Electoral – South Jersey DSA

The Electoral Working Group works to build a third pole of politics in South Jersey, a socialist one, to give working class people a real option, not merely corrupt machine Democrats and openly racist Republicans. We are committed to running Democratic Socialist candidates and campaigns across South Jersey to create change for working people, from Camden to Cape May. Our candidates run on the Program of DSA, regardless of what ballot line they run on, so whether a DSA candidate is running as a Democrat or an Independent, they are running for Universal Suffrage, Free Healthcare, a Free Palestine, abolishing ICE, and more!

You can join the Electoral Working Group meetings virtually every 1st and 3rd Tuesday of the month at 6:00 PM on SJDSA’s discord where we work on campaigns to build working class power!

Workers Deserve More! – DSA’s Program

Endorsement Process

Candidates seeking the endorsement of South Jersey DSA should email southnj@dsanj.org to start the process. To be eligible to start the endorsement process, the candidate must be a DSA member in good standing, you can join DSA here. Prospective candidates should include the following information in the email;

Full Name
Pronouns
Elected position you are seeking and district/municipality
Short bio with reason(s) you’re running
What stage you’re in with developing your candidacy

The Electoral Working Group committee will get back to the candidate with the candidate questionnaire form for them to fill out and also work on scheduling interviews between the candidate and working group, and setting up a forum with the candidate and chapter membership. Further details on the process can be found in the SJDSA Bylaws and will be explained in email correspondence to the candidate.

Electoral Readings

The Capitalist class prevents workers from emancipating ourselves in many ways, but one of the most underhanded is the massive apparatus of bureaucracy, legal regulations, and administrative hurdles in the way of regular people. Workers must go into debt for our education, we have to pay dramatic prices for legal advice, and we need to work long hours for a living. It is difficult then for a worker, as an individual, to learn how to navigate these systems by themself, how to put together a theory of change of what the purpose of running for office is, how to keep in compliance with electoral law, and how to run a competent campaign.

Workers, instead, only gain power and knowledge by working together and pooling experience to overcome the concentrated wealth of the rich. To foster that collective strategy, the Electoral Working Group has selected a group of short articles that new members ought to read to help build a common understanding of the challenges socialists face and the solutions we have to fight for Democratic Socialism. In addition to our introductory reading, we have further readings that are not required but helpful in learning how to build Socialism in the electoral struggle. The electoral struggle is but one of many tools for the fight for Democratic Socialism, so we encourage comrades to learn about labor and tenant organizing too, however that is outside the scope of this page.

Introductory Reading

A Blueprint for a New Party – Seth Ackerman (13 Minute Read)
Principles of Party Building – Adopted by DSA at 2025 National Convention (2 Minute Read)
- Principles of Independence – Connell H and Amy W [Supplement to Above Text] (6 Minute Read)
Here’s how the DSA keeps its lawmakers in line – Peter Sterne (5 Minute Read)
Socialists Need a Clear Confrontational Strategy to Win – Nick French and Neal Meyer (6 Minute Read)
Practical Work in Parliament – Karl Kautsky (7 Minute Read)
An Electoral Strategy for a New York City Socialist Agenda – Álvaro López (6 Minute Read)
In Jersey City, Socialists Beat the Democratic Machine – Roman Broszkowski (4 Minute Read)

Further Reading