The Chicago chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America went from endorsing one unsuccessful candidate in 2015 – 25th Ward hopeful Jorge Mujica – to helping elect six Socialists who will take office on May 20.
Ald. Carlos Ramirez Rosa, who joined DSA after he was elected in 2015 and has become one of the City Council’s most vocal members, will be joined by five political rookies: Daniel La Spata (1st), Jeanette Taylor (20th), Byron Sigcho-Lopez (25th), Rossana Rodriguez Sanchez (33rd) and Andre Vasquez (40th).
They will replace veteran or dynastic aldermen like Danny Solis (25th), Deb Mell (33rd) and Pat O’Connor (40th), while others will replace those who left under a cloud of scandal like convicted Ald. Willie Cochran (20th) and Ald. Proco Joe Moreno (1st).
While the group is finding its footing in City Hall, deciding what a potential City Council Socialist Caucus might do, its aldermen must also navigate how to stay true to DSA’s roots while cobbling together the 26 votes necessary to pass legislation — and delivering ward services.
Chicago DSA Co-Chair Lucie Macias said those tasks are difficult, but not impossible.
“We want to make sure that we are building coalitions, that we are working with other groups, ‘cause we’ve seen that already,” she said on The Daily Line’s Aldercast. “But I think if we start to make too many concessions, then we’re not actually building socialism or what we want to achieve.”
“Yes, we may only have six DSA members, but I think that can still move the direction of where the conversation is. Just like we’ve seen nationally, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, as a DSA member, has already done so much at the national level to shift the conversation further left on so many issues,” she said.
In tandem with other progressive groups that supported like-minded, progressive candidates in the 2019 elections — unions, Reclaim Chicago and United Working Families — “that builds up the numbers,” she said.
“There’s no real decisions that are being made yet,” regarding specific policy pushes, Macias said. “In my wildest dreams, when we started to take in some of these conversations about who we were going to endorse, I never imagined we would have six. So we’ve exceeded some of our goals. I don’t want to say we’re totally unprepared, but we want to make sure that we’re being very deliberate about the conversations we’re having and the way that we’re moving forward from here.”
Like thousands across the country, Macias was radicalized during the 2016 election by the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders and the eventual victory of President Donald Trump.
“I think Trump getting elected was sort of a wake up call,” Macias said, “Sort of like I needed to become part of an organized movement.”
Macias had been active in politics previously, but pointed to catalytic events like witnessing multiple evictions, the difficulty of receiving affordable healthcare and the 2008 bank bailout as major factors in her activism. She went from attending a few meetings to manning communications for the growing chapter.
Nationally, DSA went from “an organization that had some local chapters and maybe 7,000 or so nationally to chapters forming in every state and 25,000 members in less than a year,” to close to 60,000 members nationally, Macias said. “That was huge.”
