Seattle Democratic Socialists of America

Ballots are out and the election is two weeks away. We’re going all out to elect Sherae Lascelles to represent the 43rd Legislative District in the State House—read our full endorsement statement here!

Lascelles is a Seattle People’s Party candidate whose grassroots campaign has been fueled by the energy of the movement for Black lives. They represent a break from business as usual; not only politically but also as a sex worker organizer and as a non-binary candidate.

Sherae’s campaign offers a chance to not just vote against the status quo of corporate politics, but to vote for an anti-establishment, anti-racist agenda that favors workers, BIPOC, LGBTQ, and other marginalized communities.

Sherae is running a people-powered campaign that refuses corporate donations and champions important working-class demands such as:

• Taxing the rich

• Decommodifying housing and building publicly-owned social housing

• Free public transit

• Universal childcare

Sherae has a fighting chance of defeating Frank Chopp, a 25-year incumbent and top power player in Washington state’s corrupt cesspool of corporate politics.

Chopp was the Speaker of the House for almost two decades and a central leader of the state Democrats. Despite his progressive facade, Chopp has overseen thoroughly pro-corporate policies —while the Democrats controlled the House, the Senate, and the Governor’s mansion for many of his years in office.

Instead of taxing the rich, Frank Chopp pushed through a record tax giveaway of billions to Boeing with few strings attached; Boeing executives enjoyed the tax break and relocated jobs out of state anyway. Instead of providing tuition-free higher education, Frank Chopp presided over a system that criminally underfunded public education according to the state Supreme Court. While Chopp was representing one of the most progressive districts in the state, he led the House Democrats in entrenching a vicious system of mass incarceration of people of color and the poor.

Read our full statement on why our members have endorsed Sherae Lascelles.

Defund and Divest SPD

The City Council battle over the 2021 budget is right around the corner. Democratic Mayor Jenny Durkan has proposed an austerity budget that includes millions in cuts, mostly to transit, housing, parks, and libraries. Under pressure from protests and grassroots activism, Mayor Durkan, in her budget proposal, promised to invest $100 million in BIPOC communities. But instead of taking this money from the police or the rich, her proposal would have the funding for these investments come from the recently passed big business tax, called the JumpStart tax, effectively taking funds already earmarked for affordable and green housing.

We are fighting back against this austerity budget and fighting to defund the Seattle Police Department by 50%. Seattle DSA has signed on to the Solidarity Budget, which calls on City Council to defund SPD by 50% and reinvest that money into BIPOC communities, to create a participatory budgeting process, to protect vital services, and to create dignified housing and decriminalized homeless outreach. We urge you to support the Solidarity Budget and send a letter to your City Councilmember here.

We are putting pressure on City Council to follow through on their pledge to defund SPD by 50%. Mark your calendars for our virtual District 2 Defund SPD! Town Hall with Tammy Morales on Thursday, October 29th at 6PM.

As the City Council finalizes the 2021 budget in November, we need to build a strong labor presence, with clear anti-racist messaging, to push the City Council to be on the right side of history. On Wednesday, October 21st at 6PM, join Labor for Black Lives for A Defund SPD! Teach-In: Building Rank-and-File Solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives. Our only strength as workers is through our collective power and voice. If you are a worker looking for ways to get involved and support this movement, please come and bring your co-workers! Register here.

Finally, join Divest SPD's “From Charity to Solidarity” teach-in on Sunday, October 25th at 3PM. Speakers include Nikkita Oliver, Megan Ming Francis, Wes, and Chrissy Shimizu. Register here. To get more involved with the Divest SPD campaign, fill out this form! And make sure to follow them on Twitter.

Stop Trump from Stealing the Election

Trump is openly using every means at his disposal to undermine ballot counting and to mobilize his supporters to engage in racist voter intimidation. If the initial vote count is close on Election Day, he could attempt to steal the election and encourage the Supreme Court to not count all votes, refusing a peaceful transition of power.

We can't afford to wait and see what happens. Save the date for a Public Assembly to Stop Trump from Stealing the Election on Sunday, November 1st at 3PM. Let's bring the left together and discuss the strategies we need to defend the right to vote and prepare for massive peaceful protests if Trump attempts to steal the election. We will be at the forefront of defending these basic democratic rights for the working class, but we offer absolutely no political support for Biden. We’ll also prepare to fight a Biden presidency from day one, building movements for a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, defunding the police, and reproductive justice.

The most powerful force that can be deployed against any attempt by Trump to steal the election is mass action by the working class. We know that when workers take mass action we can force legislators to respect democracy, and we must be prepared to act. Join the Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee, Sara Nelson and other union leaders to discuss how workers can stop Trump from stealing the election! We will review what workers have done to fight off attacks from our own government in the past and provide tools to prepare to fight off future ones. Join us tomorrow, October 20th, at 5PM, RSVP here.

DSA 100K!

Imagine the difference it would make if we had a mass socialist movement in this country. DSA is working every day to make that a reality. Since we launched our 100K campaign over 5,000 new people nationwide have signed up as a card carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America. Not a member yet? Join today and help us grow to 100,000 dues paying members by the end of this year!

Already a member of DSA? We need you to participate in this campaign! DSA is a member run, member financed, and a member built organization. No-one will build our organization except us. We are asking every member of DSA to ask 3 people you know (friends, family, co-workers, other political activists, etc) to join DSA. Please fill out our pledge form (takes less than 5 minutes!) so we can follow up with tools and resources for you.

Mark your calendars…

For our Seattle DSA online election night watch party, on Tuesday, November 3rd. Our General Membership Meeting will be the next week on Tuesday, November 10th—we’ll discuss the general election results and how we organize in a changed political landscape.

And finally, congratulations and solidarity to the people of Bolivia who delivered a crushing defeat to the unelected, US-backed coup government and voted in the Movement Towards Socialism Party (MAS) in their presidential election yesterday. This is a victory for the Bolivian people, and an inspiration to the working class everywhere.

In solidarity,

Seattle DSA