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Alex Rivera - Co-Chair

Responses to NYC-DSA Candidate Questionnaire

How do you identify? (Feel free to share information about gender, sexual, or racial identity, union membership or professional experience, national origin, or any other aspects of your background.)

Please limit your response to 400 characters or less

Hello comrades! I’m a Peruvian immigrant and genderqueer socialist living in Sunset Park (in NYC since 2019), a new DC 37 union member working as a translator for the NYC Department of Education. Before that, I've spent five years bartending across Brooklyn, an experience that grounded me in the realities of working-class life and taught me how to communicate with people from every walk of life.

What organizing experience do you have within DSA?

Please limit your response to 600 characters or fewer.

I’ve organized in NYC-DSA for ~3 years, first in Central Brooklyn and now South Brooklyn.

I’ve served on the Central Brooklyn OC, the Immigrant Justice WG OC, and the Electoral WG OC.

I was Deputy Campaign Manager for Eon Huntley, a field lead + Spanish-language coordinator for Alexa Avilés, and a field coordinator for Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign. I’ve helped run branch meetings, protests, socials, forums, and political ed. My focus has been developing comrades into confident organizers.

Describe any qualities or skills you feel you possess that make you well-suited to be an Officer of the Chapter.

Please limit your response to 600 characters or fewer.

I’m a strong communicator and stay level-headed in high-pressure moments: a skill that comes from years of work in the service industry and campaign leadership. I know how to organize teams, ask for support, and keep people focused on the bigger long-term picture.

I understand the internal dynamics of NYC-DSA and have worked alongside comrades from every tendency. I value open debate, collective decision-making, and accountability. As co-chair, I would represent the entire chapter—its membership—and ensure that our decisions advance the socialist movement rather than get lost in the push and pull of internal politics.

If elected to serve in this leadership role, how will you (along with the rest of the leadership body) support internal and external organizing in the branch and chapter?

Please limit your response to 600 characters or fewer.

Internally, I want to bring members into collective action, not just as volunteers but as decision-makers. That means clearer communication between leadership and branches, more space for member input, and steady follow-through on chapter priorities.

Externally, I want to link electoral, labor, and movement work into one coherent strategy. Campaigns like Zohran’s should strengthen our base, not replace it. Palestine solidarity, anti-ICE work, tenant organizing, and more should remain central—not parallel tracks but interconnected fronts of the same class struggle.

What are the important political issues that our chapter must tackle in the coming year?

Please limit your response to 600 characters or fewer.

Implementing Zohran’s administration with socialist principles while maintaining our independence and commitment to the working-class struggle.

Defending Palestine solidarity, immigrant justice, and abolitionist politics in a hostile political climate.

Preparing for renewed reaction and repression under Trump’s fascist presidency — organizing defensively and offensively to build power.

Developing new member leadership so that our chapter’s politics, capacity, and organization all grow together.

What concrete goals do you have for the chapter in the coming year?

Please limit your response to 600 characters or fewer.

Strengthen the connection between branches and chapter leadership, making the organization feel democratic and responsive again.

Build leadership pipelines for working-class and immigrant comrades, ensuring our movement looks like the city we fight for.

Integrate political education into every campaign and branch space to develop our membership and raise class consciousness. Why should not just do the work, but understand why and why it is like this.

Keep NYC-DSA organized, locked-in, and ready to defend our victories and win many more new ones. Let’s get it