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

IN FAVOR: Justin G.

for Resolution 20-05-R03

Will Merrifield has been a strong advocate for the needs of DC’s working-class Black communities and spent years building relationships with and organizing alongside these communities. In one of the nation’s most gentrified cities, he has consistently stood on the side of residents fighting against their own displacement and advocated for local reinvestment in community resources and services. His commitment to working class communities and their needs is what underpins his campaign’s support for housing as more than just an opportunity to adequately shelter those in need. Throughout his campaign he’s made clear his vision of social housing as a vehicle for creating living wage jobs for local residents, reinvesting in supportive community-based services, tackling carbon emissions through sustainable development, and ultimately shifting the outsized power real estate developers have over communities of color and DC’s government. This same commitment also underlies his stances on divesting from local police, reinvesting in public education, creating strong sanctuary protections for immigrant communities, and more.

Will’s political perspective and work empowering local communities embodies the political stances and principles we stand for as democratic socialists. As our org‘s campaigns continue to fight for working class housing and defunding local police, a Will Merrifield endorsement provides us an opportunity to not only support someone who will give voice to socialist politics but also allows us to continue to push DC’s politics left through the addition of another voice.