Commentary: The seeds of Democratic socialism in Oregon’s wine country

Local conventional wisdom thought this year’s Ward 3 city council race in McMinnville would have a conventional outcome.

The probable winner would be Carson Benner, an uncontroversial incumbent, a centrist and long-time school board member active in many local civic groups.

His main challenger appeared to be Realtor Katie Russ, backed by political heavyweights on the right and by the county Republican Party. Her main chance to succeed would come if the Benner vote was diminished by the less-connected third candidate, Richard Smith Savage, backed by the Democratic Socialists of America.

The conventional wisdom was wrong. Russ has taken a distinct third place, and in voting tallies as of the evening of Nov. 11, Savage, the Democratic Socialist — an identification he doesn’t highlight on his website but has in news reports — had a slight lead over Benner for the one competitive McMinnville council seat.

This doesn’t mean the McMinnville City Council is about to be swept by DSA supporters, as much of Portland’s city council has. It does suggest that Democratic Socialists are more active in Oregon outside of Portland, albeit mostly at an early stage of development, than many Oregonians probably realize. They seem to have been building an effective campaign and candidate structure, and not only in Portland.

They have been active so far less in top-of-ballot contests than those downballot. This is a strong long-term strategy for winning elections later. It might also be a consideration underlying a question by a commenter on the Salem DSA Facebook page: “When will the Oregon DSA file to create an official Oregon political party so you can put your candidates on the ballot?” 

The Democratic Socialists of America is not a political party but rather a large-scale activist group; Turning Point USA (which also has an Oregon presence) might be a similar kind of example from the other side of the ideological spectrum. 

The DSA describes itself as “the largest socialist organization in the United States. DSA’s members are building progressive movements for social change while establishing an openly democratic socialist presence in American communities and politics.”

It is heavily involved in political campaigns and labor union organizing. It is not new: It was founded in 1982 by the author Michael Harrington and has reached a national membership of around 130,000 people. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, a partisan independent, may be the best-known Democratic Socialist nationally.

In most cases, DSA supporters who run for partisan office run under the Democratic Party banner. Wikipedia notes it as “working within the Democratic Party to push it to the left.” 

In Oregon,there’s also considerable (not complete) overlap between DSA and the Working Families Party endorsements.

The national organization doesn’t indicate any statewide Oregon organizations, but there are four chapters (based around Portland, Salem, Eugene and Bend) and one “organizing committee” in the Medford area.

That makes Oregon about average for DSA activism since chapters have been formed in nearly all states, including such unlikely places as Idaho, Utah, Alabama (five), Kansas (six), Montana, and 10 chapters in Texas. Washington state has 11.

The Portland chapter, however, does stand out in some ways. It is one of the oldest chapters in the nation, founded in 1982, and has an estimated 3,700 members across the larger Portland metro area. It expanded rapidly in size and energy during the first Trump Administration, and built on it in the following decade.

It also has scored major wins in recent years at the city council level. In this year’s election, three Portland DSA endorsees who are council members — Mitch Green, Tiffany Koyama Lane and Angelita Morillo, all first elected in 2024 — were reelected, in the face of strong and well-financed opposition, notably from business-aligned groups.

The Oregon DSA chapters also had other successes, including in two state House seats. Lesly Munoz in the Woodburn-Keizer area 22nd House District defeated Republican Noemi Legaspi with 58.6% of the vote. And in the 27th House District in Washington County, Tammy Carpenter won with 72.6% over Mark Norman. 

The DSA endorsed other candidates, including for Multnomah County and Washington County commissions, and the Beaverton and Hillsboro city councils. 

None of this necessarily means the DSA has become a top power player on the Oregon state level. But its members already are in Portland, and its approach of building political organization from the grass roots up could result in building something larger.

People in McMinnville are watching, either happily or warily, for exactly that.