Lucy Gellman Photo
Bernie Sanders at 2016 campaign rally on the New Haven Green.
Bernie Sanders has gotten his first local endorsement for his 2020 presidential campaign.
it comes from the local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a group that has seen a revival since Sanders’ 2016 campaign.
The local chapter voted several weeks ago to endorse Sanders, following the lead of the national organization.
Paul Bass Photo
DSA’s Bill Meyerson, Cathy Meyerson, Puya Gerami, Becky Simonse, and Sarah Ganong.
Steering committee members Sarah Ganong, Cathy Meyerson, Puya Gerami, and Becky Simonsen spoke about the endorsement and about the growth of the local chapter on an episode of WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven.” They were joined by DSA member and longtime New Haven activist Bill Meyerson.
Their chapter voted at its most recent monthly meeting to endorse Sanders’ quest for the Democratic presidential nomination and to work on his campaign.
DSA’s national members rose from 5,000 to 40,000 since the November 2016 presidential election. New Haven’s chapter was one of those that started back up. The organizers said a solid hundred people can be found at the central Connecticut chapter’s monthly meetings, which take place in New Haven and other mid-state cities. (Learn more about the chapter here.)
Sanders has most effectively communicated and built support for DSA’s key issues, from income inequality and taxing the rich to single-payer health care, increased government regulation of corporations, support for labor unions, and free college tuition, the organizers said.
On “Dateline,” the DSA leaders were asked about current criticism about Sanders’ campaign, from his becoming a millionaire to his age. (He’d be 87 at the end of a second term.)
“I think it’s important to focus not just on Bernie Sanders the individual, but to focus on the vision that he has been bravely articulating for many decades, and the movement that he represents. This is a vision that millions of people across age groups are supporting today,” responded Gerami. “With Bernie’s candidacy in 2020 we have historic opportunity to revitalize American democracy.”
Cathy Meyerson called Sanders’ campaign a way to combat “the right-wing political machine, the folks in the huge corporations, taking over every aspect of our lives.”
“If we want to have the kind of society where people flourish, we need to take on corporations. He’s honest. He’s not afraid to go over corporations, to say the insurance industry should not be making profits on our health care,” she said of Sanders
In 2016, Sanders inspired the largest crowd to attend a political rally on the New Haven Green in 50 years. Then Hillary Clinton beat him in the Democratic primary in New Haven, drawing on larger African-American support and superior national organizational chops.
Click on the video for the full interview with the DSA steering committee members, which included discussion about the differences between DSA socialism and FDR liberalism; and their personal political journeys.
Me too.