will instill some sense of hope, power, progress, manifestation, belonging, and excitement in members.
One beneficial part of having assigned responsibility like a co-chair, is that if there are “must do” tasks that must be completed, in the case that the org is low on capacity, it is helpful to have someone that has an assigned responsibility to ensure that task gets done. That would fall on me, but if the org is capable of collectively managing it, it would be beneficial for all to share in that responsibility, and I could serve as a back-stop just in case.
This plan extends to Street Watch as well. I plan on ensuring that everyone that remains a part of Street Watch will be able to collectively determine its future. As one would expect in a socialist, democratic organization. There are Street Watch bylaws, which provide a framework for decision making: two rounds of consensus, and if consensus cannot be reached, then one round of majority voting. We additionally had an informal process, which was that major proposals to change the org would be distributed to all members after the meeting, to give time for non-present members to weigh in, and to resume decision making at the next meeting. And the co-chair position in the Street Watch bylaws was specifically crafted to have as little authority as possible, relegating the co-chair duties only to managing the meetings. I plan on following those guidelines to ensure that what remains of the org is able to make a collective decision about its future.
Other projects of the committee, such as supporting Reclaiming Our Homes, ETOC, or fighting against the sunsetting of COVID tenant protections, I plan on supporting in a similar way as mentioned above. I have specific ideas and wisdom from being a part of several other grassroots organizations that I can bring to the table, but I will introduce my ideas as a member, not as a leader, and ensure that I am not prioritizing or giving more favor or putting my ideas at the top of the agenda.
I plan on coordinating with LATU (LA Tenants Union) where I have been a member for several years as well.
There is an incredible amount of responsibility and pressure on a committee like this, the Housing and Homelessness committee, for a national org like DSA, in a city like LA having likely the most cruel housing in the nation, where 94% of residents think that housing and homelessness is the most important issue, in one of the largest police states in the world. We have to get this right, for the sake of this city and our future. The stakes are so high for our people. There are many tasks on our plate: collective community de-commodified control of housing, mutual aid infrastructure that can rival or replace capitalistic distribution, harm reduction, preventing the state from using mental health + drug use as an excuse to socially cleanse poor people, reclaiming public space from capitalists and BIDs, abolition of police and landlords and evictions and sweeps. We are going to have to be strong as a committee to make it there. Let’s get it.
1. Please describe your previous experience with the Housing & Homelessness committee. – Long time member of Street Watch, participated in organizing in the first round of Reclaiming our Homes.
2. How do you think the Housing & Homelessness committee should interact with the rest of the DSA-LA chapter? – Coordination with other committees where work overlaps, Especially the prison abolition committee, and the mutual aid committee.
The prison abolition committee and HnH could help each other I think. Last I interacted with prison abolition committee in 2020, it was mainly a book club, which can make sense as the first step for a cadre of revolutionaries. However I think prison abolition and HnH can discover a mutually defined praxis of police + prison abolition as it applies to tenants, housed and unhoused. For instance, many people become unhoused when they exit prison, which is an opportunity for learning, organizing, and support from the two committees.
Political Education committee, whom I have long appreciated their good work, would be able to support HnH and vice-versa. I think that *some* political education is helpful and needed when joining a committee like HnH. We also have some comrades in LATU that have put together excellent reading lists, as well as regularly scheduled escuelitas. It would be powerful to engage in a mutual education to bring some of our expertise to the larger DSA organization, and vice-versa for our comrades within PoliEd to share some material and organizing with us that they think would be helpful.
The mutual aid committee last I checked was mostly focused on mutual aid within the DSA organization. But with the huge amount of mutual aid projects going on around the city, many of which Street Watch has made connection with, it is undoubtedly beneficial to expand coordination and mutual support between these projects and DSA.
Immigration justice committee: Coordination would be helpful, as there are many organizing situations where supporting tenants in crisis who might be undocumented is also an opportunity to intersect and organize for immigration justice. Many times these kinds of crisis situations are made even more critical and urgent by our cruel system, so mutual support would be extra appreciated.
The Healthcare Justice committee: Through Services Not Sweeps, it has been a central demand going back decades (dirty divide) to get basic public health measures like bathrooms and handwashing stations to encampments. With COVID, our city finally acted and deployed some, but soon after neglected their maintenance, and then revoked them almost completely. Our gov’t wants us to forget that that happened, and we can’t let them go back to systemic neglect. Street medics are also urgently needed on the streets, physical ailments and injuries go unremedied and exacerbated. There is intersection between the committees and it would be helpful to have discussions about how to push in a coordinated manner. The average age of unhoused tenants who died in LA between March 2020 and July 2021 was 47 years old. Housing is Healthcare!
Electoral committee: In LA, every politician under the sun has some bullshit to say about housing & homelessness. We have much better things to say. For politicians who want to claim affiliation with DSA, we can hold their ass to the fire to make sure they are actually building power with us together for tenants, and not acting in ways that cement the tenant-landlord relationship as it currently stands.
3. Do you have any other ideas for the committee in 2023 or information you want to share with voters? (You might consider in your answer that our committee integrates both housed and unhoused tenants.) – For housed tenants: Tenants associations, unions, ETOC, are excellent organizational units for building a base of power. It is easy for anyone make statements about housing, and unless we have a solid base of tenants, our statements will not carry much water. Towards tenant power, housing as a human right, and an end to all evictions inside in buildings and outside on the streets.
For unhoused tenants, I would love to solidify some theory + praxis within the committee around mutual aid, to ensure that we are acting in a way that builds power and organization that can persist long-term and grow and become threatening to capital. There is still always more opportunities to be had around collectivizing and organizing to resist police + capitalist control over our lives in encampments, shelters, project roomkey. In many ways our government’s response to the current crisis is to stabilize and support landlords, such as housing vouchers. A critical voice and anti-voucher axis is desperately needed in the public consciousness, and DSA could fill that void. Our unhoused comrades are in many ways the front lines in this housing struggle, and it is critical to organize together.
We need to take actions that directly threaten capitalist control over the housing supply and public space. Reclaiming our Homes is an example of this, and as a movement, we must take more action in this vein. Reclaiming vacant housing is actually hugely popular, and we can win. That is the most direct route towards change.
Labor Committee Chair
Alixandra P
I was born and raised in a working class community in Buffalo, New York. Buffalo has a strong history of labor organizing and my grandparents often spoke of their union membership in the steel and automotive industries. Labor organizing is something I grew up around and it’s importance has carried over into my adult life.
I’m a recent law school graduate sitting for the California Bar exam in February and have been working exclusively in Plaintiff’s side Labor and Employment law since 2020. I have 3 years of experience working with clients who have experienced wage theft, violations of the California labor code and class action lawsuits against large corporations. I’m also deeply committed to working with folks who experience employment discrimination and have worked in cases involving sexual harassment, gender, disability and race discrimination.
I’m looking for other avenues to make changes to how our society views labor organizing and I want to be a more active member in the DSA-LA chapter. I think I can offer an informed perspective to the Labor committee from a legal standpoint and offer ways to help keep members educated on what our rights are. I’d like to see more people in LA become involved in DSA and understand how vital solidarity is to real change. I personally don’t have experience in forming labor unions – but I did work with my building to form a tenants union and seeing the impact we made together felt amazing!
Labor Committee Chair
Gabriel O
I am running to strengthen and continue DSA-LA’s support of organizing drives and labor struggles across LA. I would also like to strengthen our relationships with unions and worker centers. Our chapter is a consistent presence at picket lines and direct actions, and we have established connections with local unions. We must support labor and build class consciousness. My commitment to organizing is grounded in personal experience of leading organizing drives at two immigration nonprofits. I am excited to continue to strengthen DSA-LA’s solidarity work and standing within the labor movement alongside Frances, Preeti, and Daniel.
Labor Committee Chair
Frances G
Hi comrades! My name is Frances, and I’m running for Labor Committee Co-Chair. Thank you for considering me for this position. I’m a rank-and-file union member of CIR/SEIU. Last year I served as one of the Labor Committee Coordinators. In that position, I worked with Gabriel O. and the outgoing Labor Committee leadership to organize our members to turn out for strike solidarity and picket lines from North Hollywood (Stripper Strike!) to the Inland Empire (Shut Down Amazon!). We led several workplace organizer trainings, organized socials and happy hours for our members to build stronger relationships with one another, and led labor-oriented canvasses for our endorsed political candidates. Next year, we want to build on that work and go bigger: we want to build stronger relationships with organized labor in the city, we want to provide more organizing support to new workplace organizing through our labor circles, and we want to move away from Zoom meetings to do more trainings + socials in person to strengthen our organization. I’m excited to run alongside Gabe, Daniel, and Preeti and to continue the work of our Labor Committee in 2023!
Labor Committee Coordinator
Daniel LB
My name is Daniel Lichtenstein-Boris and I am running for Labor Committee Coordinator. I worked as a professional union organizer from 2006 -2008 and as a union research director and later union research and policy analyst from 2012 – 2019. In 2003, at age 21, I was the Chicago contact for the National Youth and Student Peace Coalition Books not Bombs Student Strike’s national press release and helped train youth and direct press calls to contacts at over 50 high school and college student walkouts in Chicago on March 5 and March 20th, 2003, the day the war in Iraq began. I am a member of the American Public Health Association.
Please attend the Labor Notes Los Angeles 2022 Conference
March 11, 2022
https://www.labornotes.org/events/2022/los-angeles-troublemakers-school
When: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 11, 2023
Where: Los Angeles Trade Technical College, 200 West Washington Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90015
Workshops will include:
– Beating Apathy
– Turning an Issue into a Campaign
– What Makes a Democratic Rank-and-File Union
– Building a Contract Campaign
– Strikes!
– New Organizing
– Race and Labor
– …and more!
Labor Committee Coordinator
Preeti S
I am running to support and strengthen the chapter’s solidarity efforts with LA’s immigrant workers, workers of color, and workers in burgeoning unionization drives. Given LA’s unique history with unions and worker centers and the growing consciousness about harmful workplaces and worker power since the pandemic, the chapter has an important role to play locally. I have been excited about the chapter’s recent strike solidarity support to unionize industries that have previously been seen as “unorganizable,” difficult, or deprioritized, like Starbucks workers, Strippers, and Amazon workers. I also look forward to making connections with LA worker center drives. Furthermore, I am a union member of my local with the California Faculty Association, and a delegate for the LA County Fed. Last, I look forward to collaborating with Gabe, Frances, and Daniel.
Labor Committee Coordinator
Daniel D
I am a Southern California native and a healthcare union organizer. I joined the organization in the fall of 2018 following AOC’s primary victory over the establishment candidate. One of the very first things that I did as a member was to join Labor Committee meetings and participate in discussions on how our chapter would be supporting teachers and educators in the then upcoming strike of 2019. A few months later, I stood side by side with other DSA-LA members and educators in the rain during the historic UTLA strike. That was a pivotal moment in my education on socialism and the broader workers’ struggle.
I previously served as Labor Committee co-chair with Mark Krause during the 2021 – 2022 term, so I’ve had the opportunity to see the critical work that the committee advances through strike support, trainings, and the development of the workers’ circles. I’m running to continue building DSA-LA’s vision as laid out in the Democratic Socialist Program (DSP). Last year, the Labor Committee hosted and ran several phonebanks and canvasses for labor candidates like Hugo Soto-Martinez and Rocio Rivas. We need to continue backing those who stand with working Angelenos and run on platforms of expanding the power of organized labor across Los Angeles County. Year after year, our chapter has grown the relationships we have with unions like UTLA and UNITE HERE! because not only have we demonstrated that we are reliable and committed partners by standing alongside workers in their fight for better working conditions, but our members organize within their unions. That is one of the pillars of our work that we must continue.
One of the most important tasks that we have in front of us is how we build DSA-LA’s power and influence alongside and as part of the workers’ movement. Our vision needs to include strategies that educate our members on organizing new unions and within their existing unions; fighting for legislative and policy reforms that strengthen the hand of workers and organized labor; and supporting all worker struggles throughout Los Angeles County. I believe that our chapter’s workers’ circles are one of the best vehicles available to us that will aid us in our broader objectives. We have seen what we can do when we bring workers together who share a workplace or labor in the same industry through the work of circles like Hollywood Labor. We need to continue the work that we set out to do through our Labor Survey, which is to grow the existing circles and find opportunities to form new ones.
I’m running alongside Frances, Gabriel, and Preeti to strengthen the parts of the Labor Committee’s work that have already accomplished so much, to broaden our work through the chapter’s branches, and to continue fighting for the demands in our chapter’s DSP.
Mutual Aid Committee Administrator
Sabrina S
I am a current member of Mutual Aid Leadership and would like to continue to be of service to the committee. The admin position needs to be filled, and this is work I’m happy to do.
Mutual Aid Committee Administrator
Zach F
My skills are aptly suited for this position, and I know that through their proper use I can make the jobs of my fellow organizers easier by commiting myself to this role
Mutual Aid Committee Administrator
Frances G
I am interested in running to contribute my experience organizing Brake Light Clinics in New Orleans! I’d like to help the Committee take these on and run one in every branch at least twice a year.
Mutual Aid Committee Administrator
Brian E
To help alleviate the pressures and stress of acquiring the most basic of life-necessities with a sense of empathy and compassion.
Uncontested Officer Candidate Statements
This includes responses submitted to NomCom as well as responses sent in thru committee candidate questionaries. Additional statements from Labor Committee Candidates can be found at this forum post.
Climate Justice Committee Chair
Justin C
I believe climate change is the gravest adversity humanity will have to triumph over; especially since its ultimately human intervention that continually degrades the planet. Less resources mean more poverty to come. Its very important to me to do something about it. Through the DSA, I hope to be apart of an issue that is of utmost importance.
Climate Justice Committee Chair
Aura V
Fighting for Environmental Justice has been my passion and my lifelong mission since I was a child. At age 11, I started the first environmental club in my school in response to the ozone layer crisis in the 90s.
After moving to the United States and becoming an undocumented student, I trained as an advocate and community organizer. Through that work, I led the campaign to get L.A off of coal delivering a win that will set Los Angeles for a future free of fossil fuels. In 2013, we became the first and largest city in the U.S to be coal-free by 2025.
My career in fighting climate change and environmental racism didnt end there. I became the first Environmental activist, youngest, and immigrant Black Latina to be appointed to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. As a commissioner, I focused on making the department more accessible, transparent, and affordable. I created the first solar for renters program. Also, I helped retired three coastal gas plants in Los Angeles that will push L.A to adopt 100% renewable energy to power our city.
My work hasn’t ended there. As a co-chair for the EJ committee at DSA-LA, We joined new coalitions like RePower L.A and CEMO. We worked on issues such as banning utility shut-offs, ending the use of gas infrastructure in new buildings in Los Angeles, and creating educational webinars about electrification that reached hundreds of our members and the community.
We can do much more to grow a base of climate activists and support the efforts of decarbonizing Los Angeles. Some of the things that I would like to do in 2023 are to integrate water issues, Mobility justice, and a solid training program to give people tools to fight the climate crisis and integrate electoral work.
I will be honored to earn your vote. Thank you for entrusting me with your support.
Electoral Politics Committee Member
Benina S
I served on the Electoral Politics Committee in 2022, where we saw our most ambitious and successful electoral cycle yet. With eight electoral campaigns over the year, we engaged members across all branches, training up organizers to lead canvasses, have conversations at doors, conduct campaign research, write thoughtful voter guide analysis. Now that we have several wins under our belt, it is time to govern and to use the organizing skills we’ve developed from the campaigns to achieve material change for the working class of Los Angeles. On the 2022 Electoral Committee, we developed a working theory of what a Socialists in Office program looks like and on Electoral Committee in 2023, I hope to further develop and implement it with the new committee. In the year ahead on Electoral Committee, I hope to further strengthen our electoral program through intentional socialist candidate development and engagement, as we begin to look to the 2024 election season.
Electoral Politics Committee Member
Collin B
I’m running for this position because I want to help carry the chapter’s electoral strategy forward and I would like to use my experience in the chapter co-chairing two electoral working groups (first for Konstantine Anthony and most recently for Hugo) to strengthen the chapter’s ability to organize and mobilize for future successful campaigns. DSA LA is in an exciting position right now after our big wins this past election cycle and there are a number of projects I believe we ought start on as soon as possible to capitalize on the momentum and continue building power both in city hall and locally in neighborhoods.
Electoral Politics Committee Member
Marissa A
I’m running to be a member of the Electoral Politics Committee to continue the critical work our chapter started during the 2022 electoral season. Now with several endorsed candidates at City Hall, we must focus efforts on establishing and practicing co-governance with these offices, and continuing to build socialist power throughout Los Angeles. I’m also running to integrate lessons and best practices from our campaigns this past year into our chapter structures, and continue developing new leaders through campaigns.
Electoral Politics Committee Member
Francisco C
I have served on our chapter’s Electoral Committee for two years, and am proud of so much that our chapter has planned for and won. Our electoral victories in 2022 weren’t the result of spontaneous enthusiasm or lightning we captured in a bottle, but instead the result of years-long planning that I was privileged to work on. I hope to continue my work in our ElPol committee in 2023, particularly on expanding the reach of our electoral program, placing DSA in a viable coalition to recall Kevin De Leon, building policy campaigns out of our Democratic Socialism Program, and furthering our electoral coordination with LA’s progressive labor movement.
Our chapter has had several meaningful victories in our electoral campaigns in the last few years, and now our chapter must ensure that this momentum deepens our members’ organizing in our workplaces and neighborhoods too. I ask for your vote to continue the work and trajectory we’ve been on.
Electoral Politics Committee Member
Edgar O
It is my desire to support the election of socialists in Los Angeles as a member of the electoral committee, and supporting existing socialists in office at all levels in Los Angeles County. As a member of the Green New Deal for Public Schools working group, I had the opportunity to support Rocio Rivas’ successful campaign for LAUSD. My experience uplifting Rivas’ candidacy, along with important environmental data and testimonies to community members during canvasses, reinforced the importance of a strong electoral strategy grounded in grassroots activism. I hope to leverage my personal and professional experiences to support our electoral committee in doing incredible work in the next electoral cycle to build socialist power in Los Angeles.
Healthcare Justice Committee Chair
Denis R
Greetings comrades.
I am a dedicated activist and organizer for expanded and improved Medicare For All, whether it is at the federal or state level.
My most aggressive organizing has been for CA SB 562 (The Health California Act) and now CalCare (The California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act).
My past organizing for healthcare justice includes lobbying my elected representatives (state and federal), canvassing, tabling, texting and car caravans (especially through the pandemic).
I have happily been with the Healthcare Justice Committee (HJC) for at least 1.5 year, and now wish to contribute more of my energy to it.
I firmly believe that in order to have healthy opposition to all the injustices of capitalism, we must have healthy people. We need to make that happen with the continued fight for comprehensive, guaranteed healthcare for all in the United States (documented or not) through a single-payer system. I wish to continue to organize for just that through the HJC.
Thank you.
Healthcare Justice Committee Chair
Caroline O
I’m running for the HJC co-chair position because I believe DSA-LA should lead the fight for Medicare for All in California. I started attending HJC meetings after AB1400 (the 2022 CalCare bill that would enact a single-payer health system in California) was pulled from the floor vote in the CA assembly to spare corporate Democrats from going on record opposing the bill. I was shocked that Socialists were not on the frontlines fighting for this bill while it still had a chance, and I was disgusted that leftist news organizations only covered the failure of the bill after the fact to shame Democratic leaders.
Nurses and healthcare activists have been working on CalCare for years, they have done the hard work to set us up for this unique legislative opportunity to actually pass a bill to enact single-payer at the state level. As Socialists we MUST step up and do our part to deliver a humane health system to the people of California. Bernie Sanders awakened Americans to the possibility of a better future with Medicare for All. The future is here. The time is now. Democrats have a supermajority in the state assembly and senate, meaning they don’t need a single Republican vote to pass bills. 87% of Democratic voters support single-payer and universal single-payer healthcare is on the official California Democratic Party platform! The deadline to introduce bills is February 17th. CalCare is ours for the taking. If we fight for it!
Since joining HJC in February I have attended all monthly meetings and spearheaded the CalCare campaign. I wrote the copy for all the recent CalCare posts on DSA-LA’s social media and I worked with a graphic designer to design the 2023 Socialist Campaign for CalCare logo. Outside of HJC I am a CalCare district leader with CNA and I also started a group called Hollywood4CalCare – I’m a non-union showrunner’s assistant who has worked in TV production for 5 years, jumping between employer-sponsored health plans.
I know DSA-LA members are tired, overwhelmed and possibly feeling defeated. Everyone is. But CalCare is an opportunity to deliver a universal program that will benefit all members of the multi-racial working class. We’re not asking people to vote for anyone or donate any money. All we need to do is demand Democratic leaders to deliver on their promises to the people of California. Get involved. Call your reps. Join HJC and help us make healthcare a human right in California.
Healthcare Justice Committee Coordinator
Steven G
I am passionate about the rights of reproductive choice and access. I believe all people should have access to healthcare with no profit motive and no insurance companies involved.
Healthcare Justice Committee Coordinator
Stephanie T
I have been a volunteer organizer since 2017, my main focus being Single Payer Healthcare. I am running for this position because I feel that my experience and passion for Single Payer can help continue the good work this committee has already done.
Immigration Justice Committee Chair
Jack SL
In 2006, over a million Angelenos held the largest May Day demonstration across the entire country. As such, the last 40 years has transformed Los Angeles into the geopolitical center for how immigrants shape the U.S. political economy.
I am running for IJC Chair to expand our work around immigrant rights including assessing “post-pandemic” shift of safety net supports to immigrants in LA and mutual aid needed, the paused policy proposal of “noncitizen voting” supported by UTLA within LAUSD, and more generally the continuous recruitment of immigrant workers into DSA-LA. As IJC chair, i will work with the Branch Coordinators to map out key neighborhoods for recruitment and retention.
Mutual Aid Committee Chair
Rich R
I’m here to help out. As Mutual Aid Committee Chair, I’m hoping to:
(1) continue to facilitate the Committee’s existing programming.
(2) finish organizing the Mutual Aid Google Drive and move as much of our Committee data off Google as possible.
(3) establish a routine check-in with Committee Membership and enlist Committee members to help with Committee welfare and develop our Committee’s capacity.
(4) restart the Marshal 101 and Medic 100 series trainings that I helped establish, and provide regular Child Watch trainings to make Chapter events more accessible to parents.
(5) build more Corsi-Rosenthal Cubes for indoor, in-person meetings and do a Skill Share on their manufacture. I already built one for our Bylaws Party this year, and hoping to have more available to help keep people safe from COVID-19.
(6) do at least one Free Brake Light Clinic in 2023.
(7) work with least two other local mutual aid organizations on a regular basis and cooperate in on-the-ground mutual aid work on a regular (at least bi-monthly) basis.
Mutual Aid Committee Chair
Evan H
I’ve always been impressed by how the committee rotates meeting roles like facilitator, recording secretary, etc. to distribute the workload and let members learn how to perform those roles. I’ve also been impressed by how much political education the committee has performed over years. I want to continue both of these practices as a chair of the committee.
I also want to help the committee gain more membership through our projects and the communication of our projects. Many of us are excited to star tour Free Brake Light Clinic and Free Store projects, my self included. I think these projects will have broad appeal among potential members who want to help people directly and are curious about a mass, working class political project. Part of achieving that is communications, and since I’m familiar with Action Network, WordPress, and email newsletters, I can bring those skills to the committee to reach out to and activate dormant members and curious non-members.
Mutual Aid Committee Chair
Monica G
to help my community
Mutual Aid Committee Coordinator
Janet H
For me, the need for community is rooted within that fuzzy feeling of people coming together and collectively contributing to something bigger. It’s the desire to actually care about what happens to your vecinos and to have them care about you. That’s exactly what mutual aid means to me.
After the Hugo 2022 campaign i finally figured out what community really means to me. It’s more than a group of people who live in the same neighborhood. when times got tough friends, family, and neighbors were there for me when i needed love, support and encouragement. They challenged, encouraged, loved, and supported me.
I was living out my car. I’ve had to juggle what little resources I’ve had to pick and choose what to pay for, and its just awful. I hit a hard stretch.
Asking for help wasn’t easy I felt shame and embarrassment because i was taught to take care of myself and not rely on others. That’s why I’m running to continue building community power!
TAN TAN!!
Mutual Aid Committee Coordinator
Yesi P
I am running for coordinator because I’d like to continue serving the committee and supporting cooperation and communication between the Mutual Aid Committee and the chapter writ large. I’ve been organizing in DSA for many years and have a wealth of experience I’d love to continue to share with my comrades in mutual aid.
My goals for the committee are to continue to develop DRAMA’s political education programming, to offer support to our existing projects, specifically the Brake Light Clinic and the Free Store, and to develop cross-organizational relationships with local harm reduction organizations to both train our membership and to support existing harm reduction efforts. I would also like to help make sure that MAC is supporting projects within the chapter as well, and would like to continue the great work members of current leadership have done to support other committees and expand it where possible.
It would be an honor to continue to support the Mutual Aid Committee’s work and I thank you for the opportunity to nominate myself.
Political Education Committee Chair
Max B
I’m running to continue the work the Political Education Committee has done in the past several years to integrate education and membership development directly into our campaigns. This includes continuing the work we have done to implement content for the Childcare for All Campaign, the Green New Deal for Public Schools, and training branches on hosting their own DSA 101 orientations.
Political education is a key component in developing new members and leaders of our movement, and increasing our capacity to expand the reach of our politics in LA County. I am excited for this year and the opportunities we have to develop engaging and generative experiences for our membership.
Political Education Committee Coordinator
Dylan L
Political education should be a core component of the Chapter’s strategy for 2023. Recent electoral campaigns have brought in tons of new people who are excited to build toward a socialist future, but may not have all the tools to do so.
PolEd has the responsibility to ramp up the frequency of our trainings for this year, like DSA 101s, facilitator’s trainings, and 1-on-1 outreach trainings so members can develop the skills they’ll need to take on leadership roles, participate in Branches, and contribute to priority campaigns. We also must hold the space for members to develop a material analysis through discussion and by learning from our comrades throughout history. Planning new Night Schools, hosting events related to Childcare for All and GND4PS, and developing materials that can be used on the ground for tenant organizing and union campaigns are all goals I have for PolEd’s next term.
I hope my experience as one PolEd’s coordinators for the past two years and as an active member in the Chapter can help the Committee achieve these goals.
Only members in good standing can vote for these positions, so please make sure your membership is up to date!
As always, please send your questions to [email protected]!