The left is pouring its energy into the November midterm elections. But organizers from the Democratic Socialists of America and Justice Democrats told the Guardian this week that the work they’re planning beyond that is just as important.
Waleed Shahid, a director at Justice Democrats, said he believed there could be a parallel in the long term – sparked by Bernie Sanders’ 2016 run bringing democratic socialism to the fore – to the impact Barry Goldwater had on the Republican party.
“[Goldwater inspired] a whole generation of conservative activists, organizers, intellectuals who felt emboldened to kind of plant the seeds of a movement, and that movement ultimately, 16 years later, led to Ronald Reagan,” Shahid said.
Maria Svart, national director of the DSA, also sees a bright future.
“We’re building the socialist wing of a broader movement that is really pushing this country and will definitely be pushing Congress, but at the same time we are an organization that wants to build at the grassroots for the long term,” she said.
“We’re building the pipeline of people that will run for office. On November 7 we’re already going to be thinking about who’s going to be running in 2019 and 2020 for local office.”