Building the "bench" of socialism: small-town elected officials of the DSA
An understandable amount of scrutiny is given to certain members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) in elected office, especially those members lucky enough to win major positions of electoral power.
Although in 2022 it is clear that socialist power is on the upswing again, socialism in the contemporary United States still remains quite removed from its heyday. The basement years still loom heavily in the rear-view mirror—2015, a time when the future of the left still seemed rather unclear and aimless, was only seven years ago. Membership in socialist organizations, without question at the highest levels in decades, also still stands well behind those of the golden years of the Socialist Party of America, Communist Party USA, and Industrial Workers of the World—each of whom could credibly claim tens of thousands, perhaps as many as one-hundred thousand members in a much smaller America. And electorally speaking, the contemporary American left is in a moment genuinely akin to an airplane being built while taking off.
It should come as no surprise, then, that American socialists sometimes fixate heavily on every move and rhetorical flourish made by prominent elected officials—the handful of people who serve as the very real, popular reminder of the sudden rebirth of socialist politics in this country. Whether rational or irrational; realistic or unrealistic; charitable or uncharitable, every criticism levied at the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cori Bush, Rashida Tlaib, Jamaal Bowman, or any other big electoral figure of the contemporary electoral left can be read as a reflection of the fragile moment we live in.
We seem to be at an inflection point—a moment where the vast series of crises only socialist politics can address seem to have finally come home to roost—and yet collectively we are barely prepared for it. Anything and everything from strategy to talking points could be what trips this fledgling movement up—the thing which prevents us from rising to the occasion, and dooming us to fascism or worse. It is an exhilarating, exhausting, debilitating, anxiety inducing time, and one in which it is wholly understandable to expect a great deal from significant figures and hope for them to flawlessly lead us forward.
But I think many things get lost in this fixation. One of those things is, ironically, a more sustainable representation of socialist politics: the local official, of which we have many.
By my count, there are no fewer than 168 DSA members holding elected office as of July 9, 2022 (more than the Green Party, who claims 123). Many of these members hold extremely local offices that put them in close contact with the very people they seek to represent and organize, and leave them directly accountable to those people and their interests. They are a “bench” of socialism, if you will. In many respects, these members are one of the most straightforward manifestations of our politics and their practical application—and yet even many DSA members know nothing about them.
So, perhaps we should get to know a few. In this installation, we’ll be focusing on three small town elected officials and what they’ve done with their time and power in office.
Devin Wilkie: Lebanon, NH City Council, Ward 2
Genuinely small(er)-town races are rather uncommon for the DSA and its chapters to undertake, in part because of how many chapters and members are consolidated in major urban areas. The infrequence of contests like this for DSA chapters are such that Bertha Perez’s victory in Merced, California—a city of just over 80,000 people—constituted a “small-town” victory in the eyes of many active DSA members (particularly in light of its comparatively small DSA chapter, Merced and Mariposa DSA) and a model for organizing electoral victories in smaller towns.
So what would happen if a DSA member won in Lebanon, New Hampshire, a city of barely 15,000 people? And what might that person look like?
The answer is 31-year-old Devin Wilkie, a self-described “nonfiction book publisher” turned councilman for the city and an open member of Upper Valley DSA since 2019, one of the chapter’s approximately one hundred dues-paying members.1 Prior to his involvement with the chapter, Wilkie had racked up nearly a decade of activist experience, ranging from campus activism at Colby-Sawyer College to housing activism in Lebanon itself. He had also previously sought to run for the city council in 2017, but ultimately dropped out, endorsing another candidate.
2021 was Wilkie’s year, however: with the backing of the Upper Valley DSA chapter, he won his race for this city council seat in 2021 by a competitive 321 votes to 294—52.2% of the vote. Wilkie was the chapter’s successful candidate of their two-person slate for 2021. Fellow Lebanon candidate and Upper Valley DSA member Sylvia Puglisi, who ran for an at-large seat, came third in a field of three with just 15% of the vote.
Wilkie’s campaign message stressed fiscal responsibility, but also strongly emphasized spending for public good and called for reassessing Lebanon’s municipal budget. In an interview with local outlet Valley News, he stated “I want us to have the capacity, both in infrastructure and public services, to grow responsibly, without becoming unaffordable.” While he also didn’t explicitly endorse Upper Valley DSA’s proposal to cut Lebanon’s police budget in half, he signaled support for a decarceral approach, saying: “We should be prioritizing the health and well-being of our people, and not punishment, and I think our spending should reflect those priorities.”
Since his election, Wilkie has most prominently been involved in COVID-19 politics in Lebanon, which greatly disrupted the city in 2021, and has continued to do so into this year. Generally speaking, Wilkie has been an opponent of mask mandates unless they are consistently enforced and repealed when conditions for them are no longer necessary. In September 2021, Wilkie abstained on a vote to reinstate Lebanon’s indoor mask mandate over the lack of a sunset provision and concerns about equal enforcement of the mandate—the vote otherwise passed with 7 yeses and 1 no. In March of this year, he was also sponsor and deciding vote on ending Lebanon’s indoor mask mandate, which passed the city council by 5 yeses to 4 nos.
Outside of COVID-19 politics, Wilkie has been an advocate on the council for affordable housing, sustainable public transportation, and more walkability in Lebanon. For the 2023 Lebanon municipal budget, Wilkie listed his biggest three priorities as “Housing, Public Health, [and Physical and Digital] Accessibility.” In what capacity he will achieve these remains to be seen.
Colin Palmer: Riverhead, New York Central School Board
Sometimes, there are also small-town races in otherwise enormous areas. Take the case of Colin Palmer, a Riverhead Board of Education member since 2021 and the first elected official of Suffolk County DSA. Riverhead itself clocks in at just over 35,000 people as of the 2020 census—but is located in the eastern end of gigantic and suburban Suffolk County, a county with a population of over 1.5 million people. It is these 1.5 million people who Suffolk County DSA seeks to organize and represent, and it is people like Colin Palmer who aspire as socialists to represent them.
Palmer, 31 and a theater director by trade, seems to have been galvanized to public service by a rather specific event: the apparent demise of Riverhead Central School Board’s Latin program. Palmer had been an alumnus of the program, and credits it with not only setting him up well for college but changing his outlook on education and critical thinking.2 Indeed, so significant was it to him that Palmer began a signature campaign to save the program in June of 2020—apparently unsuccessfully, although it received more than 500 signatories overall—before he ran for office.
Before we get too far, it should be made clear up front that Palmer did not run with Suffolk County DSA backing. Palmer “isn’t heavily involved” with the chapter in his own words and, in fact, the chapter didn’t even know about his campaign until he was elected.3 But Palmer, a member of the DSA since 2016 (and nonetheless a member of Suffolk County DSA since the beginning), does not hide what he sees as socialist positions. He campaigned on reducing bureaucracy and expanding direct community involvement in decision making; promoting critical thinking as a part of education; and more investment in arts and music education. He also supported the return of the Latin program, expansion of foreign language offerings, and making meetings accessible to the community by adding a permanent virtual option.
Palmer was elected to one of just two seats up for the Board on May 18, 2021 in an upset—he unseated three-term incumbent Susan Koukounas, taking 1,309 votes to her 1,215 votes while also staving off three other challengers to the seat. Although delayed, his victory was championed by Suffolk County DSA and seems to have rekindled the chapter’s relationship with him, with Electoral Working Group Chair Christian Araos saying in a press release: “It’s on us to give [candidates like Colin] the support they need to win their elections and govern effectively.” Palmer has also embraced his DSA membership and democratic socialism in the press, saying of his victory that “[…]it means that the ideas that the DSA represents, specifically democratic socialism, aren’t scary fringe ideas; they’re actually more mainstream than a lot of people give them credit for.“
Like many elected officials since the pandemic, COVID was one of the first issues on which Palmer was forced to take a strong position. Just a month into his term, he cast the deciding—and divisive—fourth vote in favor of a Board reopening plan which included mandating masks in Riverhead schools. In January 2022, he also voted down an effort to preemptively remove the school district’s mask mandate.
But Palmer was also quick to succeed in accomplishing actual campaign priorities: in August 2021, just a month after taking office, Riverhead Central School Board committed to hiring a new Latin teacher, effectively saving the district’s Latin program. His preference for virtual access to meetings seems to now be the informal status quo for Riverhead—even as the pandemic wanes, school board meetings remain recorded and posted live to Youtube. And Riverhead Central School Board’s 2022 Equity Plan, proposed just a few weeks ago, is almost everything Palmer, who at one point on the campaign trail was described as “ha[ving] a deep care for diversity, equity and inclusion in education” could dream of. He is, to no surprise, very optimistic about the plan, and championed it as a step forward for the district—but as a socialist, he is also lucid that real work must be put in to achieve it. In approving it, he said: “I just want to make sure that, coming next year […] not forgetting that the real work begins…”
Sarah Salem: Poughkeepsie Common Council, at-large
And still other times, you get a curious in-between: races in a small town anchoring an area of small towns, which collectively sum up to a modestly populated area. Poughkeepsie, ringing in at around 32,000 people as of 2020, fits this description: despite its size, it is the headline city of the Poughkeepsie–Newburgh–Middletown metropolitan area—which includes over 600,000 people, a fairly handsome amount. Poughkeepsie is the home base of Mid-Hudson Valley (MHV) DSA, a remarkably successful DSA chapter which just eleven days before this blog post scored an upset victory in backing member-candidate Sarahana Shrestha for New York State Assembly District 103 over a 13-term Assemblyman. So perhaps it comes as no surprise that MHV DSA has two councilpeople on Poughkeepsie’s Common Council—and one of those, nonbinary activist Sarah Salem (they/them), is the Council’s chairperson.4
Salem, in much the style as MHV DSA, has been a force to be reckoned with in their time as an elected official. They were first elected in 2017 to Poughkeepsie Common Council Ward 2 with no opposition, and have quickly become a regional bearer for progressive and socialist politics at the municipal level. Just six months into their term in June 2018, Salem was the instrumental figure who “drafted, introduced, and sponsored“ legislation that created a universal municipal ID for Poughkeepsie citizens despite the city’s Republican mayor. They also helped spearhead the 2019 launch of Hudson Valley Community Power in Poughkeepsie, a community choice aggregation program which made the default energy supply in the city 100% renewable. Salem nonetheless—or, perhaps, because of this—attracted credible primary opposition in 2019 from former Poughkeepsie councilman and Democrat Mike Young, but won a fairly decisive 56% of the primary vote that year in an at-large seat. Poughkeepsie being strongly Democratic, they then cruised to re-election with 61% of the general election vote, and became chairperson of the Council.
But 2020 and 2021 were tumultuous years for Salem. Shortly after taking the chair of the Council, Salem was the cause of a horrific traffic accident while allegedly driving under the influence. Salem is claimed to have run a red light, leading to a collision with another vehicle that severely injured the woman inside. According to Hudson Valley News, “multiple surgeries [were required] for the woman that Salem struck”. The legal proceedings from this accident have continued in the two years since—Salem apparently remains ensnarled in the them as of writing—and unfortunately, they also coincided with a bitter fight (mostly spearheaded by Salem and their progressive allies on the Council) over the role, budget, and power of the police and their union in Poughkeepsie in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.
In an extensive piece by The River written after the fact, “How the Poughkeepsie Police Union Tried to Defeat Reform,” the lengths to which the local Police Benevolent Association (PBA) singled out Salem in particular as they advocated for reforming the police and the PBA become clear. Most prominently, Salem’s traffic accident and previous arrests—they had another, local DWI arrest—were used against them by the PBA, which stated: “Due to the nature of [their] criminal case and the obvious ethical conflict, the PBA does not believe that Salem should have any involvement in police matters or be able to vote on any legislation until the criminal case is adjudicated.” and further asserted Salem to have a vendetta against local police. Although Mid-Hudson Valley DSA stood behind Salem in the face of these attacks, Salem still faced considerable backlash from the city council and community during this time period, including a protest outside their home and calls from the PBA to resign.5 Salem was also threatened on at least one occasion and misgendered by both councilmembers and supporters of the PBA.
A “12-month working group of city officials, council legislators, PBA members, police department command staff, and community members that will provide recommendations for the civilian review board’s structure and powers” was nonetheless formed in April 2021, but despite my best efforts, I am unable to find what (if anything) came of this. From what I can tell, it unfortunately appears the PBA scored a win on police reform because it successfully weaponized Salem’s past.
But things weren’t all bad for Salem in 2021. Despite the traffic accident, legal issues, and brawling with the PBA, they retained their seat with 39% of the primary vote—a much reduced margin for certain, but a win nonetheless—and in November 2021, they were integral to the passage of a good cause eviction law in Poughkeepsie. Despite the tumult of the past few years, it’s clear Salem still cares deeply about the working class of Poughkeepsie.
What the future holds for them in 2023, when they’re next up for election, is uncertain. Their trial for DWI continues to be delayed—it is now set for September 2022—but it seems unlikely to me that Salem will be found not guilty when this is actually argued in court. How they will be punished legally is an open question, as I am not a legal scholar. New York seems to only allow for removal of an elected official for acts that occurred in their capacity as an elected official, which would seem to not apply here; however, Salem has numerous political enemies which may try for this anyways. Either way, it seems foregone that this will impact their chances of being re-elected—perhaps enough to see them lose a primary. They may not even run at all, if they feel things are bad enough. But, it could also be this doesn’t scathe them and they are re-elected in 2023. Weirder things have happened.
Whatever the case, Sarah Salem, Colin Palmer, and Devin Wilkie are the very real manifestations of this revitalized American socialist movement—and you should know them for that reason.
Sources
Tim Camerto, Valley News: “Activists seek to cut Lebanon police budget in half” (October 23, 2020): “The chapter consists of just under 100 people who advocate for ‘an economy and government that works for people and values human needs over greed and profit,’ according to Rory Gawler, a DSA member and Lebanon resident.”
See Palmer’s statements in “Riverhead High School 2009 grad announces candidacy for school board“ (RiverheadLOCAL, March 20, 2021) and “Longtime Latin teacher retires following last-minute restructuring“ (Riverhead News-Review, September 4, 2020).
Alek Lewis, RiverheadLOCAL: “Riverhead school trustee-elect is first Democratic-Socialist member to win elective office in Suffolk County“ (June 21, 2021): “Palmer told RiverheadLOCAL today he has been a member of the national DSA since 2016 and joined the Suffolk chapter when it was formed a few years ago. Palmer said he isn’t heavily involved with the Suffolk chapter; in fact, they didn’t even know he was running for elected office until he won, he said.”
The other is Megan Deichler, elected to Poughkeepsie Common Council Ward 8 in 2021.
Mid Hudson News: “Protesters picket in front of Salem’s apartment“ (August 27, 2020).