As the largest socialist organization in San Francisco, DSA SF is proud to be selective in our electoral endorsements. We don’t endorse in every race, and we consider endorsement only if a significant number of members express interest. Campaigns undergo a thorough process of research and debate before we ever hold a vote, and must meet several rigorous standards, chief among which is the capacity of the ballot measure or candidate to build real power for the working class.

DSA SF members voted to endorse three campaigns in the November 6, 2018 elections:

  • Tony Kelly for District 10 Supervisor, our first local candidate endorsement
  • Yes on Proposition C, also known as Our City, Our Home
  • Yes on Proposition 10, also known as the Affordable Housing Act

Tony Kelly for District 10 Supervisor

Tony Kelly is a longtime activist with a strong record of fighting for racial and environmental justice in District 10. His years of work alongside Greenaction on the Hunters Point Shipyard contamination scandal—in which the Navy and its contractors covered up the existence of radioactive waste beneath housing developments, while City government turned a blind eye—have demonstrated his commitment to the wellbeing of his community.

Tony is a proud socialist and member of DSA SF, and his platform includes bold approaches to issues of housing and homelessness; systemic racism and police brutality; creation of a public bank to divest the city from corporations that exploit workers and destroy our planet; and getting big money out of politics. Tony is the only major candidate in District 10 who has not taken money from developers, lobbyists, or corporate interests, and the City Hall machine is fighting hard against him.

Long ignored by even their own representatives in City Hall, the people of District 10 deserve a Supervisor who will truly fight for their health, dignity, and rights. And all of us, as San Franciscans, deserve a government that will stand up to the capitalist class as it attempts to turn our city into a playground for the rich.

Electing Tony Kelly will help us begin to build a city for the many, not the few.

Sign up to volunteer for Tony Kelly!

Yes on C

Prop C is one of the most ambitious pieces of homelessness legislation that San Francisco has ever seen on the ballot. The premise is simple: tax the rich to house the poor.

If passed, it would enact a small (0.5%) gross receipts tax on companies making over $50 million a year, the revenues from which would fund a set of comprehensive services to alleviate and prevent homelessness in San Francisco:

  • Permanent, supportive housing for 4,000 homeless youth, families, and adults
  • Mental health and addiction services
  • Emergency shelters for 1,000 people
  • Homelessness prevention services, such as rental assistance and eviction defense

According to the most conservative estimates, there are more than 7,500 homeless San Franciscans at any given time, and many advocates believe the actual number is several times higher. Enormous waitlists for shelter beds can leave people on the street for months. We live in one of the wealthiest cities in the wealthiest nation in the history of the world, and yet people starve in the shadow of billion-dollar skyscrapers.

Large corporations like Square and Stripe have poured incredible amounts of money into defeating this measure, because to them, a negligible tax increase is worse than our most vulnerable neighbors dying in the streets. Even after the Trump administration handed them a massive tax break, wealthy capitalists are unwilling to pay their fair share.

It’s time we made them.

Sign up to volunteer for Yes on C!

Yes on 10

Prop 10 is all about expanding rent control and keeping rental housing affordable throughout California. Thanks to a 1995 law known as Costa-Hawkins, cities are prohibited from creating new rent control laws, which limit the actual cost of rent, and vacancy control laws, which limit how much a landlord can raise the rent after a tenant moves out. Prop 10 would repeal Costa-Hawkins.

If Prop 10 passes, cities would have the ability to enact both types of laws for the first time in more than 20 years. In San Francisco, for example, we could expand rent control to units built after 1979. We could ensure that when you move out of your rent-controlled apartment, the next tenant doesn’t have to pay ten times what you did. In short, we could finally start addressing the affordability crisis that is driving thousands of working-class people out of the city each year.

We face an uphill battle in this election. Landlords and real estate lobbyists have spent millions of dollars spreading lies about Prop 10, and we need all the help we can get to pass this historic reform.

Your landlord is scared we’ll stop them from reaping enormous profits and perpetuating the housing affordability crisis. Let’s show them they should be.

Sign up to volunteer for Yes on 10!

 

Join DSA SF in voting Tony Kelly for D10 Supervisor, Yes on C, and Yes on 10 on November 6, 2018!