Not your everyday voter guide
The purpose of Denver DSA’s voter guide is to examine our ballots through a socialist lens, understand the forces shaping our politics, and connect elections to the larger project of building working-class power.
Socialism requires an organized working-class movement building power from the ground up in our workplaces and communities. Under capitalism, political power is hardwired to serve the ultra-wealthy. While elections alone won’t bring about socialism, electoral organizing is an important part of building a mass working-class movement. Elected officials who fight for the working class can help win meaningful improvements in people’s material conditions and create better conditions for organizing. Electoral victories are not an end in themselves, but part of a broader strategy to build working-class power.
Elections also help us to reach working people on a massive scale. Not just to ask for votes, but to raise class consciousness, and bring more people into the movement to transform our society beyond capitalism. To learn more about DSA’s goals, read our Workers Deserve More platform.
As you read our guide, keep in mind that a recommendation for a candidate is not an endorsement. See “How to Read This Guide” below for what each designation means.
A note on candidates who are included, and those who aren’t
Our candidate guide is not meant to be comprehensive; instead, we choose to highlight champions for the working class in the districts where Denver DSA members live—and identify candidates who stand in the way of policies that benefit the working class.
As Democratic Socialists, we take seriously the responsibility to assess the real political stakes of the moment we are in. We are committed to the work of winning meaningful, lasting change in our lives and world.
The GOP is a fascist party whose policies are dangerous and fundamentally opposed to the interests of the multi-racial working class. This election cycle, particularly the federal races, offers an important opportunity to wrest control of the US House out of the hands of the authoritarian right-wing. This would be a critical stepping stone to building a better world, but it is not our horizon. We seek to transform the conditions that made the far right’s rise possible in this country, which includes the abysmal failures of a corporate-captured Democratic Party.
Don’t forget to fill out your entire ballot! Critical issues are being decided by ballot measures, so check out our ballot measure guide.
Thank you for taking the time to find and read this ballot guide. A special thank you to all the comrades who participated in researching, writing, and designing this guide and the website that hosts it.
