Resolution 20-05-R03: IN FAVOR – Justin M.

IN FAVOR: Justin M.

for Resolution 20-05-R03

My name is Justin McCarthy — I’m a member of the chapter writing to tell you why I support the endorsement of Will Merrifield for the at-large seat of the DC Council.

I’m a contributor to the Stomp Out Slumlords project, and housing justice is extremely important to me. I feel that Will’s campaign is especially aligned with what SOS, and DSA as a whole, is fighting for. Will has been a tenant lawyer for the last 8 years, fighting some of the biggest front line battles against gentrification at Brookland Manor and in Congress Heights. His campaign supports the creation of dense, green, mixed income public housing through a jobs program for underemployed District residents. Building on the approach of Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal for Public Housing Act and the Homes Guarantee campaign, Will’s candidacy will accelerate the local fight to make housing a human right.

His platform will focus on making housing a human right through social housing, full employment for District residents, ending mass incarceration, funding public education, closing the flagrant disparities in health equity, and fighting for full statehood for the District. With DSA’s endorsement, we can collaborate through Will’s campaign to enhance and expand our tenants’ rights, migrant justice, ecosocialist, and abolition work. I believe that Will is the best candidate in the race, and the candidate most likely to help us build power in DC and beyond.