11/25/2025
Across the country, local elected officials with roots in movement organizing are confronting an alarming rise in authoritarianism — and they are refusing to back down.
In “How Movement Organizers In Office Are Responding to the Rise of Authoritarianism” by Michael Whitesides, offers a rare and urgent look inside this fight. The conversation features New York City Council Member Tiffany Cabán, Tallahassee Commissioner Jack Porter, Las Cruces Mayor Pro Tem Johana Bencomo, and Minneapolis Council Member Jeremiah Ellison, speaking from their lived experience on the front lines.
This year, Local Progress, a national network of municipal officials, held its largest convening ever — more than 500 elected leaders and partners gathered in Chicago. It was also the first convening held under Trump’s second administration, at a moment when:
Federal law enforcement and ICE have threatened and arrested local officials
Congress has allowed massive cuts to social programs while boosting funds for deportation machinery
The Trump administration is withholding congressionally-allocated federal funding from states and cities as political leverage
Immigrant communities are disappearing overnight under militarized raids
These officials describe what governing looks like when the federal government is actively punishing localities for protecting their residents.
Jeremiah Ellison reflects on the new expectations placed on leaders from movement spaces — to stay grounded in community and show up on the streets, not only at city hall.
Johana Bencomo, who represents a border community in New Mexico, speaks powerfully about the rage and resolve required to legislate through grief and fear: “We get to hold the line for our people.”
Tiffany Cabán highlights victories made possible because organizers are now in positions of power — including passing the strongest protections in the country for trans and gender non-conforming people.
Jack Porter describes the chilling effect in Florida, where the governor threatens to remove officials from office if they refuse to deputize local police as ICE agents. She asks what it means to risk everything to protect the community.
The roundtable also grapples with a critical question: How can the Left reclaim imagination and vision when authoritarian forces are disciplined and organized for the long game?
Yet, amid grief and danger, there is hope:
✨ A revival of powerful solidarity
✨ Local victories, like the recent election of Zohran Mamdani in NYC
✨ Young people flooding into movement organizing
✨ Immigrant communities leading with courage
This is one of the most urgent and insightful conversations about local power and national crisis happening right now. If you care about democracy, immigration, community defense, or the future of progressive policy, you should read it.
https://inthesetimes.com/article/local-progress-left-social-movement-organizers-politics
