The Free DC Slate is fighting not only for DC Statehood, but also to transform systems so they work for the people, not just wealthy insiders.
Status quo politicians talk a good game, and all say the same thing about how they support "lowering prices, affordable housing, good jobs, quality schools, a city that works for its people, etc."
But we need leaders who will push back against the powerful systems and the wealth concentration that stop us from getting these things we all need.
The Free DC Slate stands for more than talking points and telling voters the same things everyone else is. We are a new generation of leadership in the DC Democratic Party that actively organizes and works to get things done. We need Bold Collective Action: helping our communities, advocating for change, and strengthening Home Rule to eventually get DC Statehood. That's how we get a Free DC!
Why We're Different
Organize for People Power
The DC Democratic Party, and our elected leadership in general, continues to focus on the wealthy and influential as the way to solve our problems. The Free DC Slate will reverse this and organize its strength around people. The Free DC Slate will:
- Meet people where they are, with tenant organizing and saying hello by walking the block
- Center and lift up workers, unions, public housing residents, and faith communities
- Continue to align with movements for local autonomy in DC, such as Free DC, as well as expanding and strengthening Home Rule for the future
Make a DC Democratic Party that Restores Trust
A party that ignores its people loses its legitimacy. We need DC Democratic Party leaders who don't just talk about "community," but are accountable to it.
- Ensure party leadership reflects the will of the voters
- Lead in voter education, including testifying at Council and helping folks understand Ranked Choice Voting and other ways to strengthen our democracy
- No more boring lectures and panels: host meaningful conversations about community disagreements to find paths forward and protect space for dissent, debate, and grassroots pressure
- Host civic assemblies and a constitutional convention to co-create our future state
What We're Fighting For
We won't have direct control of these things, but we can use the voice of the Democratic Party to fight for more
Statehood, Strengthening Home Rule, and Self-Governance
The fight for Statehood is at the heart of many of our stickiest issues in DC. Without the ability to run our own courts, protect our own streets, or make final decisions on our own budget and laws, the DC government always has Congress looking over its shoulder as it tries to make change in housing, health care, safety, schools, transportation, and civil rights. The Free DC Slate will:
- Push other state Democratic parties to stop selling us out and voting to overturn our laws
- Make DC Statehood a nationwide party priority
- Continue to fight cycles of attack against our existing Home Rule rights
- As necessary, appoint interim Councilmembers when seats become vacant — the Free DC Slate will appoint Democrats who will fight for our rights and fight back against the status quo
Ending Occupation, Militarization, and State Violence
DC has dealt with armed soldiers on our streets and masked federal agents disappearing our friends and loved ones. And marginalized neighbors, especially Black and brown DC residents, have experienced state violence for decades. Whether it's local issues here in DC or global human rights crises in Palestine or Sudan that also impact our city, the Democratic Party should stand for human rights and democratic accountability. The Free DC Slate will:
- Fight for an end to the occupation by other states' National Guard, militarized homeland security, and federal law enforcement presence in our communities
- Fight for DC control of our National Guard
- Advocate for the city to use our resources to comprehensively support youth, not just punish them
- Push for an end to the local use of surveillance technology like Flock and Cellebrite
- Strengthen our sanctuary laws and police accountability laws
Community-Led Care, Meeting Material Needs, and Affordability
Communities have the wisdom to know what they need. We must advocate for economic systems, health care, and material needs that are grassroots rather than top-down. We are committed to a permanently affordable DC. The Free DC Slate will advocate to the Mayor and Council to:
- Build more without displacement: pair tenant protections with reforms to make it easier to build and significantly increase the supply of housing in DC
- Hold slumlords accountable: expand DOB's Abatement team to fix housing issues, and pair it with job training so folks can learn repair and property management skills
- Invest in universal childcare
- Strengthen rights, protections, and investments that our LGBTQI+ loved ones have fought for, including equitable access to gender-affirming healthcare
- Create city-owned People's Banks (a land bank and a public bank) to:
- Make it easier to develop permanently affordable housing models: projects "the market" (big developers and banks) isn't delivering
- Build the things we actually need, even if developers or banks aren't interested
- Raise city revenue without raising taxes and save money on debt payments
- Make it easier for communities to use vacant space
- Remove the waste of the political land disposition process and "cut red tape" for small and mission-aligned developers