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Mass teachers union picks socialist as new VP — she's called the US 'fascist,' borders a 'colonizer construct,' and Israel 'genocidal'

Tuesday, May 26, 2026•
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MDN Staff
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Mass teachers union picks socialist as new VP — she's called the US 'fascist,' borders a 'colonizer construct,' and Israel 'genocidal'

Gesualdo, a DSA member and Malden music teacher, was elected vice president alongside new MTA president Matt Bach — both from the union's progressive Educators for a Democratic Union caucus, the Washington Free Beacon reports.

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BOSTON — The 117,000-member Massachusetts Teachers Association has elected a Democratic Socialists of America member who called the United States a "fascist oligarchy," international borders a "construct of colonizers," and Israel's actions in Gaza "genocidal" as its next vice president, the Washington Free Beacon reports.
Deb Gesualdo, a K-8 music teacher and longtime president of the Malden Education Association, will take over as second-in-command of Massachusetts's largest public sector union. She and new MTA president Matt Bach both belong to Educators for a Democratic Union, the MTA's progressive caucus.

What Gesualdo has said

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Per Free Beacon's reporting on her public posts and union activity:
  • On America. Gesualdo wrote that "it was beyond me that there's still people who think we can legislate our way out of the fascist oligarchy that is the United States," calling instead for "working people rising up."
  • On borders. She has posted content describing international borders as a "construct of colonizers" that are "meant to control and exploit workers."
  • On Israel. Gesualdo helped advance a 2023 MTA resolution accusing Israel of carrying out a "genocidal assault" in Gaza.
  • On the ADL. She signed a letter asking the National Education Association to stop using Holocaust education materials from the Anti-Defamation League, accusing the ADL of "Zionist supremacy."

A progressive caucus sweep

Gesualdo and Bach's election gives Educators for a Democratic Union control of both top offices at the MTA. The caucus has steered the union sharply leftward in recent years, including on Israel, charter schools, and policing in public schools.
Outgoing MTA president Max Page drew criticism, per Free Beacon, over educational materials the union distributed following the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel — materials that included imagery described as antisemitic.
The MTA — the state's largest labor union and an affiliate of the National Education Association — represents teachers, paraprofessionals, librarians, and other school employees across most of Massachusetts's 400 local school districts.

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