Socialist US Senate Campaign Launches: Greg Levy for Ohio
Today, the Party for Socialism and Liberation announced their candidate for the U.S. Senate race in 2026: Greg Levy. Greg Levy is a community organizer, singer, veteran, and socialist. Born in Joy Park housing projects and raised in Akron, Ohio, he is the third of six boys. Greg’s father was a union electrician at Ford for 30 years and his mother was a nurse. Growing up, the Levy brothers always loved making music. They were raised in the church and their dad was the minister of music, so the Levy boys did a lot of performing throughout his childhood. His roots in music along with a firm sense of justice, led him to establish the Paul Robeson Revolutionary Choir. They tour church and community venues to spread a message of revolutionary love through music that honors and keeps Robeson’s legacy alive.
Being part of working-class Akron, the lived experience grappling with inequality and injustice is what led Greg to join the fight for socialism here in Ohio. His story is similar to the stories of thousands of Ohioans – our issues as working-class people can be felt deeply and are certainly palpable during the harsh economic times we are all facing. This experience also makes us realize that the capitalist system will continue to raise profits for a tiny handful of billionaires at the expense of the overwhelming majority.
To explain why he’s running, Greg Levy says:
“Every injustice working people experience in society boils down to the question of who has power. Ohio has been hit hard. Billionaires have gutted our cities of jobs, destroying our ability to build a dignified life in the towns we love. They’ve flooded opioids into our communities while they pocket billions in profits. Rural hospitals are at-risk for closing due to continued cuts to Medicaid. And politicians, backed by big-money interests, have refused to meet our needs as working people while the cost of living goes up. In fact, 39% of Ohio’s households live at or below the Federal Poverty Level line. The Ohio State Legislature’s solution is to raise the minimum wage to $11 an hour but Ohioans would need to make at least $22.50 an hour to comfortably afford a two-bedroom apartment. Over 1.2 million jobs in Ohio do not pay enough for everyday people to afford the cost of living while the gap between income and rent continues to increase.
Black, immigrant, and rural communities are the hardest hit in Ohio. Enough is enough! Millions of Ohioans shouldn’t have to worry about fronting most of their paychecks towards their rent. We shouldn’t have to worry about how high our electricity bills are for data centers we didn’t ask for. We are experiencing the largest wealth transfer from the bottom up by billionaires in the House, Senate and the White House. It doesn’t have to be this way though. Workers in Ohio contribute billions of dollars to the state’s economy yet it's the CEOs, Democrat and Republican politicians that benefit from the wealth we create.
Instead of trying to just survive each day, we need to be thriving as workers who create the wealth of Ohio! That’s why our campaign is fighting for socialism – where the majority of working class people have the political power to create a planned economy to meet the people’s needs and planet over profit. Our socialist program is rooted in the fact that this is possible; we just have to organize and fight for it!”
This campaign is about showing there’s an alternative to the chaos and instability caused by corporate CEOs and the bought-and-paid-for politicians who stand by as our people struggle. Our fight is rooted in our commitment to working people and our firm belief that all people have a right to a dignified life! We’re running to build a political organization that gives voice and confidence to the working people of Ohio. It’s time to stop going around in circles while the elites trade places. We are building the fight for a better future — a socialist future.