For Immediate Release
Shayla Adams-Stafford’s Victory is a Major Win for Working Class Prince Georgians
Date: March 7, 2025
Media Contact: For all press inquiries, please contact media@mdcdsa.org.
Washington, DC: Shayla Adams-Stafford’s projected victory in the Prince George’s County District 5 special election is a major win for tenants and defeat for the corporate interests that poured money into the race, said Metro DC DSA, the local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America. At the time of writing, Adams-Stafford holds a sizable lead, having won 50.16% of the vote (as of now, the closest runner up sits at 25.99%).
“Shayla’s win shows there is a tremendous amount of energy in the county for a council that puts residents, workers, and families first,” member Ralph C. said in a statement. “Our team was made up of people who saw what was happening at the federal level, and wanted to take action right where we live. We knew no other campaign in the race would motivate people to knock on their neighbors’ doors in the heart of winter.” After an extensive endorsement process in November 2024, members of Metro DC DSA voted overwhelmingly – with 95% in favor – to endorse Adams-Stafford, and members worked rapidly to develop a campaign infrastructure for the race. DSA mobilized 57 volunteers to knock on more than 7,400 doors. Socialists, joined by organized labor and progressive forces in Prince George’s County, rallied District 5’s tenants and workers in support of a new vision for the county that begins with addressing the harsh realities many families, workers, and tenants face.
As a member of the Prince George’s County Board of Education, Adams-Stafford was a champion for the people, fighting to ensure that construction workers building county schools were guaranteed a living wage and opposing the presence of armed law enforcement personnel in schools. Her stalwart advocacy for working class Prince Georgians led developers and real estate interests to try to expel her from the Board of Education, but, every time they tried, she persevered. On Prince George’s County Council, Adams-Stafford will continue the fight to build a county where public policy benefits working class people. She is especially committed to advancing housing justice through strengthened tenant protections and the construction of social housing, and Metro DC DSA will have her back when the same developers and real estate interests inevitably strike back.
Inspired by Shayla’s strong record on labor, student rights, and tenant protections, democratic socialists and allies braved many weekends of freezing temperatures to rally the district around Adams-Stafford’s agenda for the working class. This victory not only tilts the balance of power on the County Council towards the left, but marks an important early sign that working people will not stand by and watch as billionaires and fascists continue their assault on the already pitiful US welfare state and civil service. Prince Georgian voters chose a different path: real, tangible hope in the form of a platform that supports strong unions, tenant protections, social housing, and policies that address the root causes of harm and poverty.
The Adams-Stafford victory marks the first electoral win for Metro DC DSA in Prince George’s County, and Prince Georgian members are aiming to leverage this milestone to build further support for democratic socialism in the county. Metro DC DSA is a democratic, member-funded, member-led organization building working class power in the District of Columbia, Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties in Maryland, and Northern Virginia. With over 2000 dues-paying members, Metro DC DSA has championed the fight to pass rent stabilization in Prince George’s and Montgomery Counties, and organized to elect members in highly competitive elections, including DC Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George, State Delegate Gabriel Acevero, Montgomery County Executive Marc Elrich, and now Shayla Adams-Stafford in Prince George’s County.