Hi John!

We're writing to invite you to our SV DSA November Chapter Meeting today at 2pm. This is our first meeting of the Silicon Valley chapter of DSA post-election, and we're excited for what's next!

We are so proud of all of our candidates and the many SV DSA members who organized for one of our endorsed campaigns. Two of our endorsed candidates won:

• In an upset, Lissette Espinoza-Garnica has won election to City Council in Redwood City! Read our press release.
• After a landslide win, Alex Lee is heading to the State Assembly. Alex will fight for single-payer healthcare, stronger tenant protections, and tuition-free college.

Unfortunately, any election is bound to come with a few disappointments. We want to acknowledge these incredible candidates ran with our support:

• Jake Tonkel came close to unseating incumbent Dev Davis in San Jose District 6 despite police and business interests spending more than half a million dollars on (in some cases, blatantly racist) attack ads against him.
• John Lashlee would have made an excellent addition to the Mountain View City Council, running on housing, renter protections, pandemic relief, and defunding the police.
• Tiffany Vuong ran for Milpitas City Council on a platform of low-income housing and community control of the police.
• Basil Saleh was our pick for Campbell Union High School District 4 Trustee, running to end the school-to-prison pipeline and eliminate disparities that minority students and their families experience.

Congratulations to all SV DSA candidates. The act of running alone is an important step towards furthering our socialist mission.

Plus, Measure RR passed with SV DSA’s endorsement! Killing an agency that was beginning to implement equity reforms is counterproductive, and public transportation is a must if we want to get out of the climate crisis.

The establishment politicians say that leftist policies don’t win so we shouldn’t try, but this election proved otherwise in a lot of ways:

• 20 out of 29 nationally-endorsed candidates won their race.
• 8 out of 11 nationally-endorsed ballot measures passed, including a $15 minimum wage measure in Florida
• Every swing-seat House Democrat that endorsed Medicare For All won re-election or is on track to win re-election.

While we celebrate Trump’s departure, as is appropriate with a fascist leaving office, we know that Biden is not the silver bullet that Democrats portray him as. Trump’s actions will not be erased overnight, and Biden has more in common with him than media narratives will admit. One of Biden’s picks for his transition team is Cecilia Muñoz, who defended family separations and other horrors of the “immigration system” under the Obama administration. We cannot rely on establishment politicians to do the right thing - we must organize to create equity for the working class and dismantle white supremacy.

Elections aren’t the be-all-end-all of our work. We will be as busy as ever until the next election, and we need you as part of this movement. Our chapter meeting is today, Sunday, November 15th at 2pm. We hope to see you there!

In Solidarity,
Your SV DSA Newsletter Team 🌹