Pinellas County Democratic Socialists of America Dissolution with the Democratic party has grown in the wake of the election, and one place you can see it for yourself is at a chapter meeting for your local Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Alec Wilcosky, an organizer for the Pinellas County DSA told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay that the number of his chapter’s dues payer members has grown by 13% in just the last month and that DSA has added nearly 5,000 new members nationwide since Nov. 5. Credit: Photo by Dave Decker

Disillusion with the Democratic party has grown in the wake of the election, and one place you can see it for yourself is at a chapter meeting for your local Democratic Socialists of America (DSA).

Alec Wilcosky, an organizer for the Pinellas County DSA told CL that the number of his chapter’s dues payer members has grown by 13% in just the last month and that DSA has added nearly 5,000 new members nationwide since Nov. 5.

The first Pinellas DSA orientation meeting since the election also felt weird.

“We were outnumbered—new and future members to current members—so that was a really exciting growth to see,” he added. Wilcosky, who helped organize a winning campaign for Richie Floyd, Florida’s first openly-socialist elected in a century, said that folks across the county are seeing that DSA is a viable alternative to just voting for the “D” every two years.

“They’re learning what it means to become an organizer for the first time in their lives,” he said. He knows that folks went to Trump because the Democrats offered no real vision or solution to their pocketbook issues. That opened voters up to fear mongering about immigrants and other issues that split the working class. Wilcosky knows DSA can win them over.

“You can help people plot a path forward for improving their lives,” he said. That might mean forming a union at their workplace or working on less polarizing issues. “The repugnance of Trumpism can all be overcome, I think, through the shared struggle of the working class.”

There are a handful of opportunities to connect with Pinellas DSA over the next week-and-a-half, including a holiday game night next Friday, Dec. 6 at St. Pete’s Allendale United Methodist Church, which also hosts the chapter’s general meeting on Sunday, Dec. 8.

More information is at pinellasdsa.org.

UPDATED 11/29/24 9:40 a.m. Richie Floyd is Florida’s first openly-socialist elected official in a century, and it’s”disillusion.”

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This article appears in Nov 21-27, 2024.