The Democratic Socialists of America got one of their three endorsed candidates elected to the Knoxville City Council this week.
That candidate, Amelia Parker, defeated opponent Amy Midis by a margin of 51 percent to 49 percent, according to the City of Knoxville’s website.
The other two DSA-endorsed candidates, David Hayes and Charles Al-Bawi, fell short with their respective efforts.
Hayes lost to his opponent Janet Testerman by a margin of 45 percent to 55 percent. Al-Bawi, meanwhile, lost by a much larger margin to opponent Charles Thomas. Al Bawi only got 37 percent, whereas Thomas got 63 percent, according to the city’s website.
None of the three candidates made statements about the election outcomes on their Facebook pages.
Members of the Knoxville DSA, meanwhile, congratulated Parker on their Facebook page and said they “are beyond thrilled.”
“We look forward to helping grow the Movement with her when she takes office in December,” Knoxville DSA officials said.
According to Yahoo Finance, “America’s socialists reckon they’re on a roll” and are running locally in Trump-friendly states.
“The movement has long been confined to the fringes in U.S. politics, and also on the map. It’s associated nowadays with hipster enclaves of the West Coast, or New York — where the country’s most famous socialists are teaming up on Saturday, when Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will endorse Bernie Sanders for president at a rally,” according to Yahoo Finance.
“But now it’s spreading across the Rust Belt, Midwest and South. At least 60 branches of the Democratic Socialists of America, the most prominent among a bunch of reinvigorated leftist groups — have sprung up in the past year, mostly in conservative areas where President Donald Trump did well with voters.”
According to RouteFifty.com, these DSA-endorsed candidates win elections by “running on platforms that reject capitalism and promote working class interests.”
University of Houston law professor Kellen Zale said DSA-endorsed councilmembers are in a better position to accomplish their policy objectives than people elected at the national level.
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Amelia Parker” by Amelia Parker. Background Photo “Knoxville City Hall” by Brian Stansberry. CC BY 3.0.
[…] Parker defeated opponent Amy Midis by a margin of 51 percent to 49 percent. […]
Socialism is legal theft. No theft is virtuous. Socialism and freedom are incompatible. I’d rather be free.
Good bye Knoxville!! You are on your way should this stream continue. It is the uneducated who can’t see that Capitalism is what has made his country strong!
Capitalism not socialism/communism
You are so correct Liz! All they need to do is take a look at Socialist controlled countries and take in the result. Capitalism is indeed one of the main reasons that the United States has flourished! Many liberals are moving away from their home states due to the control of their state government and moving into conservative states . Now they are trying to convert their new residences into what they left. Will be a fight!
“University of Houston law professor Kellen Zale said DSA-endorsed councilmembers are in a better position to accomplish their policy objectives than people elected at the national level.”
Which means they are more easily resisted.