Bread & Roses’ NPC slate is fighting to prioritize rank-and-file political leadership everywhere: in DSA, in our unions, and in the world. We believe DSA needs to become a stronger engine for turning regular people into socialist fighters who can lead independent mass action, incite labor militancy, and build a new party for the working class.
We are running a slate of 5 candidates for the National Political Committee, DSA’s highest leadership body in between conventions, and are asking convention delegates to rank us at the top of your ballot.
Alex Pellitteri
Alex Pellitteri is running for DSA’s National Co-Chair position, one of two full-time paid political leaders of DSA. He is a current NPC member at-large, a member of New York City DSA, and a former YDSA member.
Why are you running for DSA Co-Chair?
Lenin said “There are decades when nothing happens and weeks where decades happen.” Decades are happening now, and we need strong political leadership in this historic moment. The next two years will prove extremely consequential for DSA and the socialist movement – we are facing a fascist Trump presidency, a genocide in Gaza, and increasing repression against militants. While these are scary times, we also have opportunities for growth. Zohran’s historic victory in New York City shows working class people are deeply unsatisfied with the Democratic Party and looking for an alternative, and there continues to be a labor upsurge that may culminate with historic actions on May Day 2028.
This convention will not just be about winning a battle of ideas or determining the correct political orientation for DSA; we need leadership who can continue to take concrete steps towards our democratically decided upon goals. We need to elect experienced leaders who can not just guide DSA through a Trump political landscape, but who can also grow DSA’s popularity among working-class people through media appearances and organizing wins. My experience as an electoral campaign manager, YDSA chapter founder, NYC-DSA leader, and incumbent NPC member give me the insights necessary to build a DSA for the decades. As Co-chair I want to bring socialism to working-class airwaves. I seek to speak to thousands of working-class people through speeches at rallies, op-eds, media appearances and chapter visits about DSA and socialism. As the only paid, full-time elected DSA leader, I will also work to ensure the resolutions we pass at convention are implemented locally and nationally so they can help us build a party and rebuild the labor movement!
Which socialist are you most inspired by?
Rev. Khader El-Yateem, or Father K as we called him, was the first candidate NYC-DSA endorsed in 2017. He is a Palestinian-American Lutheran minister who was arrested by the IDF in his youth, and who ran for City Council in one of Trump’s strongest neighborhoods in New York City. While he did not win, he helped jumpstart NYC-DSA’s electoral machine and hired someone named Zohran Mamdani to be his Deputy Field Director.
What is your organizing background in DSA?
I joined DSA in April 2017, when I was a junior in high school, because I felt the movement Bernie started could not end with his campaign. I started a YDSA chapter at Hunter College. We ran the New Deal 4 CUNY campaign, which fought to fully fund and eliminate tuition for public universities in New York City. Although the campaign did not achieve its goal, through targeted member development, prioritizing democratic decision making, and working in coalition with other organizations, our YDSA chapter grew to be one of the largest in the organization.
I have also served in nearly every level of leadership in NYC-DSA and have been a field lead on multiple NYC-DSA-endorsed campaigns. In 2020, I served as campaign manager for DSA-endorsed Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes, who is the first formerly undocumented legislator in New York and whose election defeated a 20-year incumbent during the worst of the Covid pandemic. I also served on the NYC-DSA Socialists in Office Committee, where I helped form NYC-DSA’s legislative strategy and served as an intermediary between NYC-DSA and our elected officials. Through this experience, I’ve worked in many high-pressure political situations alongside members from different political tendencies, while always working to facilitate stronger member democracy.
I’ve spent the last 2 years as a member of the NPC, where I serve on the Steering Committee and chair the National Electoral Commission. I have also previously served on the Budget and Finance Committee and Personnel Committee and led efforts to publish, print, distribute our Workers Deserve More Program. As an NPC member, I also participated in the Palestine Solidarity Encampments and was arrested protesting the genocide in Gaza. I’ve defended YDSA funding and have sought to find a middle ground on contentious internal issues.
What is your favorite DSA success moment?
Using a campaign to make public higher education tuition free in New York City to grow my YDSA chapter to one of the largest in the nation!
Cerena Ermitanio
Cerena Ermitanio is running to be an NPC member at-large. She is a member of Houston DSA, a nurse and member of AFSCME, and a former YDSA member.
Why are you running for NPC?
For nearly 7 years, DSA has been training grounds for my development as an organizer and my political home. Who I am today and what I believe workers can do to transform the world I owe to Y/DSA, so I’m beyond excited for the opportunity to serve my comrades on the NPC as a member of the Bread and Roses slate. DSA isn’t just the largest socialist organization in the US—we’re the home for socialists becoming lifelong organizers and militants. We’re rank-and-file union members democratizing our unions into weapons for international class struggle. We’re also students taking control of the institutions we study in and work for, demanding an end to austerity budgets and war profiteering for the sake of endowments that workers only see a sliver of. We’re members of our community going door-to-door, having political conversations with people we don’t know, inspiring people around us to recognize their power as organized workers fighting back against the capitalist class.
As a member of the NPC, I want to help steer our collective project in raising class consciousness towards a socialist party that is run by and for the multiracial, multi-gendered international working class.
Which socialist are you most inspired by?
Larry Itliong, Filipino-American farmworker and leader of the 1965 Delano Grape Strike.
What is your organizing background in DSA?
I joined Austin DSA and UT YDSA in 2018 out of frustration with the Democratic Party’s failure to pose any credible opposition to every level of anti-worker, racist, and undemocratic governance, from Greg Abbott to Trump. I canvassed for Austin DSA’s Homes Not Handcuffs campaign to repeal ordinances criminalizing homelessness. I later organized as co-chair of UT YDSA to support a slate of Austin DSA candidates for office, which included DSA members José Garza for DA and Heidi Sloan for Texas’ 25th congressional district, and Bernie Sanders for president (highlight: I’m a Big Ass Canvass-er for life).
I became co-chair of UT YDSA in 2019, organizing canvasses alongside Austin DSA and supporting fights against sexual harassment on campus. I also organized as a member of the Texas State Employees Union, connecting our YDSA chapter work to student workers’ fights for a livable wage. From 2020-2021 I served on YDSA’s NCC and Austin DSA’s SC as YDSA rep, supporting the growth of YDSA as the home for lifelong socialist organizers and rooting ourselves in the multiracial working class through our work on university campuses. In 2022 I became a member of Houston DSA with a commitment to labor solidarity work and YDSA mentorship. I was later elected to co-chair our Labor Working Group in 2024. Through our Labor WG, we’ve provided picket support, supported new workplace organizing, and developed relationships with rank-and-file union members. As part of my commitment to the rank-and-file strategy, I am now working as a union nurse in AFSCME.
What is your favorite DSA success moment?
Getting 200+ canvassers out for Bernie and our slate of Austin DSA candidates for office (Dominic Selvera for Travis County Attorney, José Garza for DA, and Heidi Sloan for Texas’ 25th Congressional District)!
Andrew Porter
Andrew Porter is running to be an NPC member at-large. He is a member of New York City DSA and a former YDSA member.
Why are you running for NPC?
I am running for NPC on the Bread and Roses slate because I believe DSA has a unique role to play in US politics, and I want to make sure we’re ready to meet the moment by creating the next generation of socialist organizers. I’ve been a member of DSA for almost 20 years, so I’ve seen the organization go through dramatic changes, but one thing has always held true: without bringing new people into the socialist movement, we have no future.
Pre-Bernie DSA had serious shortcomings, but the organization’s dedication to building a youth section was one of its best assets. I joined DSA by starting a YDSA chapter on my campus. Through YDSA I developed my politics and my organizing skills, and learned how to be part of a democratic organization. I see YDSA as one of the best and most important sections of DSA, and one that needs increased support to foster the socialist leaders of the future.
Part of the value of YDSA is the political development that occurs for members, and this is something we also need to foster in DSA. We’ve done an incredible job at training people on organizing skills, but we’ve often failed to create space for people to develop their understanding of socialism. I want to work on building up our political education and create more deliberative spaces where we can debate important questions as a national-scale organization.
If people join DSA and only learn skills, then we’re not setting up our movement to figure out how we use those skills. One reason for the renewed importance for DSA is because of new theories about how to use ballot lines for socialist purposes. Our grounding in politics gave us the ability to understand and change the world. I want to make sure DSA is fostering new ideas that can meet future challenges.
Who is your favorite socialist?
Eugene Debs. I find Debs inspiring because of his moral courage, dedication to a better world, and attempts to keep the socialist party together. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Debs recognized the barbarity of WWI and refused to back down from his resistance. His speech at Canton, Ohio clearly laid out his opposition, his willingness to face the consequences, and a fearlessness rooted in his faith in the working class. Debs fought tirelessly throughout his life to create a party and a labor movement that was capable of challenging capitalism. While he was not able to see that final victory, he inspired millions of people to continue the fight.
What is your organizing background in DSA?
I joined DSA in 2006 when I founded a YDSA chapter at the College of Wooster. I then became an at-large member of the Coordinating Committee and eventually joined DSA staff as the National Youth Organizer from 2010 to 2012. Following this, I chaired Columbus DSA during the first Trump bump and helped revitalize the chapter. After moving to NYC, I joined the Union Power campaign as a leader of the Union Solidarity Committee, and got involved in the National Labor Commission. Through this, I helped coordinate DSA’s strike support work for the UPS Teamsters campaign, the SAG-AFTRA/WGA actors’ strike, and the auto workers’ UAW strike.
I’ve been in many different positions throughout my time in DSA. This has given me the opportunity to work with people from different tendencies in DSA and outside organizations, and figure out how everyone can work together. I want to bring this experience to the NPC, so that we can strengthen and maintain the big tent of DSA.
What is your favorite DSA success moment?
One of my favorite things about DSA is when I get reminded of how big our project is. We’re building off the work of the generations of socialists who came before us and dreamed of a better world, and it’s exciting to think about the socialists who will come after us and continue our fight. I’m inspired the potential today’s revitalized and militant DSA will create for generations of socialist organizers to come.
When I left my YDSA chapter and Columbus DSA I got to watch leaders that we developed take over and continue the work. Seeing people you helped develop continue the fight is one of my favorite parts of being an organizer, and I want to see DSA do everything it can to build more socialist militants.
Ella Teevan
Ella Teevan is running to be an NPC member at-large. She is a member of Seattle DSA and a former East Bay DSA member and staffer.
Why are you running for NPC?
DSA is unique as the only socialist organization in the US that can act as a party for the working class. Therefore, it matters that DSA has strong, politically coherent leadership that can orient us toward masses of working people and a bottom-up labor movement, without dissolving into the Democratic Party or remaining marginal. I’m excited to enact a vision of a DSA that contests elections like a party would, takes political direction from elected member leaders, and builds strong relationships with rank-and-file workers and social movements, including the fights for a free Palestine and against oligarchy.
My secondary reasons for running are personal and interpersonal: based on my experience co-chairing my former chapter, East Bay DSA, and before that being East Bay’s first staff organizer, I believe I have the skills to help lead DSA in this moment. I am an experienced organizer, a strong communicator, a dependable mentor, a respectful comrade, and a hard worker, and I can stick to my political vision while being open to learning and changing my mind as material conditions change.
My successful time on chapter staff demonstrates that I can represent a big-tent organization and work with people across DSA’s political spectrum. I believe DSA’s big-tent nature is one of our greatest strengths, allowing us to be the largest socialist organization in the US by orders of magnitude, rather than a small, ideologically rigid sect. It also exposes members to a broad range of political perspectives, and it helps them develop their own politics and skills working in a democratic organization. As an NPC member, I will protect DSA’s big-tent democracy to keep us dynamic and growing.
Who is your favorite socialist?
Jane Slaughter! Jane is a co-founder of Labor Notes, a media and organizing project connecting the troublemaking wing of the labor movement, and co-author of one of the most useful books for any labor organizer, Secrets of a Successful Organizer. She’s also a member of Detroit DSA and Bread & Roses. I admire her so much because she’s a living example of what it means to commit to a lifelong project of socialist organizing.
What is your organizing background in DSA?
I joined East Bay DSA in 2018. I was an active Bernie canvasser and a member of our Jobs Program, Political Education Committee, and Membership Engagement Committee, where I helped pilot our successful New Member Cohort that now onboards dozens of new members per quarter. In 2022-23, I served as East Bay DSA’s first staffer, where I increased our local dues revenue by 2.5x in 8 months and helped us secure an office. I also supported member development so that staff would add to the chapter’s collective capacity and experience rather than making the chapter dependent on staff.
In 2023-24, I co-chaired the chapter as we responded in real-time to Israel’s genocide, while democratically debating our role in the Palestine solidarity movement. I’ve supported several electoral campaigns, including as a canvasser for candidates from the Richmond Progressive Alliance, and as a canvass lead and trainer of other canvass leads for an Oakland School Board race. Finally, I’m a proud mentor to many DSA members; I see it as my role to develop people as independent Marxist thinkers and skilled leaders and organizers. I used to work in nonprofits, and my experience there gave me a crystal-clear view of why the nonprofit model cannot, and does not try to, change the world in the way that we want to in DSA. These organizations aren’t democratic; they have email lists of potential donors instead of members. On the NPC I hope to help DSA avoid the pitfalls of this kind of organization by strengthening our internal democracy and making sure DSA is focused on creating new socialist leaders, not just paper supporters.
What is your favorite DSA success moment?
If we’re going to act like a party, we have to fund ourselves like a party! I was super proud to increase East Bay DSA’s local dues by more than double in my eight months on staff, and to support the national income-based dues drive.
Hayley Banyai-Becker
Hayley Banyai-Becker is running to be an NPC member at-large. She is a member of Portland DSA and a former DSA staffer.
Why are you running for NPC?
I am running for NPC to help build a stronger and more democratic DSA that prioritizes member leadership, development, and political action across our organization.
From 2022-2024, I served as a national DSA staff organizer, supporting chapters and their campaigns across 12 states. This experience unexpectedly reshaped my perception of our organization: I had assumed that critical decisions were resolved by the members through democratic deliberation and strategic analysis of what would best serve DSA; however, that wasn’t always the case. In reality, there was a culture where staff members would not provide member leaders, like the NPC, with critical information they needed to make decisions about problems and choices confronting the organization. To put it simply, I learned that members were not always the agents of change in DSA and that our democracy was sometimes suspended without members ever knowing. The outgoing NPC has initiated some efforts to rectify this, and with my critical insights from the staff perspective I believe I can do a lot to make sure we stay on a path toward real member democracy.
DSA has a historic task before us: we must become a pivotal force in establishing an authentic working-class party, actively engage with rank-and-file union members to bring their energy and perspective into the socialist movement, and cultivate our members to take leadership roles in their unions, in DSA, and in social movements like the fights to free Palestine and abolish ICE. This cannot be achieved successfully without exercising genuine democratic authority over our own organization. The next NPC must endeavor to foster a stronger culture of democracy within DSA, empower members to assume ownership of the organization’s direction, and actively work to build bridges with the broader labor and social movements globally. With the knowledge and experience I have, I am prepared to undertake this responsibility.
Who is your favorite socialist?
My Slovakian grandmother, Katerina Vavrus Banyai. My grandmother spent the majority of her life as an activist in our home, Southern California. She served shifts outside of Planned Parenthood to support folks going to receive reproductive care and marched with United Farm Workers as they passed through Ventura County. My path to socialism didn’t become clear until she had already passed, but her influence undeniably shaped the person I am today.
What is your organizing background in DSA?
I joined DSA in 2019 while living in Denver, after running the field program for a US Senate candidate who was endorsed by all four Colorado DSA chapters. When her campaign abruptly ended during the Covid shutdown, I joined the Denver chapter and began serving as the electoral chair. We successfully elected 3 members to the Colorado State House during my term. In that same period, I led an organizing campaign to unionize the nonprofit I was working at with a fellow Denver DSA comrade.
Inspired by these experiences, I joined DSA national staff as a regional field organizer and served in that role for two years. In August of 2024, I moved to Portland, Oregon and transitioned into the role of Field Director for DSA’s nationally endorsed campaign for Tiffany Koyama Lane for Portland City Council, where we knocked over 14,000 doors and identified over 8,000 voters across the district. Over the last 5 years, I have served as a campaign manager and/or field director on multiple nationally endorsed campaigns. These days, I am a staff organizer at AFT-Oregon, serving 18,000 education workers across the state. I am a member of the Portland DSA Steering Committee, National Electoral Steering Committee, and an elected at-large member of the 2025 DSA Convention Planning Committee, where I am leading the programming coordination for this year’s convention.
What is your favorite DSA success moment?
In November of 2024, I was sitting at the Oregon AFL-CIO election night party and saw the news that our two Portland DSA-endorsed candidates had won election to Portland City Council. I ran the field program for Tiffany Koyama Lane’s campaign and when I saw I was getting a call from her, I thought it was to celebrate together. However, she was calling to ask what the results were because she and the campaign manager were in a bar that had no cell service. Getting to be the person who told Tiffany she won will probably be my favorite DSA success moment for quite some time.
Convention delegates, please vote for the Bread & Roses slate for the 2025 NPC!
While the individuals running on the 2025 Bread & Roses NPC slate are all committed and experienced socialist organizers in their own right, we have built the slate to represent every area of DSA that we believe needs to be supported by the NPC in its coming term. Bread & Roses’ candidates will fight to continue building a DSA that’s more rooted in working class struggles and politically independent electoral campaigns, with a vibrant internal democracy and a thriving big tent.
We ask that convention delegates who want a politically independent and internally democratic DSA to rank our candidates as a bloc at the top of your ballots!
