Candidates running in the September 2021 Special Election will have their responses to the Candidate Questionnaire placed here.
Candidate Michael M
Please describe your past and current involvement in DSA. This may include your involvement in the metro DC chapter, another chapter, and/or work at the national level.
I have been a member of the Metro DC DSA chapter since 06/2020. My first project was flyering for the MDC-DSA endorsed Ed Lazere campaign. Afterwhich, I began having a presence at GBMs and Publications meetings. I believe the best place for a member to be is where their skills will be most helpful. I began to find my home in the chapter with the incredible Pubs team and published articles in the Wash-Soc. Quickly, a vision for Communications as a vessel to take our chapter to the next level, became apparent. We evolved the comms team into a functioning apparatus at the forefront of local politics. I have served as Communications Steward since 03/2021 and have had the honor to work alongside the talented comrades that make up our team.
Why do you believe that you are a good fit for this position?
As Communications Steward, we have been actively mobilizing new members to operate the website, graphic design, social media, and publications teams. I remain in close contact with the Stewards of each team to discuss relevant business, address Red Desk tickets, and make sure we are collectively focused on messaging, narrative, and a general plan to promote chapter achievements and events. As a member of the Steering Committee, I believe my experience as the Steward will be essential to managing the Comms steering portfolio and would be a natural next step towards seeing our chapter’s communication operations grow to even greater heights.
What do you hope to accomplish for the chapter if elected to this position?
I wish to expand the capacity of our Communications team to the extent of promoting our chapter’s vision on a national level and to see MDC-DSA become recognized as a political powerhouse within and beyond our region. Our chapter has paved previously unthinkable trails. Yet our visibility does not match the extent of our achievements – we need to further develop our Comms teams so that we can effectively elucidate our success through as many mediums as possible. This includes relational organizing with journalists and media outlets – as well as implementing training sessions for campaigns and working groups to learn how to receive increased media permeation for their causes.
Candidate Karishma M
Please describe your past and current involvement in DSA. This may include your involvement in the metro D.C. chapter, another chapter, and/or work at the national level.
Hi comrades! Some of you know me already, but for those who don’t my name is Karishma (she/her). I’m a former preschool teacher and recently ran for the Virginia House of Delegates in House District 49 as a Metro DC and National DSA endorsed candidate for the 2021 cycle. Before my run for elected office, I organized with MDC DSA NOVA Branch in our migrant justice and tenants rights working groups. I’m also an organizer with For Us, Not Amazon and the Free Them All Coalition working to shut down detention facilities. I’m extremely proud of the work being done by our chapter as we navigate the pandemic, and want to expand these campaigns into Virginia/Maryland as well.
Why do you believe that you are a good fit for this position?
I believe that I would be a good fit for the steering committee because I have intimate familiarity with so many of the barriers facing working families in the DMV today. As a working class woman of color, I have struggled my entire adult life to put food on the table, pay rent, and afford healthcare (hardships that I inherited from my parents after they immigrated here from India) under racial capitalism. To grow as a chapter, my hopes are to challenge ourselves and current limitations, elect more members to the steering committee who will be informed by their personal struggle, and be willing to engage in difficult conversations about race, class, and privilege.
What do you hope to accomplish for the chapter if elected to this position?
I ran last summer for our at-large steering committee to ensure that 1. Our work as a chapter is unequivocally rooted in Black liberation/self-determination, Indigenous sovereignty, and internationalism 2. To ensure NOVA has a voice on our steering committee, 3. We are doing intentional coalition building with BIPOC community groups to increase partnerships, membership, and retention within our chapter. Should I be elected, my commitment is to work with our steering committee to engage regularly with community leaders on local action events, intentional outreach to YDSA (high school and university chapters), and running parallel campaigns that amplify the work already being done by local groups.