This election season, Urbana will have a third party candidate on the ballot for the first time since 2009, when an Independent and a Green Party candidate ran for Mayor. Colin Dodson, who is seeking the Urbana City Council seat in Ward 2, is running under the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL).
Dodson appears on the April 6th 2021 ballot next to Democratic Party favorite Christopher Evans. Since Libertarian candidate Adam Rusch was kicked off the ballot in a highly suspect move by Champaign County Clerk Aaron Ammons and Urbana City Clerk Phyllis Clark, Dodson is Urbana’s last chance at having a third party elected official this season. Having to collect six times as many petition signatures as other candidates (150 for an unrecognized party instead of 25 for Democrats and Republicans), the opportunity to be on the ballot did not come easily.
Dodson: “I’ve been an organizer for the Party for Socialism & Liberation for five years. The Party for Socialism and Liberation is unlike other political parties because all of our members play active roles in their communities. In Urbana, our members have helped plan protests, distributed information to families at risk of utility shut-offs, organized tenants, and mobilized alongside almost a dozen other community groups in the racial justice protests this past summer. We don’t have superdelegates or big donors or any of those undemocratic failsafes the two major parties have. We’re a party consisting entirely of working class Americans, and we believe that disciplined and serious political organizations are necessary to fight for long-term change.”
Colin moved to Urbana in 2008 to study physics and education at the U of I, and decided to stay. Colin grew up in a town of just 2,000 people, and was uncertain about Urbana at first, but later came to love Urbana’s “goldilocks” size.
“It was only when I decided to stay in Urbana permanently that I started to feel at home for the first time since I was 15. Becoming a part of the Common Ground Food Co-op community, helping out with neighborhood potlucks, building bikes at the bike coop, and getting involved in grassroots organizing are what really sealed the deal for me.
The heart of community in Urbana is what convinced me to stay and call this town home. Every time community members band together and show up for what they believe is right, I feel this bond grow stronger. And with the impacts of climate change barrelling down on us, Urbana’s commitment to arborism is a great plus. At least we’ll have more of a rainforest than a swamp.
In short, the organizers, dreamers, activists, pot-luckers, do-ers, and advocates are the reason I love Urbana. It’s the people who make this community run that inspire me every day.”
Noting the importance of community institutions outside of the City Council, like labor and tenant unions, Colin has also served on the boards of directors at the Independent Media Center and Common Ground Food Co-Op as policy director.
Dodson’s political campaign has been focused on bringing attention to issues such as utility shutoffs during the pandemic, funding for mental health services, and rebuilding the Urbana Civilian Police Review Board: “I want to set up the political infrastructure to direct power back into the community.”
“First and foremost, I’m a socialist organizer. That means I believe in a bottom-up approach to policy: giving people the tools they need to make their voices heard and get their needs met.”
Dodson, if elected, would just be one of seven Council members who vote on City legislation, but a voice from an outside party may be exactly what is needed to help wake the Council from its sedentary posture. A posture which, for the past several years, has been fraught with concerns of image and legal liability.
“We have a powerful local political machine, and almost no dissenting voices on the council. I believe that it’s time to change that, to shake up the political establishment and start the process of making city government more accountable, more transparent, and more welcoming to dissenting voices.
My greatest concern about running and being on council is going up against the machine and making sure this accountability happens. It’s not going to be easy, but I am absolutely confident that the people of Urbana and my fellow organizers in the Party for Socialism and Liberation can make it happen.”
Colin’s campaign website and Facebook page can be viewed here: