Socialists are organizing across Texas.
Their leaders aim to “take over” the Democrat Party from the inside.
The Social Democrats of America (SDA), which refers to itself as the “socialist faction of the U.S. Democratic Party,” held a nationwide onboarding call on July 2.
Organizers discussed efforts to infiltrate the Democratic Party and plant socialist cells across the nation.
“‘Let’s take over the Democratic Party.’ But then you get a bunch of people in there, and they don’t know what they’re doing, or what they’re talking about,” said Anthony Vernon, listed as a professor at Miami-Dade College. “It’s about that sort of push, of getting ideas out there.”
SDA is launching a “political salon” in Dallas, aiming to recruit 100 members. The group’s description is clear:
“We are Socialists; therefore, we believe in Free Education, Universal Health Care, Anti-Death Penalty, Pro-Abortion, Universal Basic Income, the Right to Unionize, the sanctity of the Separation of Church and State, and the belief that the Government should make life bearable for all and ensure citizens’ Liberties.”
During the call, organizers also discussed socialist efforts in Houston. They plan to utilize these cells to develop socialist policies and recruit socialists for office in Texas and across the United States.
“What this is, is an ideas group – a policy group, and a group to try to find people of fellow kinship throughout the country to discuss ideas and help those ideas leak into the Democratic Party,” Vernon said. “But in order to do that, we have to get into the Democratic Party.”
Several socialists from Texas, particularly those from Dallas, attended the call. Theo Chino, a self-proclaimed “leader of the Socialist Faction inside the Democratic Party,” asked organizer Kevin McGuire for “the rest of the details from the salon in Texas.”
“We have different dynamics, but we have seen a surge in Houston in terms of political clubs being progressive and liberal, and this is sort of a shock,” McGuire said. “They would never make an out-front admission like that.”
He cited the Houston-area Bayou Blue Democrats, where an organizer developed a forum called “Democracy Cafe.” He said one activist is using Harris County as a “pilot program,” and is trying to advance this in the Texas Democratic Party.
“Now she’s trying to advance this practice within the Democratic Party in Texas, and she already knows she’s going to get a little bit of resentment to it, but she’s going to try,” McGuire said. “The fact that we even try it, I think, is a great feat.”
McGuire said, “If we could get our chapter going,” he would like to support the Democratic nominee to challenge Republican U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls.
“There’s a right-wing Republican in office now,” McGuire said. “If we could get our chapter going, I would like to push for interest and support for the Democratic nominee.”
Vernon suggested using socialist ideas to infiltrate “existent” left-wing groups.
“That has seemed to be one of the best strategies, is almost sneaking in sort of an SDA-type discussion,” he said. Vernon pointed to the Miami chapter of Indivisible, which, as The Dallas Express reported, is a group that organizes left-wing mobilizations in communities nationwide.
Vernon said most of the group’s “election operations” are in New York City, so SDA is working on “expanding that infrastructure.”
He cited Muslim socialist Zohran Mamdani’s recent victory in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. As The Dallas Express reported, Dallas Mayor Eric Johnson invited New Yorkers to move to the city to escape socialism.
Mamdani is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, of which SDA is an offshoot.
“There are certain elections such as Mamdani that brings an opportunity to move the neoliberals, the corporate establishment, toward the left,” Vernon said. “One of the reasons, for example, a guy like Mandani won in New York is because as much as he was able to communicate what he was against, he actually had a vision.”
Chino said SDA will likely take three to four years to develop a comprehensive socialist policy, “our version of Project 2025.”
“We won’t call it Project 2025, we call it a manifesto,” he said.
“After we offer it, we’ll manage it – we’ll discover how to manage it,” Chino said. Of universal healthcare, he said, “basically it’s preventing maintenance, and on preventing maintenance, you end up living longer, and you end up being cheaper for the state.”
Canadian hospital staff have pushed disabled patient Roger Foley toward euthanasia – and cut him off from food and water for weeks – since the country’s universal healthcare system limits his options, as The Dallas Express reported. Under universal healthcare, Foley’s advocates say, his disability is simply seen as an expense.
SDA aims to “get people to vote for you, to sign your document, and put you on the ballot,” according to Chino.
“At the end of the day, it is to train candidates to have a policy and to have a single word to sell that policy – Bernie, AOC, socialism,” he said.
SDA collaborates with Progressive Victory and Progressive Democrats of America to enable socialist candidates, according to Chino.
“The reason we work with them is because basically they’re socialist, but [sic] because they’ve been there for so long,” he said. “They were the ones who pushed Bernie.”
SDA recruited socialists for onboarding through Mobilize America, a left-wing platform that organized the recent “No Kings Day” protests, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
“There is help from Mobilize, and the Mobilize sign-ups, and then you could see numbers and emails,” Vernon said. “So that’s an extremely useful tool.”
Mobilize falls under Bonterra, which was launched by the London-based private firm Apax Partners, as previously reported by The Dallas Express. This also oversees the Democrat Party’s comprehensive voter database, NGP VAN.
Chino said SDA requires three years of membership before allowing candidates to run for office, to ensure loyalty to the group’s socialist principles.
“The day they take power, we know they will do whatever they worked on for so long – because they put their heart, blood, and sweat into creating it,” Chino said. “That’s the goal, from school board all the way to president.”