Candidate Statement: Erica W. - At Large

It is an exciting time to be a socialist and I want to continue contributing to the growing socialist movement. Before joining EBDSA, I was an active socialist in the Bay Area for years. Whether it was running Jacobin reading groups in San Francisco and the East Bay or organizing protests against the Far Right, I’ve been dedicated to building and strengthening the Left, bringing new people into our struggles and fighting for socialist principles. Since joining EBDSA, I’ve been active in the Political Education committee and working with comrades in the chapter around the national campaign for reproductive freedom. 

Centering affirmative action, anti racist struggles and recruiting more comrades of color are essential practices to strengthen our chapter and our movements. I also think it’s essential we expand our work outside of Oakland and Berkeley – connecting with comrades in Hayward, San Leandro and more would diversify our chapter while connecting to essential struggles in the East Bay.

When it comes to elections I think now is as good a time as ever to get involved with local electoral politics that are independent of the Democratic Party. There’s no need to oppose electoral work with mass, social struggles, and in fact we should be finding creative ways to have these different realms strengthen and build one another.

I hope to heighten the level of politics in our chapter, and create more venues for comrades to have collective political assessments and analysis. Finally, I am also running on the “Wave Slate” with comrades I’ve organized with for years and I’m excited about the political vision we’ve developed – for more information on us you can check out wave-ebdsa.com.