American Socialists Aren’t Tired of Winning
More than 100 democratic socialist elected officials, staffers, and organizers from across the US met in New Orleans for the How We Win conference last weekend. The gathering demonstrated American socialists’ growing influence and confidence.
Even most socialists likely have no idea of the breadth and depth of power the movement has won across the US, or the policies those gains have already produced. Both were on full display at this year’s How We Win conference. (Francesca Hong for Governor)
Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral win in New York forced many political observers to think, for the first time, of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) as a serious and potentially formidable force in American political life.
For the more than one hundred DSA members who assembled in New Orleans for the second How We Win national conference last weekend, that fact has long been clear. First organized in 2023 by the DSA Fund, Jacobin, and The Nation, the event has become a key gathering of socialist elected officials, legislative staffers, and organizers that showcases the breadth and depth of DSA’s growing political heft.
“To me, it’s a given at this point that the power of this movement can’t be underestimated,” says Willie Burnley Jr, the two-term Somerville city councilor coming off an unsuccessful mayoral run in the Massachusetts city. “It’s being seen locally, statewide, and across the country.”
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