In most American cities, real estate and development companies own the city council and mayor (if there is one) thoroughly. Yet people like Kshama Sawant have managed to get on the local government and make effective changes. Any socialist electoralist strategy in America has to successful start at the local level, so I'm asking if there's any stratagies we should employ to build labor power and/or effect local legislation. Of course direct action strategies like the Young Lords did in the 60s is effective, but I am thinking more electorally here. Direct action and electoralism can, and should, be in concert.
If you're thinking local offices and how they might be effectively used, look at district attorney elections. They hold a ton of power over what crimes get prioritized and how different crimes are handled.
At the simplest level, you could make an immediate impact by not charging minor, bullshit crimes (e.g., drug possession) or focusing on repeat offenders and non-carceral solutions. You can rachet down years of incarceration or supervision for more serious crimes. A more complicated -- but feasible -- option is to also prioritize prosecution of crimes committed by the local business interests you're talking about. In theory, that's a fairly straightforward path to checking their power, and it would have popular support.
Plus, there are templates for winning these types of elections on this type of platform, so you're not breaking entirely new ground.
I would be uhhh...really careful about that. One issue is that the local large-scale developers are also the local crimelords in many, many places. More than one well-meaning leftist has met an unfortunate end that way.
-V.I. Lenin