After voting for Shekarchi for speaker, Rep. Morales loses Democratic Socialists endorsement

The Providence Democratic Socialists of America withdrew its endorsement of state Rep. David Morales, a Providence Democrat and rising star on the left, for voting to re-elect K. Joseph Shekarchi speaker of the House.

"The vote shows the strength of the chapter’s support for a bylaw that makes endorsement contingent on a politician’s refusal to back establishment leaders merely for political gain," Providence DSA said in a news release Monday. "It also signals that if 'progressive' legislators in Rhode Island want support from the left, they will have to do more than proclaim a desire to help working people — they must also fight the corporate politicians who stand in the way of change."

Morales was one of 63 representatives, all but one of them Democrats, who voted to make Shekarchi speaker on Jan. 3 over Republican nominee Michael Chippendale. Three progressive Democrats -- Reps. Brianna Henries, Jennifer Stewart and Enrique Sanchez — abstained from the vote. Sanchez was endorsed by DSA while Henries and Stewart were members of the Rhode Island Political Cooperative.

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Days after the vote, DSA members tweeted that voting for Shekarchi violated the organization's bylaw against supporting members of the Democratic Party political establishment and the matter would be taken up at a Jan. 26 General Body Meeting.

At that meeting, 37 members voted to rescind the endorsement and two voted to keep it, DSA spokesman Daniel Crowell said Monday. There was a 7-day online voting period, where 57 voted to rescind and 27 voted to keep the endorsement in place.

The bylaw Morales was accused of violating says “DSA-endorsed politicians are expected to play an oppositional role in the political system. They should not support establishment Democrats for the purpose of gaining the favor of Party leadership."

Shekarchi is now beginning his second two-year term as speaker.

In 2021, then Political Cooperative member Rep. Brandon Potter was expelled from the group for backing Shekarchi.

It is unclear what Morales gained politically by voting for Shekarchi.

He is not a part of the House leadership team announced last week and was assigned to two House committees: the relatively low-profile Innovation, Internet and Technology committee and the housing and the Housing and Municipal Government Committee.

Morales had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publishing.

"For the political establishment, the election of the speaker is far more than a procedural formality," the DSA Monday news release said. "When legislators abstain, party leaders threaten to block the bills under their names, exclude them from committees, and run challengers against them in elections, while promising to protect those legislators who do not fight the corrupt party machine. The Democratic Party is meticulous in demanding the votes of every legislator, even when a leader’s election is already guaranteed. This is because the leadership vote is a means of control."

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Democratic Socialists take back Morales endorsement over vote for Shekarchi