FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Metro D.C. DSA Endorses Karishma Mehta for Virginia’s 49th House District
DATE: Saturday, January 16, 2021
PRESS CONTACT: For all press inquiries, please contact media@mdcdsa.org.
WASHINGTON, DC: The Metro D.C. chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) voted to endorse Karishma Mehta for Virginia’s 49th House District in the 2021 election. The Virginia primary election will be held on June 8, 2021, and the general election will take place on November 2, 2021.
Karishma Mehta is an active Metro D.C. DSA member and socialist who has demonstrated her dedication to uplift working people through her work to organize tenants, unionize her workplace, and protect immigrant communities through the Free Them All coalition. Mehta is running for office to fight for economic, environmental, and racial justice and class solidarity; she understands that our political and economic systems are fundamentally flawed and that we need a system that shifts power back into the hands of working families.
Mehta has committed to prioritizing COVID-19 relief and will work to guarantee health care at the state level to cover all Virginians during and after the pandemic. She is focused on protecting and guaranteeing basic economic and human rights for all undocumented Virginians, including health care, housing, education, the right to unionize, and the right to live without fear of police or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) retaliation. Mehta will also work to repeal right-to-work laws in the Commonwealth of Virginia, which severely weaken labor unions and workers’ collective bargaining rights.
The co-chairs of the Northern Virginia branch of Metro D.C. DSA issued the following statement on her endorsement:
We are ready to disrupt the ‘Virginia Way’ by putting more socialists in the halls of power to displace neoliberal candidates. Our members in Northern Virginia are especially eager to work with Mehta’s campaign to bring the fight for true racial, economic, and climate justice to Richmond.
Our chapter is excited to support Mehta’s people-powered, grassroots campaign and will help canvass, fundraise, and organize to support her candidacy over the next several months. We are thrilled to support one of our own members and a candidate who will fight for our values and build solidarity among the working class