Socialists in Office: Lessons from the History of DSA Electoral Campaigns

Salt Lake DSA's Socialist Night School (SNS) is a political education discussion and social group to increase people’s understanding of socialism as a political horizon, build our chapter’s community, and teach ourselves how workers can form organizations to pursue socialism.

This session is a presentation and discussion on the contradictions, hurdles, successes, and failures of a decade of socialist electoral organizing in DSA. In order to carry the struggle forward here in Utah, we need to understand where we've been.

Pre-readings are not required, but will be useful in discussion and provide context for some of the topics presented. These readings provide three separate perspectives on DSA's electoral strategy:

• How Zohran Beat the Billionares (2025, Blanc)
• Taking the Dirty Break Seriously (2020, Sernatinger)
• Independent Workers’ Party Hurts the Socialist Electoral Project (2021, Brad C.)

Event Locations:

• Salt Lake City — Ken Sanders Rare Books — 209 E 500 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84111
• Ogden — Ogden Creative Reuse — 2424 Wall Ave, Ogden, UT 84401