Workers’ Voice candidate Rosa Pepper-Macias concluded her campaign for State Senate in Connecticut’s 11th District with important gains

By TABITHA MAE

“Think of the difference between a candidate promising to stop a factory closure and workers occupying the plant, organizing solidarity strikes, and forcing the issue. A campaign should help make the second possible, not substitute for it.” — Rosa Pepper-Macias

Midterms under the Trump regime

A Democratic Party “Blue Wave” has swept across the U.S. in a serious rebuke to the Trump regime’s MAGA agenda that ushered in increased ICE terror, attacks on civil liberties, and war. Working people, even in Trump strongholds like Texas, have flipped to the Democratic Party. Many even cast votes in favor of Democrats endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, signaling a progressive shift in a section of the working class.

While Democratic politicians across the country have staged no real opposition to the mounting attacks on civil liberties and human rights waged by the Trump administration, a real show was made of the 2026 midterm elections. Throughout the months preceding election day, people in the U.S. experienced a surging cost of survival on account of war in Iran and regime change in Venezuela. Imperialist adventures coupled with an unending assault on immigrants, and intense state repression on the freedom of movement, speech, and protest made conditions of life in the U.S. miserable for millions. Even many in Trump’s own base have begun to feel as though they have been lied to by yet another politician—well-reflected in Trump’s low approval rating.

And while Democrats campaigned as the solution to the problems that their party either enabled or helped craft, Republicans campaigned largely on maintaining a broad national base of support for the MAGA agenda, as public support waned. The issue was of such chief concern to the tech billionaires that Elon Musk became the largest individual contributor during a single political cycle, providing $446 million for Republicans in the 2026 midterm campaigns.

As it grew closer to election day, Trump increasingly threatened the integrity of the election process—both questioning it and downright intervening in places like California, where ICE agents arrested immigrants accused of committing fraud, or the dubious attacks on Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar. This, coupled with widespread public dissatisfaction with the far-right agenda of this administration, and the fallacy of two-party voting, sparked organizations like Indivisible to hold numerous demonstrations urging the public to “vote blue” or to “ride the blue wave.” But even in these settings, where people mobilized in support of career Democrats who maintain the status quo, participants have reported a growing discourse around the question: will either capitalist party provide a solution to a problem they not only created, but profit from?

Rosa: An unexpected opponent

In New Haven, Conn., Workers’ Voice members and campaign volunteers were able to offer a vision for an alternate path forward with the State Senate campaign of Rosa Pepper-Macias.

This election season, in a district littered with career Democrats, where constituents expected no real competitive State Senate campaign, came the desire of thousands for a vision of a future that put people and the planet before the profits of big business. The independent campaign by Workers’ Voice filled a void that expressed the need to build mass movements in response to attacks from the government. When long-standing State Senator Martin Looney announced that he would not be seeking re-election this May, the District 11 Democrats had no expectation that the politician being endorsed for—or handed—the SSenate seat would be challenged, let alone by an independent socialist and working-class candidate.

Although the Democratic candidate (now State Senator-elect) Al Paolillo did not respond to requests for debate with the Workers’ Voice candidate, the socialist campaign received a hearty response nonetheless from workers and students; three times the number of signatures needed from District 11 helped put Rosa Pepper-Macias on the ballot.

Conversations on the campaign trail

The campaign participated in important cultural events in the district, like Porchfest and the Puerto Rican Day celebration. The heavy presence in local organizing scenes led to genuine engagement in political and artistic communities, and the unique makeup of campaign events was markedly different than what the people of the district had experienced before. Well exemplifying this is an event the Rosa for CT State Senate Committee held at Cafe Nine, a bar that serves as a fixture in the community, titled “A World to Win.”

This event spurred the invitation of local DJs, activists, and residents of District 11 to spend a night dancing and talking about the inspiring possibilities of what a real socialist platform could accomplish. As speaker Zoe from Connecticu*t Magazine aptly put it that evening, participants were gathered in “joyful retaliation” of the oppression being inflicted by the Trump administration and capitalist politics at large.

Throughout the campaign, Rosa and volunteers spent many nights tabling outside of Cafe Nine, garnering personal relationships with many members of the community. Regular open campaign meetings were publicized, alongside meet and greets, giving interested individuals the opportunity to spend time with the candidate and to provide input on their needs and wishes.

The campaign for Rosa went on the road, too. In Connecticut, Rosa spoke at forums in New Haven and New London, but also in Providence, R.D., at the University of Massachusetts, and in San Francisco. Additionally, Rosa and the campaign team took to the streets at protests, like the rally to close Delaney Hall, the immigrant detention facility in Newark, N.J., and in Biddeford, Maine in response to yet another ICE murder—this time, the killing of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero.

Why an independent party line is important

Aside from the frequent discussions on the formation of a labor party that took place in the conversations the team had while campaigning, one question came up consistently: Why not operate within the Democratic Party?

Elections in recent years have brought the DSA forward in visibility, while popularizing the concept of a “democratic socialist” in office. Unfortunately, this popularization has been a package deal of sorts; with each Democrat who brands themself a socialist and offers a few reforms in the name of “socialism,” comes a dilution in public understanding of what socialist politics should look like, providing fuel for the right when these programs fall short or outright fail.

If a candidate calls themself a socialist but operates within the big business-supported Democratic Party, supports the two-party system by maintaining capitalist politics, and aligns with the reformist approaches of the Democrats, is the candidate not just a Democrat?

More than once, curious participants would ask, “Isn’t it easier if you play the game with the Democrats?” Sure, it could be, if the goal of the campaign is simply to win a seat in office. But a revolutionary socialist candidate and their supporters care more about the spread of political education and activity that has the potential to achieve lasting change. They share the excitement at the prospect of building a party by and for working people and their allies. And they know that sacrificing strong political convictions for buyouts with the Dems would destroy the principles outlined in the socialist platform.

Rosa addressed this subject by raising the question: In the same way that workers do not invite bosses to union meetings, why would workers build a party with the Democrats—creators and enforcers of the ruling system that is oppressing them? In a Bay area interview, Rosa said, “Socialism should mean workers exercising power, and not being asked to applaud from the sidelines.”

In this interview, Rosa was asked if running a campaign was a contradiction to the belief that the elections perpetuate capitalist rule. She responded, “Running in elections is not the same as believing elections will liberate us. For many years, revolutionaries have used campaigns to reach workers, expose the limits of capitalist institutions, and strengthen organization outside parliament … But a ballot cannot replace a strike, a mass demonstration, or workers refusing to cooperate with repression. Imagine the difference between a politician promising to oppose deportations and organized workers stopping work to resist a raid. Elections should help build that kind of power, not substitute for it.”

Build the movement in the streets, campuses, and workplaces!

A major difference between the campaign for Rosa for Connecticut State Senate and other campaigns was that the campaign for Rosa Pepper-Macias sought to use the election platform to help build a democratic mass movement for social change. In contrast, Republican and Democratic Party campaigns often redirect the mass movement into a pacified electoralism.

While the Pepper-Macias campaign did not win the State Senate seat for District 11, the number of votes lacks the reality of the excitement on the street, the great number of campaign supporters, or the true intention of the campaign. Rosa obtained over 2000 votes—around 10% of the vote—but amassed much broader support than the number of votes she received.

The ballot total counts are incapable of capturing the whole picture: thousands of people were offered an independent socialist campaign platform that addresses the needs of the working class. That program extends far past the lines of District 11, or Connecticut, or the United States. It speaks to the hopes and dreams of billions of workers and students.

The midterm elections have come to a close, but the brutal attacks from the Trump regime will not end. In fact, Trump, and his friends and officials (like newly appointed Chief of Staff Stephen Miller) have vowed to more viciously seek harm against immigrants and leftists. Meanwhile, No Kings protesters have turned to hosting “blue wave” celebration parties. But this is not a time to pause our political struggles. Tireless leafleting is underway by Workers’ Voice members and organizers of other groups working collaboratively in preparation for upcoming events and ongoing defense work.

Workers’ Voice is calling on all of their readers to help build the movement in defense of the Minnesota 15 and the Graduate Employees’ Organization in Michigan against the attack by Trump’s Justice Dept., and against ICE and U.S. imperialism at large, while building the key fightback against state surveillance.

Rosa Pepper-Macias will be speaking at the Knight Memorial Library in Providence, R.I., at noon on Nov. 21 for the Workers’ Voice forum “War and Repression in the Trump Era. She will offer a socialist perspective on war and how to defend the antiwar and civil liberties movements in the post-election period.

The Rosa for Connecticut State Senate campaign may be over, but the work of mobilizing our neighbors, coworkers, and classmates to catalyze a real movement in the streets that is capable of building a mass opposition to U.S.  imperialism is anything but over. Want to become involved? Upcoming events in and around Connecticut can be found on Rosa’s campaign instagram, which will be kept up to date with demonstrations and forums, and on the Workers’ Voice CT instagram page.

Top photo: Rosa speaks at radio station WNHH. (Paul Bass / New Haven Independent)