Four years ago, Dylan Wegela was organizing his coworkers to strike against austerity in Arizona public schools as a part of the “Red for Ed” teacher strike wave. After helping to found Arizona Educators United and secure the investment of over $400 million for public education in the state, Wegela became the president of his union local, the Cartwright Education Association.

Wegela has since moved back to his home state of Michigan, where he ran for state representative and won his primary. He will continue to teach through the fall before his presumed inauguration this coming January. He sat down with Jacobin’s Peter Lucas to discuss what the transition from shop-floor militant to class-struggle elected official might look like.