Political Candidate Endorsements by Metro DC DSA
The Metro DC DSA chapter endorses candidates for political office. In the past, our chapter members have supported endorsed candidates by volunteering as door-to-door canvassers, poll workers on Election Day, and logistic coordinators. Please visit our chapter structure and campaigns page to learn how to get involved.
How to Apply for an Endorsement
Candidates who wish to apply for an endorsement must submit our chapter’s Standard Electoral Candidate Questionnaire for candidates and can do so using this form. Candidates may download or create a copy of the full text of the standard questionnaire if they would like to draft or revise their responses prior to completing and submitting the form.
The Google Doc is for drafting purposes only. If a candidate chooses to complete the questionnaire in the Google Doc or with another type of word processing app (such as Microsoft Word), candidates must then use the Google Form to paste their answers and officially submit their questionnaire.
This video contains a tutorial about how to download a Google Doc as a Word file.
Endorsement Process
Submitting a questionnaire serves as your official application for Metro DC DSA’s endorsement, starting the candidate endorsement process. The Endorsements Committee will publish each candidate’s questionnaire to the chapter’s general body within one week of submission. All candidate responses, except those including personal contact information, will be made publicly available on this website.
A formal resolution to endorse must then be moved at a subsequent general body meeting in compliance with chapter bylaws. The body will have an opportunity — typically roughly 30 days — to consider and debate the resolution before the end of the voting period of the next scheduled general body meeting.
During this time, any member, campaign-based working group, caucus, or branch, in coordination with the Endorsements Committee, may request that a candidate participate in additional vetting, including through a race-specific questionnaire, conference call interview, and/or in-person meeting. Conference calls and meet-and-greets typically take the form of a question-and-answer format.
Endorsement Timeline
Candidates can submit endorsement questionnaires at any time, and chapter members may introduce resolutions to endorse candidates at any time. Therefore, it is difficult to provide an exact timeframe for when candidates can expect an endorsement decision after submitting a questionnaire.
As mentioned above, our chapter considers candidates for endorsement and then votes on that endorsement following a 30-day debate period. For planning purposes, candidates who complete an endorsement questionnaire by the first of any month should hear back about our chapter’s endorsement decision by the end of the next month.
Please see a sample timeline below. Although we use February through March in this sample, a similar timeline will likely apply for any endorsement process.
Sample Timeline
February 1: Candidate submits completed questionnaire. The chapter’s endorsement committee publishes the questionnaire so that it is accessible to all chapter members.
February 9: Chapter member introduces a resolution to endorse the candidate at the chapter’s monthly general body meeting. This step will not happen automatically. If a candidate wants the chapter to consider them for an endorsement, the candidate (as a DSA member) or another member must introduce a resolution to endorse that candidate.
February 9 to March 7: Chapter members have time to read the candidate’s questionnaire, host meet-and-greets with the candidate and chapter members, and debate the candidate’s endorsement via online forums.
March 8: Chapter members have an in-person debate — but do not vote — on the candidate’s endorsement at the next monthly general body meeting.
March 9 to March 16: Chapter members vote via email ballot on whether to endorse the candidate.
March 17: The chapter’s endorsement committee notifies the candidate about whether the chapter has voted to endorse.
Questions?
Please contact the Endorsements Committee at endorsements@mdcdsa.org.