On Super Tuesday, when socialists across the country watched their dreams of a Bernie Sanders presidency dashed, socialists in Sacramento celebrated a victory. Bernie Sanders took nearly every precinct in Sacramento County, and Katie Valenzuela, long-time community advocate for environmental justice and a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), defeated Steve Hansen, the neoliberal incumbent representing Sacramento’s City Council District 4. Valenzuela will enter office in December.

Her victory was the culmination of years of organizing, amid growing tension between the council and the public around issues like the public subsidy of a downtown arena, ongoing police violence, lack of services for the homeless, and unregulated rents. She has continued organizing for the priorities she ran and won on: rent control, police accountability, and the expansion of democracy in city governance.

After a legal challenge from Mayor Darrell Steinberg and city attorneys, the Sacramento Community Stabilization and Fair Rent Charter Amendment was placed on the ballot for November through the petition signatures of forty-four thousand voters. Alongside the nationwide outrage against police for the murder of Michael Brown, Sacramento’s anti–police brutality movement has grown.