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SOMERVILLE, Mass.Four years ago, Willie Burnley Jr. was forced to move out of his rapidly gentrifying city after alayoff, followed by asteep rent increase. Two years later he had saved enough to return to the city where hed built his post-collegelife.

In summer 2020, Burnley helped found the group Defund Somerville Police (Defund SPD) to combat the citys plan to protect the police budget and cut social servicesincluding the Office of Housing Stability, established the year after Burnleys displacement to help priced-out renters like him. Pressure from Defund SPD, including abike caravan to the homes of city councilmembers, pushed through a7.7% decrease in the citys 2021 police budget, freeing up hundreds of thousands of dollars for housing and foodaid.

On Nov. 2, Burnley, now 27, won aseat on Somerville City Council with aplatform focused on housing and public safety beyond policing. Burnley is no stranger to electoral politics, having worked as afield organizer to re-elect Massachusetts Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, but his own campaign deviated from the standard protocol. It was jointly run with two other first-time candidatesCharlotte Kelly, alongtime education organizer and co-founder of Defund SPD, and Eve Seitchik, aformer co-chair of the local chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which Burnley joined in 2018. The three shared campaign staff and aplatform to create aDSA slate for at-large councilseats.

Working in collaboration was the embodiment of the politics that we wanted to bring to the city council, Burnleysays.

Burnley, Kelly and Seitchik placed second, third and fifth (respectively) among eight at-large candidates, with just the top four candidates winning seats. But come January, Burnley and Kelly will join two DSA-backed incumbents on Somervilles 11-person council, with plans to push apragmatic agenda theyve dubbed sidewalk socialisman homage to the sewer socialists who held office in Milwaukee acentury ago.

On the campaign trail, they connected big-picture priorities with the daily facts of lifelike how aGreen New Deal might expedite sewer upgrades and alleviate flooding. Canvassers also hammered on what Spencer Brown, co-chair of Boston DSA, calls the two Rsrats and rent control. Housing affordability is aperpetual issue, but after hearing complaint after rodent complaint from renters, Kellys campaign released a rat white paper with solutions from experts and community members, such as afree municipal compost program and the expansion of existing rat mitigation programs to includerenters.

Kelly cites that process as an example of how she plans to govern as a movement elected official, to allow people to take ownership over the direction of the policies and structural changes that we need to see, shesays.

Boston-area socialists and progressives also see an opening after the upset victory of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, who ran on fare-free transit and alocal Green New Deal. She was the sole mayoral candidate to endorse rentcontrol.

To pave the way for sidewalk socialism in Somerville, Boston DSA had hoped to clinch atotal of seven at-large and ward seatsa would-be socialist takeover in the city of 80,000, per aspring 2021 Politico headline. The group also made endorsements in Boston, Cambridge and Medford, deploying some 500 canvassers to knock more than 100,000 doors in four cities. Of 12 endorsed candidates, seven won, most of whom had backing from progressive groups like Our Revolution or Run for Somethingincluding Kendra Hicks, afirst-generation Afro-Latina and self-described socialist who overcame redbaiting and racist attacks to represent Bostons 6thDistrict.

The losses sting, but Brown puts them in context: A few years ago, just getting anyone on acity council would have been adream.

Thats abroad theme for the Left coming out of Election Day, where perhaps the biggest news was insurgent mayoral candidate India Waltons loss in Buffalo, N.Y. But socialists won in at least 23 of the 30 local races where DSAs national organization made endorsements, clinching unlikely victories in cities like St. Petersburg, Fla., and sending multiple members into office in New York City, Ithaca and Rochester, N.Y., andMinneapolis.

Minneapolis also voted down ahigh-profile ballot question that would have allowed the city to replace its police force with adepartment of public safetythough support was highest in the three wards where socialist city council candidates campaigned. But Burnley rejects the narrative that these results represent areferendum on last summers uprising. He cites aTufts University survey showing amajority of Somerville residents think police arent needed in situations involving mental healthcrises.

People know something needs to change. Theres not necessarily aclear consensus on what that [change] needs to be, Burnley says. But thats what organizing isabout.

Burnley adds he didnt shy away from the defund slogan but took the time to talk through adifferent plan for community safetyincluding anew civilian crisis responsesystem.

I cant say Ichanged everyones mind, he says, but thats not the job of acampaign cycle. Thats lifelongwork.

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These Three Candidates Worked Together to Bring "Sidewalk Socialism" to Their City Council - In These Times