The California DSA voter guide openly smeared Dr. Butch Ware, 2026 Gubernatorial Candidate, and urged voters not to support his write-in campaign.

What should have been a voter guide for California socialists was a coordinated character assassination campaign against the most openly anti-imperialist, pro-Palestinian, anti-corporate candidate in the race — a candidate whose platform otherwise aligns with many of the very socialist principles DSA claims to champion.

Then, a few sentences later, DSA endorsed a billionaire who made their money from private prisons and ICE concentration camps.

The central tension surrounding Dr. Butch Ware is simple: he’s building political energy that doesn’t originate from Democratic Party infrastructure.

That alone makes him difficult to manage, especially as he begins to attract people disillusioned with both parties.