JUNE 5, 2026

This is the weekly newsletter of the Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America (MDC DSA), which is produced by local members of the chapter’s Publications Working Group. The Weekly Update publishes every Friday at 9am. Ready to fight the Trumpocalypse? Join DSA, fight to win with a real alternative!

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UP FRONT

As early voting begins next week, socialist-endorsed candidates pound the pavement to bring the working class into power
Socialists plan to pack the room in defense of rent stabilization in Takoma Park — hearing on June 10
Socialists mount community defense as Trump launches “summer surge”

As early voting begins next week, socialist-endorsed candidates pound the pavement to bring the working class into power

Early voting takes place in DC from June 8 – 14. Find information on where to vote here. In Maryland, early voting runs June 11 – 18. Find more information here. As campaigns work to get voters to the polls, Metro DC DSA is showing the establishment what people-powered campaigns look like across Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, and the District of Columbia. Come to more than five canvasses before June 23 (punch your DSA merch punchcard) to get exclusive DSA merch.

In DC: With less than two weeks until the June 16 primary, DC needs your help knocking doors on Saturday, June 6 from 10am – 5pm and Sunday, June 7 from 10am – 5pm in Mt. Pleasant for Aparna Raj. Join DSA members to talk with Ward 1 neighbors about the most progressive, grassroots, labor-centered campaign in the ward. With three shifts each Saturday and Sunday, get your merch punchcards signed by canvassing for Aparna this weekend.

DSA will also be having its final phonebank of the election cycle in DC, where members will be calling fellow socialists in-person near the U Street Corridor on Wednesday, June 10 from 5:30 – 7:30pm to get DSA members out to canvasses. Training and free pizza will be provided.

Finally, DSA needs members to help staff Ward 1 poll sites during early voting and Election Day to have conversations with voters about Aparna and Janeese Lewis George. Sign up today to staff poll sites in Ward 1 during early voting (Monday, June 8 to Sunday, June 14) and Election Day (Tuesday, June 16).

Attention Marylanders: Due to a printing error, ALL mail-in ballots requested on or before May 14 have been voided. These ballots will not count, so you must receive a replacement ballot for your vote to count. The Board of Elections should reach out via email to notify you of this error; look for a ballot that says “REPLACEMENT BALLOT”. Be sure to spread this news far and wide, as potentially hundreds of impacted voters have had their ballots thrown out. For the full details, check the Maryland Board of Elections website.

Socialists continue hitting the doors for endorsed candidates in Maryland. In Montgomery County: Endorsed candidate Josie Caballero is in one of the most crowded races the county has ever seen. Early voting is next week, and thousands of voters will vote early. Canvasses will be held Saturday at 9am and 3pm and Sunday at 9am and 3pm at Takoma Urban Park (7035 Carroll Ave, Takoma Park, MD 20912). Training, rides to doors, and buddies will be provided to all who need them. Josie will also hold canvasses and phonebanking almost daily until the primary. Check the calendar for volunteer opportunities — it’s now or never to get Josie elected.

Endorsed candidate Zola Shaw has built a broad coalition with the support of labor unions, tenant associations, immigrant rights collectives, and progressive advocacy groups. The opposition has made no secret of their goals to end rent stabilization and break union power. This week is the last opportunity to talk to thousands of voters who vote early. Canvasses will launch Saturday at 1pm (850 Hungerford Dr, Rockville, MD 20850) and Sunday at 2pm at Twinbrook Elementary (5911 Ridgway Ave, Rockville, MD 20851).

DSA’s own Gabe Acevero has built another coalition of labor unions, immigrant rights organizations, and progressive advocacy groups, leading again to a centrist slate being formed to attempt to kick him out of office. The oppositional slate has mobilized their forces at the doors — the working class must fight back. Canvasses for Gabe will launch Saturday and Sunday, every hour on the hour from 10am to 6pm, at Watkins Mill Elementary (9001 Watkins Mill Rd, Montgomery Village, MD 20886). Join comrades to show that organized people beat organized money.

Lastly, Montgomery County DSA is looking for volunteers to help with poll staffing on June 23. If you are interested, please reach out to Eric (ericfowler24@gmail.com) for more info.

In Prince George’s County: This weekend, DSA will continue to go all out for Imara Crooms, candidate to represent District 9 on Prince George’s County Council, and Raaheela Ahmed, candidate to represent District 23 in the Maryland Senate, by marching in the Marlboro Day parade on Saturday, June 6, tabling at the event, and knocking doors for Imara and Raheela, with festivities kicking off at 9am and carrying through until 5pm. Socialists will also be canvassing for endorsed incumbent Councilmember Shayla Adams- Stafford at 11am on Sunday, June 7.

Socialists plan to pack the room in defense of rent stabilization in Takoma Park — hearing on June 10

Renters are organizing to protect rent stabilization in Takoma Park, MD, which has one of the strongest rent stabilization laws in the region. On Wednesday, June 10 at 7:30pm, the Takoma Park City Council will report the results of a rent stabilization study, which local tenants fear will be used as pretext to weaken Takoma Park’s strong renter protections. Takoma Park tenants and rent stabilization supporters are encouraged to attend the June 10 hearing and testify. Locals can RSVP for the hearing here, and those who can’t attend can use this form to share testimony with the campaign to be read during the hearing on June 10.

Socialists mount community defense as Trump launches “summer surge”

Trump’s “summer surge” of federal agents in DC has begun, and community members are organizing rapidly to counteract this terror.

The Metro DC DSA Community Defense Working Group will be holding a general membership meeting on Wednesday, June 17 to introduce the working group’s work to new attendees (or reintroduce for members who have participated in the past), update people on the federal occupation and ICE detentions in the DMV, and share how locals can join the fight to end the occupation of the DMV and the kidnapping and detentions of community members. The meeting will be held at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, 901 G St NW, Washington, DC 20001 (401-D Conference Room), Wednesday, June 17 from 6 – 8pm.

DC needs everyone in this fight. RSVP to get involved here.

BRIEFS

Electoral analysis now available via REDBUG — view candidate positions on working-class issues

The 2026 DC Primary Election REDBUG voter guide is officially live. For those unfamiliar with REDBUG, the website aims to give a socialist perspective on all the candidates and elections it covers while focusing on key issues relevant to the local working masses. REDBUG does not explicitly tell readers who to vote for or how to rank candidates, but instead seeks to provide what REDBUG considers key information to allow everyone to make informed election decisions.

For the DC primary elections, read coverage of the following races on REDBUG:

Mayor with seven candidates (scroll to the side)
Ward 1 Council with five candidates
Ward 5 Council with three candidates
Ward 6 Council with three candidates
At-Large Council with nine candidates
At-Large Ind. Special with three candidates

With specific focuses on these six issues:

Tenant rights and social housing
Sub-minimum wage for tipped workers
Municipal-owned utilities
MPD funding and collaboration with ICE
Public transit
Childcare

Stomp Out Slumlords holding Tenant Block Party this weekend — plus, view the newly launched DC Worst Landlord Watchlist

On June 7, Stomp Out Slumlords (SOS) will be holding a tenant unity block party in the Tivoli Gardens Community Garden in DC. Join tenants and organizers after a day of Get out the Vote (GOTV) canvassing for SOS organizer Aparna Raj and endorsed candidate Janeese Lewis George. The party will have food, music, activities, and an opportunity to connect with organizers in the fight for tenant power in DC. RSVP here.

The block party is only part of the ongoing fight against slumlord capitalists in the District, and a new resource reveals just how pernicious and unrelenting these bad actors are. Three DSA members have launched the DC Worst Landlord Watchlist, a public database of housing violations across DC that names the worst offenders. DC has 82,000+ violations on record, but the same landlords keep getting cited year after year with no real consequences. Just 50 landlords account for 19% of all private fines citywide. The fines pile up, but DC never forces the fix. For these landlords, the law is just another entry on their balance books.

Meanwhile in New York City, Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently threatened to seize buildings from the worst landlords and transfer them to community land trusts, nonprofits, or tenants. While DC keeps fining the same landlords to no effect, NYC is threatening to take their buildings. DC needs leaders willing to follow New York City’s example.

Search your address to see your landlord’s violation record: housingsignal.org/worst-landlords.

DC Spanish Club for Socialists — Monday, June 8 at 7pm

Spanish Club for Socialists, a project of multiple area socialist and mutual aid organizations including Metro DC DSA, is a free weekly event where organizers meet up to practice their Spanish. The event is about 90 minutes long and is split into beginner, intermediate, and advanced groups, so learners of all levels should feel welcome. The next session is scheduled for Monday, June 8 from 7 – 8:30pm at St. Stephen’s (1525 Newton St NW). Sign up here for calendar updates.

Comrades needed: Member Engagement Department seeking members to support text and phonebanking or to lead New Member Cohorts in DC

Interested in planning organizer trainings for new members? The Member Engagement Department (MED) is looking for members to organize New Member Cohorts in DC, NoVA, and PG County for newish members seeking to get more involved. Training and guidance will be provided.

MED is also looking for members to engage new or prospective members via phone and text banking or email replies to interested members with a monthly time commitment of four to five hours. Contact member-engagement@mdcdsa.org if interested in either opportunity or for other ways to get involved in the department.

Call for submissions — summer 2026 Washington Socialist

Socialists are pounding the pavement for endorsed working-class candidates, organizing with tenants and neighbors to protect community members from federal invasion, laying the groundwork for a clean, democratically controlled DC utility, fighting back against imperialism from the heart of the empire, and much more. Now, your fellow comrades and DMV locals need to read about it. The summer 2026 Washington Socialist is accepting submissions (from both DSA members and non-members in the area Left); send in your drafts, proposals, questions, ideas, etc. to washingtonsocialist@mdcdsa.org. The Metro DC DSA Publications Working Group is ready, willing, and excited to work with writers of any experience on articles, so please get in touch.

INFO ACCESS

Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America, uniting the DMV, is one of a number of big urban DSA chapters — and many more compact but potent ones within the country’s Blue AND Red corridors — that are building a true political Left across the US. All this as Trump, flailing, seeks a nationalist rush with brain-dead warmaking, and ill-trained ICE paramilitary irregulars layer white-nationalist terrorism atop our everyday capitalist yoke. This is the terrain on which we fight back, gain allies, and, more often every day, win.

Your first step? Join DSA and fight to build socialism. We’re the alternative that works for people, not profiteers and their captive politicians. Still thinking about it? Be sure to get this Update every Friday in your inbox, member or not.
Check out the breadth and scope of our Metro DC chapter — DMV branches, working groups, campaigns, current activities, and enduring values — right here. Get the full but concise picture at an in-person “Why You Should Join DSA/New Member Orientation” 7 – 8pm Wednesday, June 10 or a virtual version Wednesday, June 17, also 7 – 8pm.
How is our activism grounded? See the rich archive of our acclaimed Socialist Night School. Join a socialist reading group. Read the Washington Socialist, published since the 1970s, which has now published its full spring 2026 issue and has opened the call for submissions for Summer 2026 (see BRIEFS). Watch the latest MDC Dispatch video chronicle on YouTube for more recent mode of coverage. As critical primaries approach in DC and Maryland, tell us what your community is hearing and doing at our tip line.
Already a member? Join our Slack for real-time info on working group and campaign events, strategy/tactic exchange, and inspiration. Email slack@mdcdsa.org with your most recent DSA dues receipt to get access.

DSA CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Friday, June 5
5:30 – 8pm | Josie Caballero Canvass

Tuesday, June 9
6 – 7:30pm | Phonebanking for Shayla
6 – 7pm | Operations Office Hours
6 – 7pm | Political Engagement Committee Biweekly Meeting

Wednesday, June 10
7 – 8pm | Why You Should Join DSA/New Member Orientation (in person)
7:30pm | Speak Out for Rent Stabilization at the Takoma Park City Council

Thursday, June 11
6:15 – 7:30pm NoVA DSA General Body Meeting
6:30pm | Joint Campaign Meeting – Bodily Autonomy Working Group
7:30pm | DC Electoral Working Group Happy Hour

DMV LEFT BULLETIN

Resistance in the Face of Political Repression in June 6 | ICHRP-DMV

Join ICHRP-DMV and Malaya Movement DC on June 6 from 2 – 4pm. They are hosting a community event with the National Union of People’s Lawyers to learn about the work of NUPL and the state of human rights in the Philippines. Food will be provided. More info on Instagram here.

Learn How to Film the Police on June 6 | Free DC

Trump’s “summer surge” is already underway. Help keep everyone in DC safe by learning how to film the police. Join Free DC’s next training tomorrow, Saturday, June 6, from 1:30 – 3:30pm, in-person in Ward 5. RSVP here.

Workers Circle on June 8 | FUN DMV

On Monday, June 8, at 6:30pm at the Festival Center, join FUN DMV’s Workers Circle with EWOC and ROC-DC. Build community and solidarity with other workers over shared labor struggle! More info on Instagram here.

Artisan Market on June 9 | Handmade Palestine

This Artisan Market supports fair wages that go directly to the artists, and profits go towards planting trees in Palestine. The Market opens at 3:30pm and at 6pm there is a Q&A with Morgan Totah, co-founder of Handmade Palestine. Tickets are free, but you still need to register. Get tickets here.

Punk Rock Karaoke on June 12

Punk Rock Karaoke is teaming up with the MoCo Immigrant Rights Collective for their next event at Black Cat. Sing and raise money on June 12 at 8pm. Get tickets here.

Landback from the Potomac to Palestine, pop-up gallery June 6 – June 20 | 411 Collective

The 411 Collective has curated a pop-up art gallery at Lulu’s Cafe in DC, featuring artists with fundraising proceeds supporting impacted communities. They are hosting people’s programming over the three weeks, but you can attend their opening event on June 6 from 5 – 10pm. More info on Instagram here.

Fight McCarthyism, Defend the First Amendment | Committee for the First Amendment

Busboys & Poets will host “Rise Up, Sing Out!” a live stream performance organized by Jane Fonda’s Committee for the First Amendment — a collective of artists, storytellers, and cultural leaders. The June 14 watch party will be at the 14th and V St NW Busboys. Doors open at 7:00 with short welcomes by participating groups.at 7. The live stream begins at 7:30. The event is free, but please RSVP here to attend.

Juneteenth on the Front Porch | Harriet’s Wildest Dreams

Head to Harriet’s House on June 19 at 5pm and join the Free DC Chocolate City Crew as they celebrate freedom, community, and culture. RSVP here.

ESSENTIAL PERSPECTIVES

ESSENTIAL PERSPECTIVES are articles and opinion pieces of interest to DMV leftists but not, generally, appearing in local media. They should have links without paywalls. Readers are invited to submit candidates at our tip line.

How We Can Build an Alternative Future to Trump

“… it’s worth reflecting on whether such an odd coalition of allies [MAGA, white Christian nationalists, Tech millionaire fascists] can survive without Donald Trump, or even with a [version of Trump] whose policies have become so harmful and irrational that they’re doing severe human and economic damage even to his most loyal supporters (not to mention the rest of us).” William D. Hartung in The Nation — originally in TomDispatch.

Bernie Sanders: A.I. Is a Public Resource. You Should Own Half of It.

“The question, then, is not whether A.I. will change the world. It will. The question is: Who will own and control that future? Who will benefit from it, and who will be hurt by it? Will A.I. be used to make life better for working families? Will it enrich our quality of life? Will it help us eliminate poverty, extend life expectancies and solve the climate crisis? Or will the future of humanity be determined by a handful of billionaires who have promoted and developed A.I., with virtually no democratic input, who stand to become even richer and more powerful than they are today? Let us be clear. Artificial intelligence was not created out of thin air.. A.I. is built on our collective intelligence: our books, songs, artwork, journalism, computer code, scientific research, videos, conversations, images and ideas spanning generations. For the most part, tech oligarchs have fed this knowledge into their A.I. models without permission, without acknowledgment, without compensation. In other words, the creative work of millions of people — writers, artists, musicians, journalists, teachers, scientists and ordinary citizens — has essentially been stolen by some of the wealthiest people in the world. It’s time for us to reclaim it.” NYT

Unions Make Slight Gains in South, Mirroring National Trends

Despite aggressive anti-union climates, union membership grew in a number of southern states last year. We offer three articles on this trend: one on the south generally, one on Virginia and one on Texas. Portside

The “Grift-a-day” presiduncity: “The Trump administration is withholding tens of millions in taxpayer funds from the bipartisan group created to celebrate America’s 250th birthday while simultaneously directing money toward President Donald Trump’s favored projects for the anniversary.” NOTUS

Change to 2018 clean energy law is costing DC

Kenyan McDuffie chaired the DC Council’s Business and Economic Development Committee in 2018, when it stripped an affordability provision from clean energy legislation. Hill Rag via We Power.

The flame of thought, the magnificence of art, the wonder of discovery, and the audacity of invention all belong to revolutionary periods when humanity, tired of the chains of its restrictions, shatters them, and stops inebriated to breathe the breeze of a vaster and freer horizon.

–Virgilia D’Andrea

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