Current Endorsements

Schools & Communities First - Yes on Prop 15

We are joining militant educators all across the state such as United Teachers of Los Angeles (UTLA), and our beloved Oakland Educators Association (OEA) to support the California Schools and Local Communities Funding Act of 2020. This act would raise $11 billion for the state of California by reforming Proposition 13 (1978) and raising taxes on certain business properties. Of this, $4.5 billion will go to California schools, and the rest will go to local governments.

For more information, please email endorsements@eastbaydsa.org

No On Prop 22

Proposition 22 -- funded by Uber, Lyft, Doordash, Instacart, and Postmates at a record-breaking $180 million -- is a cynical attempt by corporations to buy their way out of labor law and continue to exploit workers across California. If Prop 22 passes, app-based workers like Uber and Lyft drivers would lose income (up to $300 a week by some estimates), benefits like paid sick leave, overtime, and workers’ compensation, and the right to form a union. Corporations are bullying workers by threatening to take away flexible schedules and even to stop business in California unless Prop 22 passes. Drivers are organizing to fight back against Prop 22 with groups like We Drive Progress and Gig Workers Rising, and they need our support. 

Sign up here to phone bank California voters and urge them to vote No on Proposition 22. Contact Amanda Baldiga at amanda.baldiga@gmail.com to get more involved. 

Jovanka Beckles for AC Transit Board

Jovanka Beckles is a movement organizer, a former two-term Richmond City Councilmember, a long-time leader in the Richmond Progressive Alliance, a children’s mental health professional, and a former candidate for California’s State Assembly District 15. She is running for AC Transit Board to fight for the labor rights of transit workers and a green, fare-free, universally accessible transit system.

Learn more about Jovanka's campaign and get involved here!

Team Richmond for Richmond City Council

Claudia Jimenez for District 6

Melvin Willis for District 1

Gayle McLaughlin for District 5

Claudia Jimenez, Melvin Willis, and Gayle McLaughlin are Richmond Progressive Alliance-endorsed candidates running for Richmond City Council District 6, 1, and 5 respectively. Together they form the "Team Richmond" slate, and will work together to implement a bold democratic socialist agenda from day one. Some of their priorities include stopping foreclosures and evictions, building affordable housing, defunding the police, defending immigrant rights, building a public hospital in Richmond, taxing the rich and and instituting a Green New Deal for Richmond.

Learn more about Team Richmond and get involved here!

Carroll Fife for Oakland City Council District 3

Carroll Fife is a well-known and respected movement leader, co-founder of Moms4Housing and Director of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) running for Oakland City Council in District 3. Fife has deep roots in community organizing in Oakland in racial justice, housing and labor. Her platform includes housing for all, a working class COVID-19 response, taxing the rich, defunding OPD and fighting for workers, particularly essential workers through the Black New Deal.

Learn more about Carroll's campaign and get involved here!

Oakland Youth Vote Initiative - Yes on QQ

This ballot measure would amend the Oakland City Charter to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in school board elections. We believe that extending democracy to an estimated 6,500 students from predominantly working class families will bolster the fight against classroom austerity, inequality and billionaire-funded privatization efforts.

For more information, please email endorsements@eastbaydsa.org

Mike Hutchinson for Oakland School Board D5 and Coach Ben Tapscott for Oakland School Board D7

Mike Hutchinson and Ben Tapscott are public education advocates with long track records of organizing against school privatization in Oakland, and as School Board members in districts 5 and 7, respectively, they will prioritize the reversal of public school closures and the halting of new charter schools and co-locations being pushed by the billionaire class. The candidates will also prioritize targeted solutions like reading programs and wrap-around student services.

For more information, please email classroomjustice@eastbaydsa.org

Nestor Castillo, Lacei Amodei and Elisha Crader for Hayward City Council

Nestor Castillo, Lacei Amodei and Elisha Crader are an alliance of progressive organizers aiming to bring their class-centered activism to Hayward City Council, a body currently controlled by corporate and police interests. Some of the alliance's priorities include “housing for all” through things like social housing and community land trusts, reallocating police funding toward social services, a living wage and other bold policies conducive to equitable public health outcomes during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

For more information, please email endorsements@eastbaydsa.org

The Right to Housing Slate for Berkeley Rent Board.

Dominique Walker, Mari Mendonca, Xavier Johnson, Leah Simon-Weisberg and Andy Kelley are progressive housing advocates running for Berkeley Rent Board as "The Right to Housing" slate. The slate supports the repeal of Costa Hawkins and as commissioners they will prioritize extending rent control. Some of their candidate-level priorities include rent forgiveness during the pandemic, requiring affordable housing on public land, and taking housing out of the speculative market through TOPA legislation.

For more information, please email endorsements@eastbaydsa.org

Endorsement Process

The membership of East Bay DSA has voted to close our 2020 Endorsement cycle in order to devote time and resources to campaigning. The information below is purely displayed for future reference.

Candidate Selection

The Endorsements subcommittee of our Electoral Committee will be empowered to seek out candidates and ballot measures of strategic importance to East Bay DSA and the socialist movement to be agendized at a general meeting for endorsement consideration.

Candidates or ballot measures may only be considered for endorsement by the chapter if

1. The subcommittee proactively researches and vets them for an endorsement vote at a general meeting, or
2. The Steering Committee refers a candidate or ballot measure to the subcommittee for research, or
3. 25 East Bay DSA members, who have been in good standing for at least 60 days before submission, sign a petition asking the subcommittee to consider that candidate or ballot initiative.

No candidates or ballot measures may be agendized for endorsement consideration by East Bay DSA at a general meeting without first being researched and vetted by the subcommittee.

Timeline

1. Currently, no timeline is set for endorsement of candidates or ballot measures running in the California General Election on November 8, 2020.

Interested in getting the East Bay DSA endorsement for November general election? Contact endorsements@eastbaydsa.org to be in touch regarding deadlines for consideration at future general meetings.

Subcommittee Report

The subcommittee will prepare a comprehensive report on each candidate or ballot measure it reviews, including a recommended support plan if the chapter should choose to endorse. The subcommittee will deliver its report to the membership before a general meeting in which candidates or representatives will be invited to speak and field questions from the membership. 

The endorsement will then be deliberated and put to a vote by the general membership at that meeting.

Endorsement Criteria

The subcommittee will use the following criteria as overarching guidelines throughout the 2020 election cycle.

1. The candidate is a vocal supporter of campaigns and positions articulated in East Bay DSA’s priority resolution to be passed by the membership at the 2019 Local Convention; the candidate vocally supports campaigns for Medicare for All, rent control & social housing, a Green New Deal, College for All, progressive taxation, and campaigns against racist school closures and privatization.
2. The candidate supports other electoral campaigns endorsed by East Bay DSA, including Bernie Sanders’ campaign for president.
3. The candidate, or ballot campaign committee, accept no corporate campaign donations nor financial support from corporate PACs, and are experienced in waging open struggle against capitalist interests. 
4. The candidate is rooted in and supported by significant working-class forces and by working-class and progressive organizations.
5. The candidate has a record of fighting against all forms of oppression on the basis of race, gender, or any social category that serve to rationalize oppression and divide the working class.
6. As such East Bay DSA can, through campaigning for these candidates or initiatives, collaborate with working-class and progressive organizations to spread class consciousness and socialist ideas to thousands or tens of thousands, growing an organic social base for our politics.
7. The candidate openly identifies as a democratic socialist and employ anti-capitalist rhetoric, especially in campaign materials and public communications. The candidate is a dues-paying member of DSA.
8. The candidate openly and regularly participates in DSA activities.
9. Ballot Initiatives will be evaluated by the direct impact they would have in advancing East Bay DSA’s priorities should they be enacted into law.

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