Comrades, I am happy to once again run to be your Electoral WG Co-Chair for DSA Metro Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky. I am a co-founder of this chapter who has been here since its very beginning in November 2016, and have served as a leader in any capacity the chapter has seen fit. As Electoral Working Group Co-Chair, I’ve committed to keeping the body focused on strategy and vision this year, looking at campaigns we can take up in the coming years. We’ve also taken up initially spearheading at least one effort for the chapter that isn’t explicitly an electoral project itself: Sanctuary Cincy. In 2026, we accomplished some key things together in the WG:

• Established a democratic candidate endorsement process, which was ultimately reviewed and adopted by general meeting vote this past summer,
• Identified key districts DSA Cincy should run and organize for, including city council and Ohio State House 26,
• Launched Sanctuary Cincy, holding an excellent messaging workshop to develop the chapter’s framework for how to talk about the campaign to Cincinnati,
• Identified key challenges and opportunities for the terrain we operate in in Ohio, including state pre-emptions, districts that leaned Bernie in both 2016 and 2020, potential union allies, and more.

In the coming year, I hope to continue our work to make sure DSA Cincy becomes an electoral powerhouse able to win office as principled Democratic Socialists. To do this, I have some core goals for the Electoral Working Group this coming year:

• Continue our district research, and expand it to examine both Kentucky and typically red districts to see if a Democratic Socialist message could resonate in more places,
• Build an electoral left-labor alliance by which we can contest for political power in Cincinnati,
• Prepare to contest seats in 2027 and 2028 by training the chapter and developing the material and resources necessary to not just run, but win, in those election cycles,
• Continue investigation of potential ballot question pursuits for the local level in Cincinnati and where the chapter could attempt a DSA led local ballot question

You can read our platform here.

Always in solidarity,
Olivia Merrill