It is the end of the year, comrades, and what an eventful year it has been for DSA. Zohran Mamdani, a fellow comrade in DSA, has been elected to be Mayor of New York City! It’s “The People’s Stock Exchange” now, friends!
While 2025 has been an exceptionally brutal year for the working class, especially for our immigrant, trans, and Palestinian neighbors, through all the strife and pain, we have also learned a valuable lesson: we can win, we do win, and we will win.
Mamdani is great for New York City, but what about here at home in sunny Seattle? Well, Seattle DSA’s working groups have made multiple strides throughout the year and we want to give them their roses.
Today we’ll be highlighting some of SDSA’s 2025 accomplishments, as well as how you can get involved in 2026. Imagine you’re taking a nice tour of SDSA’s working groups and we, the editorial team, are your friendly guides.
So, without further ado, our first stop is the . . .
Labor Working Group
Welcome to the Labor Working Group, where the mission is to build working class power by helping workers organize new unions and supporting their efforts.
This year, that mission took shape in a collaboration with the Puget Sound Emergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC), an organization to help non-union workers to organize a union. Together, SDSA and EWOC led organization trainings, met 1-on-1 with prospective organizers, and supported workers in their efforts to organize unions.
In May, a fork-lift driver named Max Londonio was detained at the airport upon returning from a family visit to the Philippines. Max, a green card holder and primary provider for his wife and children, was placed in solitary confinement for nearly a month, due to a non-violent conviction from twenty years ago.
Under the leadership of the Filipino-led alliance network Tanggol Migrante and the Machinists Union, the Labor Working Group (along with the Immigration Justice Working Group, Tacoma DSA, and many other organizations) organized a rally at the Northwest Detention Center to call for his release. Following two months of these efforts, Max was finally released.
Now, the Labor Working Group is supporting Starbucks Workers United in their ongoing strike for fair labor practices and a living wage. (Say no to the pumpkin spice latte, folks!) Check the SDSA calendar to attend a Labor Working Group meeting, join a Starbucks picket line, or raise a glass at the Labor Happy Hour.
Housing Justice Working Group
Next up, we have the Housing Justice Working Group. Here at SDSA, we believe housing is a human right—and the HJWG is working to make that happen.
HJWG had a great year in 2025. They kicked things off by contributing more volunteers to the Proposition 1a Social Housing campaign than any other organization—propelling Prop 1a to a 27-point victory over the Chamber of Commerce. This secured $50 million dollars in funding for social housing by taxing big businesses!
Coming off this victory, they’re eager to support and defend the building of social housing. They’re also focusing on tenant organizing for 2026, because they believe that only organized, militant tenant power can defeat the landlord class. They are now supporting tenants at eight buildings, helping them form organizing committees and join the Puget Sound Tenants Union (PSTU).
Attend a HJWG social or meeting (biweekly hybrid meetings at Cal Anderson Shelterhouse–with food!) to join the struggle for tenant power.
Electoral Working Group
In addition to organizing the workers and the people, Democratic Socialism brings democracy to our workplace, homes, and economy by getting Socialists into office, and the Electoral Working Group (EWG) plans and leads those efforts.
First, the Campaign Planning Subcommittee prepares for future electoral work by developing candidates, assisting members with campaign proposals and ballot initiative ideas, and assessing the viability of proposals. Then, the Campaign Operations Subcommittee carries out the field, communications, and fundraising efforts required for endorsed campaigns.
2025 was a challenging but key year for EWG. On the one hand, Seattle DSA’s endorsed campaign – Michael Westgaard for Renton City Council – suffered defeat at the ballot box against an entrenched incumbent. But on the other hand, the Renton campaign taught EWG important lessons, and it served to train a new group of core organizers.
Looking ahead to 2026, Campaign Planning facilitated a ballot initiative proposal process – and after months of vetting, viability testing, and lively debate, members voted to pursue a ballot initiative for universal childcare in Seattle. This will be a huge push, requiring organizing by as many members as possible.
Come to an EWG meeting or fill out http://tinyurl.com/dsa26volunteer!
Immigration Justice Working Group
As we saw in the case of Max Londonio, our current immigration system is incredibly cruel, but our efforts can help.
In 2025, the Immigration Working Group trained themselves and their fellow comrades to accompany folks to immigration and courthouse appointments. Accompaniment training provides members with a basic knowledge of relevant rights and empowers them to offer needed help, from English translation to documentation to moral support. Our marginalized neighbors are up against a hostile system, and supportive accompaniment makes a big difference.
Going into 2026, the Immigration Justice Working Group will also be conducting rapid response trainings to respond to ICE threats and protect our communities. Keep an eye out for these trainings on the calendar, or join a IJWG meeting for more information.
Ecosocialism
Almost exactly a year ago, SDSA’s ecosocialists reconstituted the Ecosocialism Working Group. In that process, they decided that building bridges between socialists and environmentalists was their top priority.
For 2026, they’ve identified big tech, AI, and energy democracy as a target area (especially re: data centers), and have deepened partnerships with 350 Seattle and Troublemakers, who are EWG’s co-hosts for the upcoming series “The People’s Forum on AI“. Their goal is to use these educational events as launching pads for future campaigns.
Mutual Aid
Not only do socialists work for a better future for all, but we also help each other survive the present. In response to the SNAP cuts and food insecurity, SDSA has started a pilot program in South Seattle to cook and serve a free/pay-what-you-wish weekly community dinner.
The Artisan Community Kitchen and Cafe Red in South Seattle have generously offered their spaces for cooking and serving, and SDSA is hoping to make Saturday evenings a place for nourishment, community, and political education. The project is currently in its infancy, but with your help it can continue into 2026. Stop by Cafe Red between 5-6:30 PM on Saturdays to share a hot meal and learn how to get involved.
DSA also partners with the Seattle Mutual Aid Coalition on The People’s Breakfast, which serves hot meals to over a hundred people in the U District every Sunday. They are currently expanding into a Queen Anne breakfast. Find the Seattle Mutual Aid Coalition on Instagram for more information.
Palestine Solidarity
Socialists work hard to support both our local community, and our global community. In 2025, the Palestine Solidarity and Internationalism Working Group transitioned to the next phase of their Boycott War Profiteers campaign. Working in solidarity with PCC workers, they’ve been tabling and picketing PCC grocery locations, pushing them to drop Nestle products and Israeli wines. Their recent pre-Thanksgiving picket had DSA members and allies outside of 8 PCC locations from Bothell to Burien and Redmond to Fremont. They’ve also sent over 1000 letters to PCC board members.
In addition to the boycott work, they’ve started a series of Liberation Happy Hours to socialize with allied organizations and foster political education. Most recently, they hosted a social with No Azure for Apartheid, but they’ve also done a movie night and fundraiser with our Philippines-supporting comrades at Kaibigan, a BBQ with UWYDSA, and a lunch with Seattle Against War.
Next year, the focus will be on winning the PCC campaign–something that would force the PCC board to hold a member vote on DSA’s demands. You can get involved by filling out this form.
Youth DSA
This year, students at UW started their own Youth DSA branch. We got to meet some of them at October’s GMM, and they were engaged, passionate, and full of new slang. The youth have always been an essential part of socialist movements, and we’re big fans of this branch.
Over the course of the year, they grew their membership through postering, social media, and events like socialist trivia night – fostering a space for socialists on campus. In September, they voted to endorse Katie Wilson for mayor, and spent the Fall door knocking, tabling, and registering folks to vote. YDSA boosted the UW voter center to the second highest registration center in King County, and in this very tight election, each one of those votes mattered.
As 2026 approaches, YDSA is focusing on affordability on campus, specifically trying to extend transit benefits to students through the summer terms.
Socialist Night School
But here at SDSA, school isn’t just for the youth. After all, we’re all always learning, right? And if you’re looking to learn in community, look no further than The Socialist Night School, a welcoming learning space for anyone interested in learning more about socialism.
There have been nine night schools hosted so far this year, five in-person and four online, on the topics of: Fascism and the American Right; Capitalism vs. Socialism (guess which one we think is best); Capitalism and Militarism; and Race and Capitalism.
The Socialist Night School has partnered with YDSA and No Azure for Apartheid and is hoping to partner with additional SDSA working groups and community organizations. They’re also planning to re-establish the Political Education Committee within SDSA in 2026.
Communications
And for the final stop on our tour, we’ll close with the Comms Committee, filled with bold, brilliant, charismatic socialists . . . oh hey, that’s us! In our work spreading the socialist word near and far (managing internal and external communications for SDSA), we take care of social media posts, design fliers and materials, and send emails like this one!
We’ve also launched a Spanish Comms Subcommittee to translate major communications into Spanish (muchas gracias, Orlando! Eres el mejor!) We’re starting small but we’d love to improve language accessibility in our chapter, so if you speak Spanish or any other language and are willing to help, please let us know.
And that concludes our tour! Thanks for traveling through Seattle DSA with us.
As extensive as this email was, there are still more SDSA groups and committees we didn’t cover. To learn more about how to get involved, check our calendar and join the party. Or, for a more personalized tour, contact someone in our Member Engagement Committee for a one-on-one call.
If we didn’t include your working group, please accept our bread, roses, and sincerest apologies. (Not even the boldest and most brilliant of socialists can beat deadlines!) We’ll be doing these wrap-ups again, so please let us know if you’d like your group to be included in the future.
Yours in solidarity,
the DSA editorial team
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