Latest news from the Democratic Socialist Caucus

On Sunday, January 8, the Democratic Socialist Caucus (DSC) held its third annual convention, in fully virtual mode. The Democratic Socialist Caucus was formed in 2019–2020 with the intention of becoming a Community Outreach Organization within the Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) Party, and eventually a Community Caucus of the organization. As detailed in this story from last year, the DSC was shot down by the executive committee of the DFL on its first attempt at recognition, when that body refused to place the question on the State Central Committee agenda. I’ll get into the aftermath of that in a moment.

The convention was called to order by the DSC Chair, Samuel Doten, a little bit late at 6:39 p.m., due to the outbreak of humorous insider DFL chat among members awaiting check-in. A number of members had already been in, and indeed were coming straight from, other long meetings of various caucuses or committees of the DFL, so the mood was a little bit punch-drunk.

This year’s DSC Annual Convention is in two sessions, and this was Session 1. Originally Session 2 was scheduled for February 12, because our current chair, Sam, is running to be the state DFL Outreach and Inclusion Officer (OIO), which will be elected on February 11, 2023, at the DFL Business Conference. Sam will step down as chair if he wins the OIO position. However, later someone realized that this put us in direct conflict with the Super Bowl. So we addressed that in the meeting and Session 2 will now be on Sunday, February 19, at…