Commentary
America’s largest Marxist organization, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), won big on election night 2018. Working in conjunction with four pro-China/pro-Cuba organizations (Communist Party USA, Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, Freedom Road Socialist Organization and LeftRoots), the Marxist left ran approximately 300 candidates—almost all posing as Democrats—for local, state, and federal office.
Most of these candidates did not get past the primaries, but some made it all the way to Congress. Still many others now serve in state legislatures, county commissions, and school boards, and as local Democratic Party executives.
Even those subversive candidates who didn’t win were able to advance socialist policy in the form of hard-left ballot initiatives, which enjoyed victories across the country.
According to a
report by the DSA National Political Committee: “Nearly fifty thousand people have joined the Democratic Socialists of America since Trump’s 2016 election. …
“Thanks to this upsurge, DSA has been able to fight for Medicare for All, College for All, equal rights for all, and a revitalized labor movement. DSA has also succeeded in winning key elections all over the country, in red states and blue states. In addition to new DSA congresswomen Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib, we also won other incredible victories at the state level.”
The report named the DSA’s “Endorsed Elected Officials.” While some of the DSA’s endorsed candidates were listed as Independent, the vast majority ran as Democrats.
Winners
California, as expected, embraced Marxist candidates. DSA-endorsed candidates were elected to several California City Councils:
- Dianna Reddy, City Council, Redwood
- Eduardo Martinez, City Council, Richmond
- Justin Cummings, City Council, Santa Cruz – At-Large
- Lorrie Brown, City Council, Ventura – District 6
- Sofia Rubalcava, City Council, Ventura – District 1
- Monica Montgomery, San Diego City Council – District 4
The hard-left made a clean sweep of the Berkeley Rent Board. One successful candidate
Maria Poblet was once active with CNN commentator Van Jones in the Maoist-leaning Standing Together to Organize a Revolutionary Movement (STORM), and now helps lead the semi-Maoist group LeftRoots.
- James Chang, Rent Board, Berkeley
- John Selawsky, Rent Board, Berkeley
- Maria Poblet, Rent Board, Berkeley
- Paola Laverde, Rent Board, Berkeley
- Soli Alpert, Rent Board, Berkeley
One Northern California DSA member, Rachelanne Vander Werf, is attempting to turn the Flood Control Board into a vehicle for revolutionary agitation.
Coloradans elected one DSA-supported state senator, Julie Gonzalez, but rejected DSA-endorsed state treasurer candidate
Bernard Douthit.The District of Columbia elected five DSA-supported Marxists to various low-level posts, and one to the Democratic State Committee.
- Beau Finley, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 3C-04
- Dan Orlaskey, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 1B-02
- Emily Gasoi, Board of Education, DC Ward 1
- Matthew Sampson, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2B-01
- Ryan Linehan, Advisory Neighborhood Commission 5D-01
- Todd Brogan, Democratic State Committee – Ward 4
Hawaiians elected one DSA supporter to the State House, Amy Perruso, but rejected DSA congressional candidate
Kaniela Ing.
Marylanders elected two DSA Marxists to their House of Delegates: Gabriel Acevero and Vaughn Stewart. Maryland also elected another to the Montgomery County executive, Marc Elrich.
Mainers re-elected one DSA member to their State House, Mike Sylvester, but rejected DSA candidate
Jeremy Mele for that body.
Michiganders elected a socialist commissioner, Katie Scott, and a revolutionary library trustee, Kristy Cooper. Michigan also elected one of the two open DSA members now serving in Congress, Rashida Tlaib. Ironically, she replaced long-serving Michigan Rep.
John Conyers, who had been a not-so-open DSAer.
Montanans elected one DSA member to their State House, Jade Bahr, but rejected another socialist House candidate, DSA member
Amelia Marquez.
New Yorkers elected a DSA congressmember, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and a DSA state senator, Julia Salazar. This is nothing new for New York. Currently serving Congressman
Jerry Nadler was a DSA member for many years, as was the late Rep.
Major Owens, former mayor
David Dinkins, and former State Assemblymembers
Denny Farrell and
Eileen Dugan.
New York also elected a socialist to the Democratic Party office, Emily Adams.
Minnesotans re-elected one DSA member to the Moorhead School Board, Kara Gloe.
North Dakotans elected a socialist board member to the North Dakota Human Rights Coalition and a prominent Native American activist to the State House,
Ruth Anna Buffalo.
Pennsylvanians elected three out of four DSA members who stood for State House, Elizabeth Fiedler, Sara Innamorato, and Summer Lee. In the 1990s, long-serving Pennsylvania State Rep.
Babette Josephs was also a DSA member.
Rhode Islanders elected a DSA Providence City Councilor, Rachel Miller. And a new socialist State Senator, Sam Bell.
In Texas, Houstonians elected a particularly radical DSA member to the Harris County Criminal Court, Franklin Bynum. They did, however, wisely reject several DSA members who stood for Congress:
Rick Trevino (TX23),
Derrick Crowe (TX21),
Ali Khorasani (TX2), and
Justin Snider (TX6).
Texas also elected another leftist judge, DaSean Jones, and a Harris County Department of Education Trustee, Danny Norris, as well as re-electing a DSA member as an Austin Community College Trustee, Julie Ann Nitsch.
Honor the Oath
If hundreds of Klansmen were running for office on the Republican Party ticket, the mainstream media would rightly go ballistic. Yet hundreds of Marxists can run for public office posing as Democrats—blatantly deceiving the voting public without a hint of scrutiny from the establishment media.The DSA—along with their Communist Party USA and Freedom Road Socialist Organization comrades—are rapidly becoming the dominant force inside the Democratic Party. The DSA-founded
Congressional Progressive Caucus will soon be over 90 members strong; that’s nearly half of the Democratic Congressional delegation.
Thirty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, armies of Marxists are marching through America’s institutions. Millions of Americans have sworn a sacred oath to defend the Constitution from “all enemies foreign and domestic.”
Now is the time to honor that oath. Time is running very short.
Trevor Loudon is an author, filmmaker, and public speaker from New Zealand. For more than 30 years, he has researched radical left, Marxist, and terrorist movements and their covert influence on mainstream politics.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
