New York, New York - In an exclusive interview, 2024 Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) presidential candidate Claudia De la Cruz reflected on her historic campaign and next steps in the fight to "end capitalism before it ends us" – a message that clearly resonated this election cycle.

Speaking to TAG24 NEWS nearly a week after Election Day, De la Cruz shared that she was proud of the Vote Socialist campaign's success in connecting with and elevating the concerns of struggling communities around the nation.

"We went to 64 cities across the country, and we don't have an experience where communities or people felt put off by the word 'socialism.' In fact, the people really responded well to the platform. The question was more so: how do we make this happen?" the South Bronx native said.

The Vote Socialist campaign launched at a time of skyrocketing inequality, increased attacks on hard-fought civil rights, and daily US-backed atrocities in the Middle East.

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In response, De la Cruz and her running mate, Karina Garcia, put forward a policy program anchored in the Marxist-Leninist party's vision for a radical reorganization of society.

Among its pledges are:

• seizing the top 100 corporations
• cutting the military budget by 90%
• guaranteeing free, universal health care, education, and childcare
• providing reparations to Black Americans
• expanding abortion rights and LGBTQ+ protections
• ending all US aid to Israel

De la Cruz said these policies were popular with many people she met during the election season.

"What I left the campaign trail with is a better understanding of what we're told – the narratives that are told to us by the ruling class in terms of socialism being something that cannot happen – and what communities understand needs to happen, which aligns itself much more with a socialist project and program," the former presidential candidate said.

The increased enthusiasm De la Cruz experienced from her interactions with voters is reflected in the numbers.

As of Monday, the PSL had counted over 120,000 votes so far in the 19 states where its candidates appeared on the ballot. The tally did not include the 23 states and Washington DC, where the duo had official write-in status and gained even more votes.

It's the biggest turnout for a socialist presidential campaign in the US since the 1930s – and a major step up from the PSL's nearly 85,000 votes in 2020.

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The victory came in spite of high-dollar Democratic Party-linked efforts to kick third-party candidates off the ballot in key states.

De la Cruz attributed the success in large part to re-energized young people, some of whom traveled hours to attend events and who found hope in the campaign's message at a time when the two major parties offered little to get excited about.

"People did this consciously," she said. "People actually went and voted for a socialist option."

As the PSL presidential ticket gained support, the Democratic Party saw an opposite trajectory.

Around 9 million fewer people came out for Kamala Harris in 2024 than did for Joe Biden in 2020, at current counting.

De la Cruz ascribed this loss to the party's failure to address core injustices in American society as well as to the Biden-Harris administration's unwavering support for Israel amid the genocide in Palestine, which it has backed with diplomatic cover and billions of dollars in military assistance.

"You have a whole generation of young people who were awakened to the reality of US imperialism and what it does and how brutal it is and how much colonialism is embedded in US politics," De la Cruz explained.

"People understand that the Democratic Party is not going to be what is going to protect, defend, or expand their democratic rights," the community organizer and popular educator continued.

"It's a failure on the part of the Democratic Party, but at the same time, it opens up the opportunity for more revolutionary and more radical thought and much more organizing work."

While the 2024 election may be over, the work continues for De la Cruz, whose Vote Socialist campaign was never just about one election but rather about building an independent working-class movement to challenge the capitalist system.

On January 20, 2025, she will join organizations, activists, and people across the nation converging on Washington DC. The Inauguration Day/Martin Luther King Day action will raise the demands of working people – including labor rights, immigrants' rights, environmental justice, and an end to US militarism.

De la Cruz acknowledged the fear and anxiety many communities are experiencing as Republican Donald Trump prepares to make his White House return, but cautioned people against letting those feelings overwhelm them.

"Paralysis is not the answer," she warned. "We can have our moment to feel this way, but if we sink ourselves into those emotions, then we've lost. And we cannot afford to lose."

De la Cruz urged people to find a community that inspires and moves them to act, such as the PSL.

"We don't have the millions of dollars, but can mobilize the millions of people – if we organize," she said, emphasizing the need to embrace the lessons of past resistance struggles as well as creative new strategies.

"The level of determination of working-class people to survive is ultimately what will lead us to win," De la Cruz insisted. "We will win because people are unwilling to die or be killed. People want to live."