New Orleans DSA 2026 Local Convention

How to get involved

• Proposal amendments must be sent to hello@dsaneworleans.org with the subject "Local Convention submission", with a link to the text or attached to the email.

Convention Bylaw Amendments and Resolutions

1. Bylaws Amendments (2/3rds majority vote required)

   1. National-Chapter Agreement Bylaws Amendments Compliance Omnibus - Wash F

      1. Amendment to Compliance Omnibus - Wash F

   2. Campaign Coordinator Amendment- Jack RS

2. Resolutions (Simple majority vote required) 

   1. Consent agenda candidates

      1. MOTION to Renew Working Groups  - Bob M, Warren C, Jeff S

      2. Resolution to Adopt ST for New Orleans DSA- Jeff S

      3. Rename Municipal Action Committee to Electoral Committee  - Joel W

   2. Electoral Strategy Resolution 2026-29- Bob M, John L

   3. Copy of Resolution for May Day 2028 General Strike Preparation  - Burrell P, Cody K

      1. Amendment to May Day 2028 resolution - Bob M

   4. Democracy Commission Resolution  - Jack RS

   5. Lauren Jewett Endorsement Resolution - Jack RS

      1. Amendment to Lauren Jewett Endorsement Resolution - Bob M

Local Council Candidate Statements

Co-Chairs (2)

Brodie L:

Hello dear Comrades! I’m Brodie *finger guns*. Many of you know of me or have heard me calling or texting you before. I volunteered to Co-Chair last Convention after seeing one of the seats would be vacant. It has been a whirlwind of lessons and growth, for myself and the Chapter. In my time I have facilitated the first LC retreat in years, increased the number of LC meetings to two per month, streamlined GMs, made GMs more interpersonal, begun previewing GM agendas in our glorious newsletter SMA, among many other administrative tasks. 

Next term I look forward to working with the incredible slate of Council members that we have. I want us to work more closely together, to build us towards a Chapter-wide initiative that we can be proud of and that will have a measurable impact on our community. This will take the coordination and facilitation of LC Committees and Chairs to ensure we are working fully together, keeping in mind we do this for the implementation of socialism in this city we hold so dear. I’m very excited for the work we have ahead of us. It will not be easy, but as the old saying goes, nothing worth doing ever is. 

Red beans and ricely yours, 

Brodie L.

Tony C: 

My government name is Warren C, but I’m also known as Tony. I’ve been organizing in the city for many years. From caring for the unhoused with Southern Solidarity, to planting gardens with Green Light New Orleans, to working as a protest marshal for the BLM Protests, I’ve organized with many people and groups. And while I may be relatively new to the New Orleans DSA, having only been here with y’all for a year now, I’m humbled, honored, and excited be able to put my experience and brainstorming skills to use to help expand and amplify what our comrades wish to see out of the chapter as one of the Chapter Co-Chairs.

While I may have only been in the chapter for one year, I’ve already helped plan meetings for committees, worked as a liaison between DSA and local coalitions, organized and led teams of medics and marshals in local protests, served as acting Co-Chair for the Direct Service and Health Justice Committee, and took part in writing the resolutions for both the Queer Socialist Section and the Recall Campaign alongside my amazing fellow comrades and took the floor at meetings to motivate the passing of those resolutions to help aim our chapter at not only being more obviously inclusive, but also to create paths to joining our org or our actions through shared interests.

We currently face a moment that is as exciting as it is terrifying, as our federal government is twisting the already broken laws of the land to take aim at the most vulnerable people and the allies that fight alongside them while many of our safety nets and systems are failing to keep the people whole. Our immigrant neighbors are under attack by the DHS. Our elderly neighbors are going hungry due to DOGE cuts. Our BIPOC neighbors are being stripped from voter roles. Our trans neighbors are facing a quiet genocide with many sheltering in place. And as terrifyingly real as all of that is, we are also witnessing the rise of Socialism in America, as our DSA comrades take elected positions across the country. From mayors, to house representatives, to city council members, to school boards, the DSA is becoming a household name. Even Fox news is talking about the DSA. Socialism is on the rise and we must meet the people where they are to foster the growth of our burgeoning working class movement and I look forward to doing everything I can to help us achieve the revolution we deserve. 

At-Large Members (2)

Ashley S: 

Hello there! My name is Ashley S. (she/her) and I would like to be considered for an at-large position on the New Orleans DSA local council. 

I have been a dues paying member of Democratic Socialists of America since 2022 and I believe wholeheartedly in the organization’s capacity to elicit real change in our communities and across our world.

I was born in Louisiana and grew up between here and Texas. I love the south and I believe in its capacity to be radically progressive through love of our neighbors and comrades in the fight for dignity for all. 

I try my best to be an intersectional feminist in my political practice as well as my theory of change.

I started my journey into activism working as a abortion access and civic engagement organizer on college campuses. This led me to change my major to political science and seek out opportunities in Washington DC. I lived in the Capitol for a couple years, but ultimately sought to be back with my community in New Orleans. 

I have been back for two years and I’m looking to be more politically involved. I think I would make a great at large member because I enjoy working with member engagement activities and across sectors of our chapter. I am an extrovert and love being around people. One of my passions is to make sure that people‘s skills and talents can shine in political movements. I would love to do that work within the New Orleans DSA chapter! 

In solidarity, 

Ashley

Matt B: 

Hello members, I'm Matt (he/him). I am running for one of the At-Large seats, unfortunately as a white cisgender male. I've been a member of the chapter for a bit over a year now, and was previously the co-chair of the Direct Service committee, the coalition chair of the Chevron Out of French Quarter Fest campaign, and I am a member of the Red Star caucus within DSA.

As an at-large council member, my vision is to facilitate coordination between committees, reduce the amount of administrative overhead on local council, and work to empower membership for the duration of the term. My hope is that this work will extend into campaign development and act as a conduit for the chapter's energy and intention.

Additionally, I would like to serve as a point of contact and resource for all chapter members. As we continue to grow and develop, I believe that the voices of membership must continue to be reflected and advocated at all levels of chapter organization. Succeeding at this aim will ensure that our chapter reflects our core socialist values and empowers members to build the organization with that cornerstone.

Thank you everyone for your consideration,

Matt Banks 

Membership Chair

Bob M:

Hey members, I'm Bob M (he/him), I am running for Membership Chair. I've been a DSA member since March 2020 and have served as a co-chair of the Municipal Action Committee '22-24, Local Council At-Large in '24-25 and Membership Chair '25-26 of New Orleans DSA. I was endorsed by the chapter for City Council in 2025. I am a rank and file member of the National Electoral Commission and Growth and Development Committee for National DSA, and I'm a member of Red Star, a Marxist-Leninist caucus in DSA. 

I've summarized in my membership report ( https://sldr.it/s/no-memchair-report ) for this term many of the interventions that happened in the last twelve months to develop our chapter and our members while serving as Membership Chair. Even though I was actively running for office for 4 months of my term during the largest spike of membership we've seen since 2021, I personally texted every new and renewing member to welcome them and onboard them. We kicked off a Fall Drive that met our goals, and eventually surpassed 500 members in good standing, our highest since 2018. 

I am running again because I feel like we are entering a new phase of development as a local organization that can make even more of an impact in this region. I joined during the first of many dips and jumps in our chapter's membership and have seen the burnout and lack of committed members to lead our chapter's efforts. We can't afford to ignore the lessons from years past. 

I will continue to develop members so they are empowered as organizers and leaders in our chapter, including within our Membership Working Group to coordinate our 5 areas of work: Onboarding, Neighborhood Circles, Member Cohorts, Discord, and Membership Engagement aka "the Vibes subgroup". I want us to restart Night Schools where we can engage and learn skills that make us better people and socialists. In addition to Night Schools and neighborhood socials, I want to have more non-member focused events like DSA 101s and interest meetings for AfroSoC, QueerSoc, and other formations that can engage in recruitment efforts. Finally, having a fuller picture of member levels of engagement, whether from a lack of interest or capacity, is going to re-engage a lot of members that want direction. Building listwork as a shared skill and accessible task will develop our chapter's organizing capabilities towards meeting this moment in history.

Most of all, I will continue to provide my political leadership to members of this chapter. If we successfully develop further in size, democratic processes, political maturity, and multiracial composition, I believe our chapter can function as the independent political party we need - one that operates beyond a ballot line and meets the people where the state neglects them. Socialism is not built for the people, it is built by the people. We need to become more of a part of the working class of Southeast Louisiana as much as the working class needs to become a part of our chapter. Let's make it happen and build a better world together. Solidarity forever, Free Palestine.

Communications Chair

Grant C: 

What's up, Comrades!?

Grant Capone here, and I am running for re-election as Communications Chair.

I am a former educator and brewer who joined the chapter two years ago, and for the past four years, I have run a socialist social media platform dedicated to growing working-class power.

Over the last year, I have worked to strengthen our chapter's communications infrastructure by creating systems that support the work of our campaigns and committees. This has included implementing a weekly schedule post to keep members informed and advertise to non-members, developing social media flyer templates to streamline content creation, and establishing communications representatives for the chapter's committees.

I've used my experience and platform as a content creator to amplify our chapter's efforts. Whether promoting our endorsed city council candidates, supporting our efforts to protect immigrants against ICE/CBP, or supporting the Chevron Out campaign, I have worked to expand our reach and connect more people with our chapter.

During my time as Communications Chair, I have seen our communications committee grow into an organized, collaborative, and effective team. Together, we have helped New Orleans DSA develop a stronger public voice and a greater presence in our community.

If re-elected, I will continue refining our communications processes to make it easier for members and committees to share their work. I plan to collaborate closely with campaigns and committees to create engaging reels, graphics, and posts that showcase our organizing and build excitement around our efforts. Most importantly, I will continue using communications as a tool to grow our chapter, deepen member engagement, and strengthen our collective power.

Thank you for your support. Solidarity forever!

Secretary

Wash F:

Hey y'all, Wash here! I've been in DSA for almost four years now and am proud to have contributed to the chapter's growth over the past few years, as I have evolved from being a curious and excited new member to now an outgoing At-Large Local Council member. After three years on LC, I hope to round the last base (sports analogy, please clap) by taking on the role I had initially wanted before I was elected co-chair the first time: secretary!

Over the last several months, multiple Local Council members have shared interim secretary responsibilities, so I have already been helping with things like note taking and submitting to National the minutes and forms that need submitting. There’s a lot of things that we should be doing in terms of archiving things in a way that's accessible to members, not just in terms of democracy best practices but also our own chapter bylaws. Through this position, I hope to empower members by expanding access to chapter materials -- how a member-led organization should be. 

One of the things that I started earlier this year that I hope to revive and develop is a directory of our chapter's resolutions and where we are in terms of executing those so that that information is readily accessible instead of resolution texts being accessed mostly upon request. I've also been trying to develop the website after years of the pages not being updated followed by a website provider shift that changed the site's layout. I am determined to make our website a more powerful platform for spreading our message, engaging curious people, and sharing the resources people need to get engaged (current and prospective members). Additionally, last year I passed a resolution to advance meeting accessibility which encouraged us to develop a venue list detailing accessibility considerations not only from a disability standpoint but also things like child-friendliness, age restrictions, and availability of food. I hope to improve this so it can be a living resource to help members throw the best event possible.

I am eager to have the opportunity to share the knowledge that I have built up in my years of leadership to support our very cool incoming LC members. We may have tumultuous waters ahead of us, but as I look at our incoming roster and their candidate statements, I feel reassured that this boat can and will conquer those seas. I hope y'all are reassured to know someone will be documenting those tales (boat metaphors likely not included, but the chance is never zero).

Treasurer

Sanaa M: 

Hello, may name is Sanaa Andi and I am proud to be running for DSA treasurer. 

A little about me and how I got here. 

I have volunteered in several mutual aid organizations over the last 15 years. ICNA Relief (Islamic Circle of North America), Second Harvest Food Bank, Islamic Relief, and Free People’s Kitchen: Gaza to name the most recent. 

I am one of the co-founders of  FPK and have operated as treasurer for over a year now.  We have raised over 40k in that time! That money is feeding 150-200 souls in a Bet Lahia refugee camp every day. 

I have 2 grown children.  Working as an RN at one of our local hospitals, I spend much of my free time with my DSA comrades at the healing center. I am heavily involved in Queer Soc and Direct Services working groups: Fork & Knife and BLK & Health Justice. 

Locally, I am an active member of NOSHIP (New Orleans Stop Helping Israel’s Ports), and the Louisiana Deserves Better “Landry Recall” as a registered lead.

I look forward to meeting all of you! 

-Salaam Aleikum

Direct Service & Health Justice Committee Chair

Tristan: 

Hey I’m Tristan Ruspoli and this is awkward because I don’t like bragging about myself … haha jk. This past year I was the cochair of Direct Service and Health Justice. We held bimonthly meetings and at least one event every month. The details of what we accomplished I’ll save for our committee update. Also attended not one but TWO LC meetings a month (thanks Jack and Brodie) + 11/12 GMs.

I also worked a lot with Red Rabbits our paramilitary unit within DSA. We worked with like so many coalition partners keeping events safe and running smoothly. If someone wants to run this working group please let me know you will have TONS of support.

My plans for the upcoming year is to help facilitate Health Justice becoming its own committee again so it can organize on its own with so many qualified volunteers it has now. 

A big dream would be a weekly (or often recurring) community kitchen. Finally, this will likely be my last ride doing this job so I want to help develop replacements for leadership. I’m so fortunate that there’s so many incredible volunteers in DSHJ and many of them would be far far better for this position than me.

Municipal Action Committee Chair

Joel W:

I joined NYC DSA in January 2017 and moved back to New Orleans in 2022. I’ve done a broad mix of things in my nearly 10 years in DSA. Protest logistics, strike support, and ICE watch are some. My electoral work includes campaigns for Bernie, Julia Salazar, Boris Santos, Tiffany Cabán, Michael Hollingsworth, and most recently Bob Murrell (Hi, Bob). 

I’m running unopposed. So it’s extra important that we get together and work out a democratically-decided, shared vision. In the meantime, here is my individual perspective: 

I want to finally establish a Socialists in Office Committee (SIOC) that’s accessible to electeds and rank-and-file members alike, and use it to better support Gabriela Biro and future office-holders. I’m optimistic we can do something quickly, so it’s first on my list to get done. 

I want more in-person working sessions and fewer meetings. I think this will boost participation and depth of engagement. It should also have good synthesis with the SIOC. 

I want a serious electoral program that sets tangible goals and accomplishes them. 

Historically, when our own members have wanted to do something electorally, they would go off, do their own thing, make all of the decisions, and then bring the campaign back to DSA fully formed for a stamp of approval. No campaign is excused from this critique. It’s how the chapter operates. We react to campaigns instead of planning them together. This culture has to end so that a formidable electoral program can thrive. 

Our electoral work must become proactive. We should produce a local policy platform and only run candidates who adopt it. We should decide what our goals are, and only run campaigns that will accomplish them. We should know our endorsement conditions before endorsements come up for a vote. Because we already deliberated and agreed on them. 

We should set a goal to identify one favorable electoral race, recruit a candidate from our ranks to run on our platform, and win the seat. It’s okay to lose, but we have to prove we’re capable of not getting washed. We should prioritize this over other electoral opportunities. 

Our Voter Guide should be singularly focused on promoting our platform. Candidates in our Voter Guide should be evaluated against it. We should decide together how we will categorize candidates based on alignment and seriousness. Editorial guidelines should dictate how much space we give to those. 

The overall goal is to align all of MAC’s activities toward the chapter’s proactively-chosen platform and goals. If we do that, I think we can start winning.

Political Education Committee Chair

Dan A: 

My name is Dan A. I go by any/all pronouns. Since the end of my enlistment in the Imperial Navy in 2016, I've been getting by as an isolated, alienated, atomized gig worker. Scurrying to and fro on the surface of this planet, listening to my Uber fares talk about their lives, consuming media, lurking in comment sections and forums, watching the economy change, and always asking questions like: "How did we get here? What is all this? How did we go from hunter-gatherers to whatever this is?" I started getting the sense that something was terribly wrong. Something doesn't fit. Something doesn't make sense. It wasn't until I found socialism in 2018 that I found the missing piece of the puzzle. In 2020 I showed up to some street actions in Seattle during the Uprising, but I was not involved in any organizing at that time.

In 2024 when Trump got reelected, I knew that it wasn't enough just to know that something was wrong. This moment requires action, and it is going to take all of us to make change. I didn't know anybody in New Orleans, but I started showing up for street actions and protests all the same. It was at No Kings 2 in 2025 (not even a year ago) that I approached the DSA table and made that leap from just showing up to getting involved.

Since getting involved with New Orleans DSA I've shown up for general meetings and participated in several Fork and Knife events. When I showed up to my first poli-ed planning meeting, I thought I was going to a night class! I was like, "Oh geez... I think I'm in the wrong place." But the sub-committee was so gracious and so welcoming, and I just kept coming back. Listen. I don't know shit. I'm not an educator. I haven't read theory (working on it). I'm just a dumb, dirty peasant. I came here to learn. And let me tell you, I have learned so much from my comrades just in the short time that I've been here.

The outgoing poli-ed chair is fond of saying, "The world is run by those who show up." That seems to be true in my case, because the committee nominated me for chair just for continuing to show up. I want to carry that ethos forward, and encourage you to show up to our meetings. To that end, I'd like to use my tenure to focus on outreach and accessibility. I want to extend the welcome that I received to you, and create a space that is welcoming to all comrades. We even want people who are maybe not quite socialists yet, but are socialism-curious! Bring your friends!

We are cooking up a book report program to summarize important texts other folks may not have time or access to read, we are planning on doing more "Red Talks" for the GMs, and we'd like to get night classes going again. We also want to collaborate with other sub-committees and working groups to integrate and disseminate important work they are doing with the rest of the chapter's activities.

I believe in collective intelligence. No one of us has complete knowledge, but each and every one of us has something to contribute from our experience. We must bring the knowledge and experience of all of our forebears and our living comrades to bear on the problems we face in this moment. Poli-ed is a space not just to learn, but to share your knowledge. If you are intimidated by the volume of theory, know that you don't need to know everything to learn something. If you can't do the reading for whatever reason, show up anyway and see what you can glean from the discussion. If you think the reading is stupid, come and tell us what you don't like about it (politely, of course). If you've already done all the reading, come and teach us what you know. If you are an activist and you think theory is for nerds and navel-gazers, come and teach us what you've learned from your direct experience. The greatest theorists of all time were the ones who were also activists. Collective intelligence only works when we show up, when we speak up, and when we listen up. So show up. Your comrades have so much to teach you, and we have so much to learn from you.

Labor Committee Chair:

• Vacant