Member Statements on EER03: Endorsement of Leniqua’dominique Jenkins for D.C. Council At-Large
Per Section 4 of our bylaws, “The Political Engagement Committee shall be permitted to issue a recommendation and rationale as a body, to be delivered by its chair or their designee, before or during debates on all electoral endorsements and will be allotted additional speaking time if requested to deliver findings from their engagement with the candidate or ballot initiative campaign. This recommendation and rationale will be included along with endorsement ballots sent to members.”
The Political Engagement Committee has issued a recommendation Against endorsing Leniqua’dominique Jenkins. The PEC’s full recommendation and analysis can be found here.
In the last Democratic Primary for this At-Large seat on the District Council, Council member Anita Bonds won with 42,421 votes (35.85%). After much speculation about (and increasingly open calls for) Councilmember Bonds’ retirement, she recently announced that she is retiring. Even before it officially became an open race, there was an evolving field of candidates that so far includes democratic socialist Councilmember Janeese Lewis George’s former chief of staff, Candace Tiana Nelson, and Oye Owolewa, who has also sought the chapter’s endorsement. Leniqua’dominique ran in the primary in 2022 but did not make the ballot due to a petition signature challenge.
The PEC appreciates Leniqua’dominique coming to us early to discuss her campaign and her earnest engagement in the process and with the chapter. However, we have more than one endorsement request for this race and only one candidate can be considered in the second phase. Fellow candidate and member Oye Owolewa has longer and clearer ties to the organization, a more solid base of support and infrastructure, and appears much more likely to receive the endorsements of many of the labor unions and progressive organizations that typically align with Metro DC DSA’s candidates in DC races. Moreover, at least for now, Leniqua’dominique answered no to running openly as a democratic socialist in her questionnaire, which significantly hinders a candidate’s ability to build DSA as a party-like organization.
Per section 6.5 of our bylaws, “recognized caucuses shall have the right to publish statements and proposals in public forums for the local, subject to the moderation of that forum.” Metro DC DSA’s Groundwork Caucus has submitted a recommendation AGAINST endorsing Leniqua’dominique Jenkins. The caucus’ full writeup and analysis can be found here.
Our view is that Leniqua’dominique is neither a cadre nor a class-struggle candidate, nor does she have a viable path to victory. Of particular concern is her questionnaire answer that she would not be running her campaign publicly as a democratic socialist. We do not view this as a strategic endorsement for the chapter.
AGAINST by Carl R
Comrades, I urge you to vote NO on the endorsement of Leniqua’dominque Jenkins. She is neither a class struggle nor a cadre candidate, as outlined in our newly passed chapter program. Our chapter’s electoral program has moved beyond endorsing people who join to ask us for the untold hours of organizing work that entails. Vote NO.
AGAINST by Gary Z
I am writing AGAINST endorsing Leniqua’Dominique for DC Council at-large. Although I would consider voting for Leniqua’dominique, and find nothing objectionable in her platform, she has limited engagement with DSA as a political organization. An unwillingness to campaign publicly as a democratic socialist — something we are planning to do and have done during electoral gambits in this city — does not provide me with much faith in our ability to meaningfully coordinate with the candidate on the campaign trail. To my knowledge, Leniqua’dominique does not have any record of protracted engagement or co-struggle with our chapter, and building ties and trust takes too much time and intention to do during the campaign. I believe we should avoid giving paper endorsements, and so I suggest members vote NO and consider other DC electoral campaigns instead.