After some deliberation, I have decided to run for borough council in my hometown of Madison, NJ. While the electoral system is certainly rigged against any sort of political action outside that of the twin parties of capitalism and war, election campaigns are still one of the best ways for socialists to get out their message of a new society based on human need, full democracy, and workers power. In addition, it gives socialists a chance to explain how individual policies and programmes, while not fully socialist in themselves, can help strengthen the hand of the working class and help give it another voice and weapon in its struggle against capitalism.
To be fair, my town is not exactly a hotbed of class struggle. As a small suburban community of 16,000 people, most of whom either work in small businesses in the town or commute to New York City to work, it will no doubt be harder to connect with residents on the need for a radical voice on the borough council, but even in Madison there are concerns about over-development, a tax burden based wholly on regressive property taxes, and issues of democracy which socialist representation on the council can help remedy, and subsequently provide other small communities with a way forward to contribute in their own way for the fight for a socialist future.
Fortunately, unlike many municipal elections around the US, New Jersey law allows me to run on a socialist banner, as opposed to "independent" or "nonpartisan," so even people who don't hear about my campaign before the election will be able to know that I stand on an anti-capitalist platform just by looking at the ballot. As a member of and candidate of the Socialist Party USA, I support and run on their full platform. However, I'm working on some particular, more in-depth planks to address issues and make changes geared specifically for Madison, which I will post here, along with a campaign website, sometime in the near future.
Finally, for any Madison, New Jersey residents that read this, I need 100 signatures by the end of May in order to appear on the ballot in November, so please get in contact with me so that you can sign my petition. Every signature will help put a genuine alternative on the ballot for Madison in 2008.
Vote Socialist in 2008!
Edit 19 April: I've created a new blog specifically for my election campaign, which will serve as the campaign website for the time being.
Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
Showing posts with label elections. Show all posts
10 April 2008
08 November 2007
Some 2007 Election Results
Since someone mentioned the Labor Party in a comment, I thought I'd try to write something about that organisation, their electoral ambitions in South Carolina, and socialist perspectives on them. That's still in the works, but in the meantime I thought I'd share some socialist electoral results from the November 6 election.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was most interested in Matt Geary's campaign for At-Large Boston City Council, since it seemed like one of the most well-rounded socialist campaigns this cycle (odd numbered years always being a bit low on socialist participation). Out of nine candidates running for four at-large seats in an officially non-partisan election, Matt came in 7th with 3,025 votes (about 2.4%). Not a bad run for Socialist Alternative's first candidate.
The Socialist Workers Party has a tradition of standing the most candidates for elections (which makes this the only real time you see or hear from them, except when they're selling books at demonstrations), and they seem to have held up this tradition this year as well. SWP election results I've found are as follows: in Des Moines Iowa, mayoral candidate Diana Newberry came in second out of two with around 20% of the vote (don't know about the count.) In Houston Texas, mayoral candidate Amanda Ullman came in second out of three with around 7.% of the vote (again, don't have the vote count.) In Massachusetts, William Estrada ran for At Large Boston City Council (same race as Matt Geary) and came in 8th out of nine with 2,432 votes (1.94%.) In New Jersey, 29th District State Senate candidate Sara Lobman came in 6th out of 6 with 95 votes (0.5%), and 29th District State Assembly candidate came in 8th out of 10 (with the top two vote-getters being elected) with 233 votes (0.8%.) Except for the New Jersey races, all of these elections were officially non-partisan.
Finally, a race that I did not know about when I made my previous 2007 elections post. Silver Persinger ran for 9th District Virginia State Senate as an independent, though he joined the Socialist Party USA earlier this year. He came in 2nd out of 2 with 3,787 votes (18.3%.)
Now that that's over with, on to 2008, right? Probably, and since it's a presidential election year, I expect several socialist parties to run candidates on some level. So far, the Socialist Party has nominated its presidential ticket, Brian Moore and Stewart Alexander, and two SP-USA members have declared intent to run for congress in their districts. Hopefully these people will be joined by others who are interested in providing a radical, socialist alternative at the polls.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was most interested in Matt Geary's campaign for At-Large Boston City Council, since it seemed like one of the most well-rounded socialist campaigns this cycle (odd numbered years always being a bit low on socialist participation). Out of nine candidates running for four at-large seats in an officially non-partisan election, Matt came in 7th with 3,025 votes (about 2.4%). Not a bad run for Socialist Alternative's first candidate.
The Socialist Workers Party has a tradition of standing the most candidates for elections (which makes this the only real time you see or hear from them, except when they're selling books at demonstrations), and they seem to have held up this tradition this year as well. SWP election results I've found are as follows: in Des Moines Iowa, mayoral candidate Diana Newberry came in second out of two with around 20% of the vote (don't know about the count.) In Houston Texas, mayoral candidate Amanda Ullman came in second out of three with around 7.% of the vote (again, don't have the vote count.) In Massachusetts, William Estrada ran for At Large Boston City Council (same race as Matt Geary) and came in 8th out of nine with 2,432 votes (1.94%.) In New Jersey, 29th District State Senate candidate Sara Lobman came in 6th out of 6 with 95 votes (0.5%), and 29th District State Assembly candidate came in 8th out of 10 (with the top two vote-getters being elected) with 233 votes (0.8%.) Except for the New Jersey races, all of these elections were officially non-partisan.
Finally, a race that I did not know about when I made my previous 2007 elections post. Silver Persinger ran for 9th District Virginia State Senate as an independent, though he joined the Socialist Party USA earlier this year. He came in 2nd out of 2 with 3,787 votes (18.3%.)
Now that that's over with, on to 2008, right? Probably, and since it's a presidential election year, I expect several socialist parties to run candidates on some level. So far, the Socialist Party has nominated its presidential ticket, Brian Moore and Stewart Alexander, and two SP-USA members have declared intent to run for congress in their districts. Hopefully these people will be joined by others who are interested in providing a radical, socialist alternative at the polls.
20 September 2007
Some Good News from Norway
Last week on 10 September, Norway held elections for mayors and municipal councils, and for county councils. The results ended up with the Socialist Left Party's share of the vote plummeting, and the other two parties of the governing "Red Green Coalition" (the Norwegian Labour Party and Centre Party) making modest gains.
However, in terms of electoral breakthroughs, the revolutionary socialist Red Electoral Alliance (Rødt Valgallianse, now just Rødt) made significant gains in elections. It increased its share of municipal council seats from 57 to 66, and kept its county council seats at 8. Also, Rødt politician Knut Henning Thygesen was elected mayor in the town of Risør, the first Rødt member to be elected to such an office. This marks a good breakthrough for the organisation since it lost its only member of the Storting in 1997.
Congratulations to Rødt, and well wishes for future successes as a revolutionary socialist party!
However, in terms of electoral breakthroughs, the revolutionary socialist Red Electoral Alliance (Rødt Valgallianse, now just Rødt) made significant gains in elections. It increased its share of municipal council seats from 57 to 66, and kept its county council seats at 8. Also, Rødt politician Knut Henning Thygesen was elected mayor in the town of Risør, the first Rødt member to be elected to such an office. This marks a good breakthrough for the organisation since it lost its only member of the Storting in 1997.
Congratulations to Rødt, and well wishes for future successes as a revolutionary socialist party!
09 August 2007
Voting Socialist in 2007/2008
Now that it's early August, a good number of socialists have declared candidacies and begun campaigning. While I'm sure there are socialist that I have either failed to get information on, or haven't declared yet, as of now it looks like three socialist parties are putting up candidates around the country this year.
As of now, the best candidate I can find is standing in the Boston city council election, as an at-large candidate. Matt Geary, of Socialist Alternative, is as far as I know the first Soc. Alt. member running as a political candidate outside of the Green Party. His campaign site gives a good listing of platforms and demands, and he gives good focus on youth and students (being only 22 himself.) The only hitch is that since the Boston city council election is non-partisan, Matt will not be listed as a socialist on the ballot, nevertheless Matt does not seem to hide his politics, like some erstwhile socialists do when seeking office in the US. In addition to Socialist Alternative, Matt's campaign has been endorsed by the Boston local of the Socialist Party USA, and the Young People's Socialist League is also considering an endorsement.
The Socialist Workers Party is the second party fielding candidates this year. As usual, it seems, the SWP is fielding the most candidates out of any socialist organisation. While I do have many disagreements with the SWP's politics, not to mention their electoral sectarianism and the fact that they don't seem to publish their campaigns much outside their own newspaper, I do appreciate that they do run candidates. Their candidates are as follows: in Iowa, they're running Diana Newberry for mayor of Des Moines, and Seth Galinsky for at-large Des Moines city council. In Massachusetts, William Estrada is running for Boston at-large Boston city council. Hopefully you can vote for more than one candidate in that election, so that the socialist vote is not split. If not, I'd recommend voting for Matt Geary. In New Jersey, the SWP is putting up Sara Lobman for 29th District state senate and Edward Beck for 29th District state assembly as candidates. And in Pennsylvania, Ryan Scott is running for mayor of Pittsburgh, John Staggs is running for mayor of Philadelphia, and Osborne Hart is running for at-large Philadelphia city council.
The Socialist Party USA unfortunately didn't do so well this year as far as fielding candidates goes. We only had one: Tino Rozzo, running for 1st District New Jersey state senate, and he was challenged off the ballot by a Democratic state assembly candidate. Still, I believe Tino is contesting as a write-in candidate. The SP-USA is, however, thinking forward for 2008. Back in June, we set up a Presidential search committee to look for and encourage SP members (and other socialists) to think about running for president or vice-president on the Socialist Party ballot line. So far, thirteen candidates have declared interest; two of those candidates have only expressed interest in being the vice-presidential candidate, but the eleven others are open for either office. The names of the thirteen, plus contact information and answers to the questionnaire sent out to them (when it becomes available) can be found at the SP's election site: www.vote-socialist.org. In the interest of getting on the ballot in as many states as possible, the SP also hopes to get the endorsement from the Peace and Freedom Party of California, and the Liberty Union Party of Vermont. In addition, one or two people have expressed interest in running for congress on the SP ballot line (such as the person I mentioned in my previous post), so hopefully 2008 will be a better year for us in terms of candidates.
Again, this list isn't final. If I find out about more canididates, I'll post them here too, probably in a final post before the 2007 elections.
As of now, the best candidate I can find is standing in the Boston city council election, as an at-large candidate. Matt Geary, of Socialist Alternative, is as far as I know the first Soc. Alt. member running as a political candidate outside of the Green Party. His campaign site gives a good listing of platforms and demands, and he gives good focus on youth and students (being only 22 himself.) The only hitch is that since the Boston city council election is non-partisan, Matt will not be listed as a socialist on the ballot, nevertheless Matt does not seem to hide his politics, like some erstwhile socialists do when seeking office in the US. In addition to Socialist Alternative, Matt's campaign has been endorsed by the Boston local of the Socialist Party USA, and the Young People's Socialist League is also considering an endorsement.
The Socialist Workers Party is the second party fielding candidates this year. As usual, it seems, the SWP is fielding the most candidates out of any socialist organisation. While I do have many disagreements with the SWP's politics, not to mention their electoral sectarianism and the fact that they don't seem to publish their campaigns much outside their own newspaper, I do appreciate that they do run candidates. Their candidates are as follows: in Iowa, they're running Diana Newberry for mayor of Des Moines, and Seth Galinsky for at-large Des Moines city council. In Massachusetts, William Estrada is running for Boston at-large Boston city council. Hopefully you can vote for more than one candidate in that election, so that the socialist vote is not split. If not, I'd recommend voting for Matt Geary. In New Jersey, the SWP is putting up Sara Lobman for 29th District state senate and Edward Beck for 29th District state assembly as candidates. And in Pennsylvania, Ryan Scott is running for mayor of Pittsburgh, John Staggs is running for mayor of Philadelphia, and Osborne Hart is running for at-large Philadelphia city council.
The Socialist Party USA unfortunately didn't do so well this year as far as fielding candidates goes. We only had one: Tino Rozzo, running for 1st District New Jersey state senate, and he was challenged off the ballot by a Democratic state assembly candidate. Still, I believe Tino is contesting as a write-in candidate. The SP-USA is, however, thinking forward for 2008. Back in June, we set up a Presidential search committee to look for and encourage SP members (and other socialists) to think about running for president or vice-president on the Socialist Party ballot line. So far, thirteen candidates have declared interest; two of those candidates have only expressed interest in being the vice-presidential candidate, but the eleven others are open for either office. The names of the thirteen, plus contact information and answers to the questionnaire sent out to them (when it becomes available) can be found at the SP's election site: www.vote-socialist.org. In the interest of getting on the ballot in as many states as possible, the SP also hopes to get the endorsement from the Peace and Freedom Party of California, and the Liberty Union Party of Vermont. In addition, one or two people have expressed interest in running for congress on the SP ballot line (such as the person I mentioned in my previous post), so hopefully 2008 will be a better year for us in terms of candidates.
Again, this list isn't final. If I find out about more canididates, I'll post them here too, probably in a final post before the 2007 elections.
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