by Reform & Revolution is running Sarah Milner for National Political Committee at the 2025 DSA convention! Sarah will be a strong Marxist, anti-imperialist voice on the NPC. She is running to help DSA lead the fight against Trump and launch a socialist party. Sign up to support Sarah for NPC!
Meet Sarah Milner
Sarah is running for the NPC as a proven DSA organizer, a proud trans activist, and a socialist rank and file union militant.
Sarah joined Portland DSA in 2018 during the Occupy ICE movement, helping to found and co-chair the YDSA chapter at Portland State University. She served two terms on the Portland DSA Steering Committee, and is now the Co-Chair of DSA’s National Communications Committee. In Portland, she helped establish the chapter’s endorsement policy and its Socialists in Office Committee.
Sarah is a proud trans woman and helped to form and lead DSA’s National Trans Rights and Bodily Autonomy Commission (TRBA) committee, organizing chapters to participate in the national Trans Day of Visibility.
Sarah’s Platform
- Building a Party of our Own!
- In R&R, we are firmly committed to a break with the Democrats at the earliest practicable date. To that end we will fight for the following at convention and on the NPC.
- Municipal DSA Parties! In every major urban center with non-partisan elections we will immediately begin work to establish de jure or de facto municipal parties with our own endorsement process and messaging distinct from liberal Democrats and right wingers.
- A DSA Candidate Slate in 2026! We propose and will help implement a plan to run a slate of socialist cadre candidates in the 2026 election. These candidates will have a unified brand, a shared message and strategy, and be expected to represent DSA, our program and our ideas, regardless of the ballot line they use.
- Begin Strategically Running Third Party and Independent Candidates Where possible, DSA will look for chances to break from the two parties. In deep red and deep blue seats, nonpartisan elections, and races with high third party votes, we will consider running outside the Democratic ballot line, and in our national endorsements, we will prioritize DSA cadre third party and independent candidates. In non-partisan races, we will clearly act as DSA candidates, not just another progressive.
- Party-Like Strategy for Locals The NPC must take the lead in advocating and educating chapters on the importance of a clear electoral strategy, an SIOC, a program and expectations for electeds in office. We will pursue programs for candidate development, set non-binding minimum standards, and work to get chapters across the country to implement them.
- No Compromise with Trump! Establish our political independence right now by doing everything in our power to block illegal and immoral Trump policies. The Democrats will not stand up to Trump’s administration, it’s our job to step up and demonstrate to the working class that a socialist approach is needed to fight back.
- An Anti-Imperialist DSA
- We believe that the basis of any principled communist work must be a clear and coherent internationalism. Equivocation on imperialism inevitably leads to opportunism. Sarah and R&R will be firmly committed to the following at convention and on the NPC.
- No War, No Genocide, No Apartheid! We will put Palestine solidarity at the center of our work. We are firmly committed to a real ceasefire, an end to all arms shipments to Israel, and a single, socialist state as an end to the apartheid and exploitation of Palestinians.
- Proudly Anti-Imperialist! In our public positions and our messaging we will firmly oppose capitalist wars, colonial domination, and neocolonial exploitation.
- No Compromise with Empire! We expect our elected officials to oppose the expansion of NATO, oppose expanding the military budget, and oppose all funding to far right, capitalist regimes like Israel and Saudi Arabia.
- No Compromise with Capitalism Anywhere! The NPC will be clear eyed about capitalism as an international, oppressive force. While first and foremost opposing American empire, our analysis will also always be clear that conservative, social democratic, and reactionary regimes taking momentary stances against the American empire cannot be treated like socialist countries. Our goal is international socialist revolution and that means solidarity with all workers and opposition to all exploitative states.
- Active Support for Liberation! Our internationalism must be more than words. We will prioritize establishing real, sustained connections with comrades in Mexico and Canada for joint actions, collective organizing and build towards a joint international socialist conference.
- For Black Liberation! For Queer Liberation! End the War on Immigrants!
- We believe DSA must enthusiastically join social struggles with our own, clear socialist message and fight back against all forms of oppression with bold mass campaigns. Sarah and R&R are committed to advocating for the following on the NPC and at convention.
- Join the Struggle against Oppression! DSA must proudly join anti-oppression struggles wherever they emerge with our own clear socialist message, and under the attack of the Trump administration, we will make it a priority to support the oppressed masses and the working class wherever they mobilize.
- For Black Liberation! Finish Reconstruction! We recognize Black liberation as imperative to building a new social order. and are firmly dedicated to staking out a clear position in support of reparations, legal and social equality, and an end to all white supremacist laws and political structures. DSA must dedicate ourselves to winning the trust and participation of Black people, not through symbolic short term interventions, but through a sustained political position and deliberate, long term organizing work. Sarah and R&R will fight for campaigns to oppose the War on Drugs and Mass incarceration system. We will fight for reparations, paid for by taxing the rich.
- Fight the Police State and Mass Incarceration! We oppose any expansion of the police budget and expect all our elected officials to do the same, and will openly and publicly agitate and organize against the militarized police and the mass incarceration system.
- Bodily Autonomy for All! Attacks on bodily autonomy are the leading edge of the far right assault on the working class. We view the struggle for trans rights and queer liberation more broadly as an urgent immediate struggle, and as intrinsically connected to the policing of women’s bodies and the violent enforcement of gender roles. We are dedicated to continuing the work of the TRBA campaign to strengthen local QSWGs and oppose anti-trans legislation. The assaults on abortion rights and access to reproductive care are a denial of basic liberties, and we will oppose every abortion ban and continue to fight for Medicare for All, widespread sex education, and universal abortion access.
- Fight Deportations, Abolish ICE! Immigrants are under assault by Trump’s police squads, and over ten million people are in danger. DSA must join this incredible struggle actively by fighting for abolishing ICE, and working with unions, social movements, and unions to prepare to mobilize against all deportations.
- A Socialist Rank and File Strategy!
- Reform & Revolution is a Marxist caucus. We see the working class as the agents of change in society, and we aim to help integrate the socialist movement and the working class and build up the confidence, militancy, and organization of the labor movement. We will fight for the following aims at convention and on the NPC.
- Join the Labor Struggle! Build the rank and file pipeline and get DSA members across the country to join unions and fight for socialist ideas within them!
- Support Rank and File Reform Caucuses! Join the fight for more militant leadership of unions. We support rank and file reform caucuses while recognizing their limitations and aiming to build up a strong socialist pole of support within unions.
- Mobilize Community Support! Aim to win over rank and file workers to DSA through consistent strike support mobilizations and strong agitational messaging aimed to meet the consciousness of workers. The NLC will hold trainings, create materials, and contact chapters to facilitate consistent, active strike support and promote the most effective tactics on the picket line. We will mobilize DSA national resources to fundraise, provide messaging support, and direct members to picket lines.
- Politicize Unions! Push for unions to join the struggle against imperialism and oppression and to distinguish themselves from the Democratic Party. The NLC will support rank and file DSA members in drafting resolutions and creating materials for political education within unions. We will create coordinating chats and meetings for DSA members who are in unions to share their experiences and materials.
- For Worker Power! Fight for worker control over contract negotiations, exclusive worker control over starting and ending strikes, direct election of officers, and for union officials taking a salary equal to the average workers’ wage. DSA will fight to create an active pole of socialist labor within unions and among the wider left. We will not stop merely at the ideas of reform caucuses but instead push further, for policies that fight directly for worker control over the workplace.
- A Democratic and Member-Run DSA!
- We believe in democracy in our organization and in the struggles we join. National DSA must represent and mobilize every member. To that end, on the NPC we will fight for the following aims:
- Bring the Membership In! Hold monthly debates and political discussions on key topics open to our whole membership to analyze current events, engage members across chapters, and revitalize our internal democracy.
- Build a Middle Layer! Establish an intermediate layer to represent chapters and local organizing in DSA.
- Open the Books! Have every committee and campaign provide a balance sheet and analysis of their work each year.
- Give the Members a Lead! On every major current event, the NPC will provide a basic analysis and set of talking points to help guide communications, materials, and chapter work.
- Programmatic Unity! Pass and implement a program and make it the center of our agitation and analysis in all our work.
- The NPC Comes to Chapters! Emulating a good organizing practice from YDSA, NPC members should divide up chapters across the country amongst themselves and regularly check-in with them and provide guidance when necessary.
If you support a building a socialist party, a mass nationwide campaign against Donald Trump and the corporate Democrats, aggressive recruitment plans to grow DSA, a socialist program to guide our movement, and a revolutionary socialist strategy for taking power, sign up to support Sarah for NPC!
