What is an Endorsement from Pittsburgh DSA?
Pittsburgh DSA endorses candidates who share our purpose of building a mass socialist movement in the US and extending democratic principles into all spheres of life including the workplace and economy. We see our electoral work as inseparable from that mission. We are selective in who we endorse, because we aim to build close relationships with our endorsed candidates, provide them significant support in contacting voters, and build a socialist movement together.
An endorsement from Pittsburgh DSA is not simply another logo to add to a mailer. Instead, it is a grassroots, large-scale mobilization effort that derives its power and legitimacy from a democratic process that engages a broad base of our membership. Rather than seeing DSA as a source of pressure on individual bills and actions, we want socialists in office to be a part of our project from the start. By treating our electoral organizing as an extension of membership, we can build an electoral project around a shared commitment to DSA as the path to socialism.
Our chapter only endorses candidates who explicitly seek out our endorsement. We will never endorse someone who has not asked us to do so. Those who seek endorsement may or may not be endorsed based on a vote of the membership, after open debate.
Endorsement Process for Candidates
For those considering seeking our endorsement, please be aware that we have a thorough endorsement process. You can read the process voted on by our membership here. It includes a questionnaire and possibly a follow-up interview by DSA members who have reviewed the questionnaire. If the committee of members formed to review your application/questionnaire recommends you for endorsement, you will be invited to speak and answer questions at a chapter-wide meeting where our members would vote. This can be attended in-person or remotely.
The first step is to let us know you are interested in seeking our endorsement — please do that by email at pghdsaelectionsandpressure@gmail.com. We ask that you do this as soon as possible so that we can assign a main point person from our Elections & Pressure Campaigns Committee (EPC).
Questions
For questions about endorsements or our endorsement process, you can contact us at pghdsaelectionsandpressure@gmail.com.