Democratic Socialists of America | |
|---|---|
.svg){kind=logo} | |
| Abbreviation | DSA |
| Governing body | National Political Committee |
| National Co-Chairs | Megan Romer Ashik Siddique |
| National Director | Vacant |
| Founder | Michael Harrington |
| Founded | March 20, 1982; 43 years ago (1982-03-20) |
| Merger of | Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee New American Movement |
| Headquarters | New York City |
| Newspaper | Democratic Left Socialist Forum The Activist (youth wing publication) |
| Youth wing | Young Democratic Socialists of America |
| Membership(2025) |  80,000[1] |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Left-wing[9] tofar-left[15] |
| Regional affiliation | São Paulo Forum (associate, since 2023)[16] |
| International affiliation |
|
| Colors | Red |
| Website | |
dsausa | |
TheDemocratic Socialists of America (DSA) is apolitical organization in theUnited States and the country's largestsocialist organization. DSA is abig tent of socialists on theleft-wing tofar-left of thepolitical spectrum, primarily under democratic socialism.[19][20] DSA formed in 1982 as a merger of theDemocratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) and theNew American Movement (NAM). It has a decentralized structure, where local chapters and ideological caucuses have high autonomy.
DSA's stated goal is to participate in theworkers' rights movement with a long-term aim ofsocial ownership of production such aspublic enterprises,worker cooperatives, ordecentralized planning.[21][22] At its founding, it supportedgrassroots social movements andprogressives in theDemocratic Party. DSA was a minor political force until the2016 presidential campaign of SenatorBernie Sanders, a self-identified democratic socialist, after which its membership swelled from about 6,000 members in 2015 to more than 90,000 in 2021. These young new members shifted DSA to the left, away from its historicallysocial democratic leadership and towarddemocratic socialist and other socialist ideologies.[23][24][25][26]
DSA is not a political party with aballot line. Instead, with a long-term goal of establishing an independent socialist party, DSA engages in electoral politics by endorsing candidates who align with its values, includingDemocrats,Working Families,Greens, andindependents. Particularly notableDSA elected officials include U.S. representativesRashida Tlaib andAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez andNew York State Assembly member andNew York City mayoral candidateZohran Mamdani. In 2025, over 250DSA members held elected public office, with 90% elected after 2019.[27] Some of its members in Congress have initiated various pieces of legislation central to themodern progressive movement in the United States, including theMedicare for All Act in 2003 byJohn Conyers[28] and theGreen New Deal in 2019 by Ocasio-Cortez.[29] Former longtime members of theUnited States House of Representatives, including Conyers,[30]Ron Dellums,[30] House WhipDavid Bonior,[31] andMajor Owens[32] have been affiliated with the DSA.
Formed in 1982 by the merger of theDemocratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC) and theNew American Movement (NAM),[33][34] DSA is a501(c)(4)nonprofit organization.[35]
The original organization, theDemocratic Socialist Organizing Committee (DSOC), was founded in 1973, as an anti-Vietnam War anddemocratic socialist minority caucus within the reformist socialistSocialist Party of America (SPA). DSOC was aligned with the ideas ofMichael Harrington, a prominent socialist activist and intellectual. It split from SPA after SPA renamed itselfSocial Democrats, USA (SDUSA).
At its founding, DSA was said to have about 5,000 members from DSOC and 1,000 from NAM.[36]Dorothy Ray Healey served as vice chair in 1982.[37] The DSA inherited bothOld Left andNew Left heritage. NAM was a successor to the disintegratedStudents for a Democratic Society. DSOC was founded in 1973 from a minority anti-Vietnam War caucus in theSocialist Party of America (SPA)—which had been renamedSocial Democrats, USA (SDUSA). DSOC started with 840 members, of whom 2% had served on its national board, and about 200 of whom came from SDUSA or its predecessors (theSocialist Party–Social Democratic Federation, formerly part of the SPA) in 1973, when the SDUSA's membership was about 1,800, according to a 1973 profile of Harrington.[38]
The red rose is part of DSA's logo,[39] having been asymbol of socialism since the 1886Haymarket Affair and resultingMay Day marches. It was drawn from the logo of DSOC, its precursor organization, and previously of theSocialist International, which shows a stylized fist clenching a red rose, the fist replaced by a biracial handshake pertaining to DSA's anti-racism.[40] Thefist and rose logo was originally designed for the FrenchSocialist Party in 1969[41] and later shared by socialist and labor political organizations worldwide.
DSA originally supportedgrassroots movements andprogressives in theDemocratic Party.[42]
After 2016, DSA experienced an ideological shift to the left, as an influx of younger members with more radical views shifted it away from its historic focus onsocialist reformism andpopular front strategies.[23][24] Younger members also pushed DSA towardanti-Zionism and support forBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS).[23][43][24]
At the 2023 DSA National Convention,Marxist factions won a majority of National Political Committee (NPC) seats for the first time, marking a further shift left.[42][44][25][26] In 2024, founding memberMaurice Isserman left the group, citing Marxist-Leninistentryism and the DSA's refusal to condemn Hamas after theOctober 7 attacks.[42][23] Alongside Isserman, 24 longtime prominent members published a resignation letter inThe New Republic articulating their frustration with the new DSA and the October 7 attacks. The letter's signatories includeHarold Meyerson,Peter Dreier, andLawrence Mishel.[45] DSA released a statement condemning all violence against civilians in the October 7 attacks, and has been active in bringing attention to theGaza genocide.[46]
DSA has a decentralized structure, where chapters and ideological caucuses have high autonomy. DSA elects its national leadership, the National Political Committee (NPC), every two years ata National Convention of elected chapter delegates.
Local chapters operate with considerable independence, developing their own priorities, endorsements, and campaigns while adhering to national platform principles.[47] Ideological caucuses within DSA, such as the anarchist Libertarian Socialist Caucus[24] and the Marxist caucus Bread and Roses,[48] compete for influence and promote their particular approaches to socialist organizing.[23]
DSOC started with 840 members in 1973, of whom 2% had served on its national board, and about 200 of whom came from SDUSA or its predecessors (theSocialist Party–Social Democratic Federation, formerly part of the SPA).[38] In the early 1980s, DSOC's membership was estimated at 5,000.[49]
When DSOC and NAM merged into DSA, it had approximately 5,000 members from the DSOC plus 1,000 from the NAM.[36] By 1987, the new organization's membership grew to an estimated 7,000.[50]
DSA's membership greatly increased followingBernie Sanders's 2016 presidential campaign, the presidential victory ofDonald Trump, the 2018 election of DSA memberAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and theCOVID-19 pandemic.[51][52][53] In July 2018, DSA had 43,000 members.[54] In May 2020, organizers said DSA had attracted about 10,000 new members since March of that year. According to DSA leaders, after Sanders dropped out of the 2020 presidential race in April, many supporters previously aligned with his campaign joined DSA.[53] Membership peaked at 95,000 in 2021, when DSA had 239 local chapters,[55][56] before declining to 77,575 by August 2023, largely from lapsed dues.[57] DSA has gained at least 2,400 new dues-paying members since October 2023 due to its pro-Palestinian stance during theGaza war.[58] In June 2025, before the2025 New York City Democratic mayoral primary, DSA claimed 80,000 members.[59][1]
Between 2013 and 2019, the average age of its membership decreased from 68 to 33.[60]
DSA publishesDemocratic Left andSocialist Forum, quarterly magazines of news, analysis, and internal debate.[61][62]Democratic Left continues in an uninterrupted run from the originalNewsletter of the Democratic Left published by theDemocratic Socialist Organizing Committee, a DSA predecessor, since its establishment in 1973.[63] Caucuses within DSA often have their own publications to spread their particular views within and outside the organization, such as The Call,[64] Reform and Revolution,[65] Partisan Magazine,[66] and Light and Air.[67]
Left-wing quarterly magazineJacobin often aligns with DSA, although they are not affiliated.[68] In 2014,Jacobin's founder and then-editorBhaskar Sunkara, a DSA member, praised DSA founderMichael Harrington, calling him "very underrated as a popularizer of Marxist thought".[69]
DSA members support a wide range of socialist ideologies,[70] including views withindemocratic socialism such as thedemocratic road to socialism[71][72] as well asTrotskyism,[73]libertarian socialism,[74][75]Marxism–Leninism,[76] andeco-socialism.[77][75] Members' views vary on topics includingdemocratic economic planning andmarket socialism,reform and revolution, anddegrowth.[3][70]
DSA's long-term goal is to endcapitalism and replace it withdemocratic socialism, creating "a more free, democratic and humane society" that achieves "equitable distribution of resources, meaningful work, a healthy environment, sustainable growth, gender and racial equality, and non-oppressive relationships". DSA's short-term goal is to "fight for reforms today that will weaken the power of corporations and increase the power of working people".[78][79][80]
DSA's program,Workers Deserve More, calls for a thriving working class, withMedicare for All, ending thewar on drugs,college for all, and housing for all;[81] an economy for the working class, with a32-hour work week, expansion of unions, protection for union organizing,higher taxes on the rich, and aGreen New Deal;[82] a working-class foreign policy, withPalestinian liberation, an end tothe US war machine, andfreedom of movement for all workers;[83] and working-class democracy, witha universal right to vote,proportional representation in theHouse of Representatives, an abolishedSenate, and an abolishedElectoral College in favor of a popular vote forpresident.[84]
Until 2021, DSA lacked apolitical program or platform to represent the organization's positions and relied on press releases and strategy documents published by the organization's leaders at its founding.[85] At its 2021 convention, DSA adopted its first platform, which was not binding on members or electeds. The platform had a number of wide-ranging demands organized into ten planks: Deepening and Strengthening Democracy, Abolition of the Carceral State, Abolition of White Supremacy, A Powerful Labor Movement, Economic Justice, Gender and Sexuality Justice, Green New Deal, Health Justice, Housing for All, and International Solidarity, Anti-Imperialism, and Anti-Militarism.[86] At its 2025 convention,[87] DSA adoptedWorkers Deserve More as its sole public program, replacing the 2021 platform and superseding all previous policy position documents.[88]
The dominant position in DSA regards the abolition of capitalism and the realization of socialism as a long-term goal. Therefore, DSA focuses its immediate political energies on policy reforms, labor organizing, and tenant organizing that empowerworking people while decreasing the power of corporations, to approach more comprehensive societal change.[78][89][90][91]
DSA has been involved in a variety of labor organizing campaigns. In 2020, DSA andUnited Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America founded theEmergency Workplace Organizing Committee (EWOC) to "help workers organize" by developing training programs and connecting labor organizers with appropriate resources.[92][93][94]Jacobin attributed various labor organizing drive and union election victories to the assistance of EWOC organizers.[92] DSA has frequently adopted the strategy ofsalting: getting socialists hired in key occupations to establish new unions or reform caucuses within existing unions.[95]
On March 7, 2021, DSA launched a coalitional effort withCommunications Workers of America and theInternational Union of Painters and Allied Trades to pass theProtecting the Right to Organize Act, with rallies and hundreds of thousands of phone calls to voters.[96][97] During the117th Congress, the bill passed the House but died in committee in the Senate.
In October 2023, theUniversity of Oregon'sYDSA chapter led a campaign to form the nation's largest wall-to-wall undergraduate labor union, and successfully unionized 4,900 student workers.[98][99][100][101]
DSA supports the implementation of aGreen New Deal, including "Massive public investment to transition away from fossil fuels toward a green and sustainable economy. Guaranteed support for workers in the fossil fuel industry, massive infrastructure and jobs programs, and public ownership over major transportation and energy infrastructure and natural resources."[102]
In late 2019, theNew York City DSA chapter established the Public Power NY Coalition, aimed at expandingpublic renewable energy in collaboration with organized labor andDSA members in the New York state legislature.[103] According to campaign organizerAshley Dawson, the Coalition was formed after private utility companyConsolidated Edison increased electricity prices; it was also concerned about Consolidated Edison'sfossil fuel lobbying, its failure to invest in upgrading its energy infrastructure, and respiratory illnesses caused by pollution in low-income and minority neighborhoods.[103]
In March 2023, DSA members in the U.S. HouseAlexandria Ocasio-Cortez andJamaal Bowman wrote to GovernorKathy Hochul to urge the passage of the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA).[104][105][106]
In May 2023, DSA claimed that the four-year organizing campaign led by New York state chapters enabled the BPRA to pass.[107][103] DSA and progressive media called it "the biggestGreen New Deal victory in U.S. history" due to its provisions forpublic renewable energy, unionized public jobs, electricity price discounts, and closingnatural gas plants.[106][107][108][109][3]
Some have criticized theNew York Power Authority for lack of transparency around progress toward the goals of the BPRA, and for hiringMcKinsey & Company to implement the plan, which advocates have criticized for corruption and alleged bias for private development.[110]
DSA supports demilitarization of police departments and the abolition of cash bail and mandatory minimums.
In the 1990s, the DSA Fund directed resources to the Prison Moratorium Project led by theyouth section of DSA, which aimed to divest fromprivate prisons and contributed toSodexo partially divesting from them.[111]
DSA calls for theabolition of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an end to all immigrant detention and deportations, and "demilitarization" of theMexico–United States border.[112][113][114] DSA supportsfreedom of movement of workers and amnesty for all migrants regardless of legal status.[115]
DSA viewsUS imperialism as a major threat to world peace and global justice. It supports closing military bases abroad, dramatic reductions to the US military budget, and return of troops. DSA supports an end to sanctions on Cuba, Venezuela, and Iran, and a normalization of diplomatic relations.[115] It sees the United States as the primary force enabling Israel to occupy Palestine and engage in ethnic cleansing and genocide of the Palestinian people.
DSA originally supportedIsrael and Zionism. When theUnited Nations passedResolution 3379 in 1975, which called Zionism a form of racism, Harrington called it a "preposterous charge" that "drain[ed] the concept of racism of any serious meaning."[116] Former DSA vice-chair Jo-Ann Mort has said the group was formerly "the place to go on the left if you were a socialist and you were pro-Israel".[43] TheNew American Movement, which merged into DSA, was ideologically anti-Zionist.[117]
After 2016, DSA shifted toward ananti-Zionist stance, viewing Israel as animperialist,apartheidethnostate.[43] On August 5, 2017, DSA members nearly unanimously passed a resolution to formally endorse theBoycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.[43][118]
At its 2025 convention, DSA passed a resolution affirming its commitment to theThawabit, and making any of the following actions an "expellable offense" provided the chance of political education:[119][120]
In 2021, DSA attracted criticism from the socialist left due to a vote by U.S. RepresentativeJamaal Bowman, an elected member of DSA at the time, in favor of providing $1 billion in additional annual aid to Israel, in violation of DSA'santi-Zionist and pro-BDS platform.[121][122][123][124][3] Bowman was also criticized for meeting with Israeli prime ministerNaftali Bennett on a trip to Israel organized by the liberal Zionist lobby groupJ Street.[121][124][123]
In February 2022, Bowman removed his sponsorship of the Israeli Relations Normalization Act, which some DSA members considered a win from engaging with Bowman's office.[125] In April 2023, Bowman co-led a letter to PresidentJoe Biden with SenatorBernie Sanders urging a probe into the use of U.S. weapons to commit human rights abuses against Palestinians.[126][127] The letter called for restricting $3.8 billion in annual military aid to Israel and "immediate action to prevent the further loss of Israeli and Palestinian lives".[126]
In July 2023, theHouse of Representatives passed a resolution, 412–9, declaring that "The State of Israel is not a racist or apartheid state, Congress rejects all forms of antisemitism and xenophobia, and the United States will always be a staunch partner and supporter of Israel."[128] Among those voting against the resolution were DSA membersOcasio-Cortez,Tlaib,Bush, and Bowman, who each cited the Israeli government'shuman rights abuses against Palestinians.[128]
In July 2025,Marjorie Taylor Greene proposed an amendment in theHouse of Representatives to the Department of Defense Appropriations Act, 2026, that would cut $500 million in funding for the Israeli Cooperative Program. The amendment failed by a vote of 6-422.[129]Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a DSA member endorsed by the New York City chapter, voted against the amendment, saying that it cut off the Iron Dome's defensive capabilities without stopping U.S. munitions from being used inGaza.[130]Rashida Tlaib, a DSA member who is endorsed nationally, voted for the amendment[129] and said at the 2025 DSA National Convention that "weapons are weapons".[131] DSA released a statement saying, "An arms embargo means keeping all arms out of the hands of a genocidal military, no exceptions. This is why we oppose Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's vote [... and] are proud that DSA member and congresswoman Rep. Rashida Tlaib—as well as allies Reps. Ilhan Omar, Summer Lee, and Al Green—voted to cut this military money to Israel, in opposition to 422 members of Congress, before voting no on the overall package."[132]
On October 7, 2023, DSA published a statement that "unequivocally condemn[ed]" all civilian casualties, reaffirmed its opposition tooccupation of Palestinian territory and support forPalestinian statehood, called for an end to U.S. financial support to theState of Israel, saidHamas's attack that day was the result of "Israel's apartheid regime", and spotlighted an initiative by DSA-endorsedNew York State Assembly memberZohran Mamdani that would endnonprofit status for organizations funding Israeli war crimes and crimes against humanity.[133] The same day,Cori Bush released a statement mourning "the over 250 Israeli and 230 Palestinian lives that have been lost today",[134] criticizing Israel's military response to the attack,[135] and calling for "ending U.S. government support for Israeli military occupation and apartheid".[136] On October 8,Rashida Tlaib released a statement that likewise grieved "the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost yesterday, today, and every day", called for lifting theblockade of the Gaza Strip and ending Israeli occupation and apartheid, and cited U.S. government support for Israel as part of the problem.[137] DSA-endorsed members of Congress—Bush, Tlaib, and Ocasio-Cortez—have all called the State of Israel an apartheid regime, citing human rights abuses against Palestinians.[128]
Over the months following the start of theGaza war, various DSA chapters and DSA rank-and-file members and public officials organized and participated in numerous protests and vigils alongside Jewish and Palestinian advocacy groups, includingJewish Voice for Peace,IfNotNow, andStudents for Justice in Palestine, in support of a ceasefire and Palestinian liberation.[138][139][140][141][142]
On October 8, the New York City DSA chapter promoted a pro-Palestine rally in Times Square.[143] Several New York politicians condemned the rally for statements at the event byParty for Socialism and Liberation memberEugene Puryear mocking the victims of theRe'im music festival massacre and for an unidentified attendee displaying aswastika on a cellphone.[144][145][146] DSA later distanced itself from the rally,[146][147] as did Ocasio-Cortez.[148] RepresentativeJamaal Bowman confirmed in light of the rally that he had let his DSA membership expire in 2022.[149] In the days after the rally, some socialist magazines such asJacobin published editorials disputing negative characterizations of DSA, arguing thatmainstream media outlets had falsely accused it of supporting Hamas and organizing the rally.[150] Some Jewish members of DSA denounced MayorEric Adams for falsely[146][151] accusing DSA of "carrying swastikas and calling for the extermination of Jewish people", calling the accusation "horrific defamation".[152] Both progressives outside DSA and opponents of DSA argued that Adams's comments were inappropriate and false.[146][151] In addition to denouncing Adams's comments,Abby Stein wrote disapprovingly in theNew YorkDaily News about other New York politicians, such asRitchie Torres andNicole Malliotakis.[151]
On October 13, Mamdani and another DSA New York State Assembly member,Marcela Mitaynes, were arrested fordisorderly conduct at a rally inBrooklyn for a ceasefire, organized byJewish Voice for Peace (JVP),IfNotNow, andJews for Racial and Economic Justice.[153][146][154][155] Mamdani told media, "We are looking at imminent genocide ... now is not the time to be silent",[153] and said he had received death threats and Islamophobic voicemail messages in the days following the protest.[138]
On October 20, New York City DSA led a more than 3,000-person protest inManhattan calling for U.S. senatorsKirsten Gillibrand andChuck Schumer to support a ceasefire resolution.[156][157] At the event, 139 protesters were arrested for "acts ofcivil disobedience as protesters sat down and blocked traffic",[158][159] including DSA member andNew York State SenatorJabari Brisport.[156]
On November 15, JVP, DSA, and IfNotNow held a candlelight vigil and protested at theDemocratic National Committee Headquarters in Washington, DC to call for a ceasefire in Gaza during a fundraiser attended by members of Congress.[160][161][162] The vigil and protest ended inU.S. Capitol Police clashing with protestors who were "illegally and violently protesting" at the building, according to police, injuring 90 protestors and 6 police officers.[160][162] CongressmenRepresentative Brad Sherman andSenator Marco Rubio claimed the protestors were violent and "pro-Hamas."[163]
From November 29 to December 2, DSA officially joined a coalition led by the Adalah Justice Project to carry out a five-dayhunger strike outside theWhite House, with DSA members including New York State AssemblymanZohran Mamdani, Michigan State RepresentativeAbraham Aiyash, Palestinian writerSumaya Awad, actressCynthia Nixon, and then-interim DSA chair Ashik Siddique participating in the strike.[164][165][166][167][168][169] Five members of Congress joined the strikers to speak in support on November 29, including Bush and Tlaib.[167][168][169][170][171]
Throughout 2024, DSA led or endorsed several state-levelUncommitted campaigns, and YDSA chapters led or supportedencampment organizing on university campuses. On July 11, 2024, DSA pulled its endorsement of Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez after she hosted an online panel discussion about antisemitism withliberal Zionist lobbyists. During the discussion, Ocasio-Cortez said that somecriticism of Israel was antisemitic. DSA called the panel "a deep betrayal to all those who've risked their welfare to fightIsraeli apartheid andgenocide through political and direct action in recent months and in decades past".[172][173]
In 2025, DSA prioritized campaigns to boycott Chevron as part of the BDS movement and reiterated calls for an arms embargo. It also expressed support for theGlobal Sumud Flotilla and for the defense of the rights of Palestinian-Americans and Gaza war protesters.
On February 26, 2022, DSA issued a statement condemningRussia's invasion of Ukraine while arguing that the U.S. andNATO provoked Russia.[174] The statement called for "diplomacy and de-escalation to resolve this crisis" and for the U.S. to withdraw from NATO and "end the imperialist expansionism that set the stage for this conflict".[175][176] Many Democratic members of Congress, including politicians affiliated with DSA, criticized this statement,[175][174] with some calling it "tone-deaf".[176] Others defended the statement and criticized the responses frommainstream media and politicians attacking DSA.[177][178] According toNew York, "The suggestion that the U.S. was somehow to blame forVladimir Putin's war of aggression was seized on by DSA's critics across the ideological spectrum—from theNew York Post to Democratic congressional candidateMax Rose—while setting off a round of recriminations and counterstatements among American leftists."[175]
DSA was a member of theSocialist International from 1982 to 2017. A majority of delegates at the 2017 DSA National Convention voted to leave the International due to its alleged support forneoliberal economic policies.[18]
Delegates at the 2021 DSA National Convention voted to apply to join theSão Paulo Forum,[179] and DSA became an Associate Member organization in 2023.[180] In August 2023, the DSA National Convention voted to join theProgressive International,[181] and DSA became an official member in October 2023.[182]
Historically, DSA was associated withMichael Harrington's position that "the left wing of realism is found today in the Democratic Party". In its early years, DSA opposedRepublican presidential candidates by giving critical support toDemocratic nominees likeWalter Mondale in 1984.[183] In 1988, DSA enthusiastically supportedJesse Jackson's second presidential campaign.[184] Since 1995, DSA's position onAmerican electoral politics has been that "democratic socialists reject an either-or approach to electoral coalition building, focused solely on a new party or on realignment within the Democratic Party".[185] During the 1990s, DSA gave theClinton administration an overall rating of C−, "less than satisfactory".[186]
Since the early 2000s, DSA has been critical of the Democratic Party leadership, which it argues is corporate-funded.[187] In 2008, DSA stated:[188]
Much of progressive, independent political action will continue to occur in Democratic Party primaries in support of candidates who represent a broad progressive coalition. In such instances, democratic socialists will support coalitional campaigns based on labor, women, people of color and other potentially anti-corporate elements.Electoral tactics are only a means for democratic socialists; the building of a powerful anti-corporate coalition is the end.
Since 2016, DSA has developed a stricter endorsement policy, endorsing onlysocialist candidates and alignedcitizens' referendums.[189] DSA's stated long-term goal has become to form an independent workers' party, while in the meantime it adopts a "proto-party" strategy called the "dirty break".[190] DSA's elected leadership has often seen running in Democratic Partyprimary elections, rather than immediately forming athird party, as necessary for socialist visibility and electoral victories while DSA builds the resources for a viable workers' party, such ascanvassing technology,party discipline, funding structure, and basis insocial movement organizations such as labor unions.[190]
In 1984, DSA endorsedWalter Mondale in the1984 United States presidential election.[191] In 1987, DSA endorsedJesse Jackson in the1988 Democratic Party presidential primaries, to Jackson's disapproval.[192]
In 2000, DSA took no official position on thepresidential election, with several prominent DSA members backingGreen Party nomineeRalph Nader while others supportedSocialist Party USA nomineeDavid McReynolds and others voting for Democratic nomineeAl Gore.[193]
In 2004, most DSA members backedJohn Kerry after he won the Democratic nomination. DSA'sPAC urged DSA members to vote for Kerry, arguing that a Kerry loss "would be taken not as a defeat of the US political center, which Kerry represents, but of the mainstream Left", while a Kerry win would a small step "toward reversing nearly four decades of conservative dominance".[194]
The only resolution on upcoming elections at DSA's 2005 convention focused onBernie Sanders's independent campaign for theU.S. Senate inVermont.[195] DSA's 2007 convention in Atlanta featured record-breaking attendance and more participation by the youth wing. Sanders gave the keynote address.[196]
In 2008, DSA supported Democratic presidential nomineeBarack Obama in his race against Republican nomineeJohn McCain. In an article in the March 24 edition ofThe Nation, DSA membersBarbara Ehrenreich and Bill Fletcher Jr., along withTom Hayden andDanny Glover, announced the formation of Progressives for Obama, arguing that Obama was the most progressive viable Democratic presidential candidate sinceRobert F. Kennedy in 1968.[197] Following Obama's election, many on thepolitical right began to allege that his administration's policies were "socialistic",[198] a claim that DSA and theObama administration both rejected. The claim led DSA National Director Frank Llewellyn to declare that "over the past 12 months, the Democratic Socialists of America has received more media attention than it has over the past 12 years".[199]
In the2016 presidential election, DSA endorsed Sanders for president. Sanders's candidacy prompted a surge in DSA membership among young voters, which also brought a major shift in DSA's federal endorsements toward a stricter line.[200] After Sanders lost toHillary Clinton in the2016 Democratic primaries, DSA called for Republican nomineeDonald Trump's defeat, but did not officially endorse Clinton.[201]
In 2020, DSA endorsed Sanders for president again after an advisory poll reported 76% of the participating membership approved his endorsement,[202] despite objections from part of the membership about Sanders's statements on, among other topics,slavery reparations.[203] No other candidates were included in the poll. After Sanders dropped out in April 2020, DSA explicitly did not endorse the presumptive Democratic nominee,Joe Biden.[204] Two DSA chapters (Colorado Springs andSalt Lake City) voted to endorseGreen Party nomineeHowie Hawkins.[205] In May 2020, 91 "founders, officers and activists" of theStudents for a Democratic Society (SDS) in the 1960s criticized DSA's failure to endorse Biden in an open letter "to the New New Left From the Old New Left" published inThe Nation.[206] Daniel Finn ofJacobin responded that in invoking the specter of fascism under a second-term Trump, the former SDSers were engaging in "melodramatic hyperbole", and that climate change was not an issue that could wait until 2024 or 2028. "No socialist", he argued, "who campaigned for Bernie Sanders should feel guilty about abandoning [the Democrats] and concentrating on building a movement that is the only real hope for the planet's future".[207]
In 2023, DSA member and former DSA honorary chairCornel West announced his campaign in the2024 United States presidential election, initially with thePeople's Party,[208] then with theGreen Party,[209] and then in October 2023 as anindependent candidate.[210]
In 2024, DSA endorsed a multitude of state-levelUncommitted campaigns in theDemocratic primaries to protest theBiden administration's stance on theGaza war. DSA made no endorsement in the 2024 general presidential race. DSA members expressed split views on West's campaign despite widespread admiration for him, with some citingcontroversies within the People's Party or the potential for aspoiler effect, and others arguing the campaign could be an opportunity to make socialist ideas more visible.[208][209][211] Others advocated voting for other third-party candidates, such asClaudia De la Cruz of theParty for Socialism and Liberation orJill Stein of theGreen Party. Some supported voting for Vice PresidentKamala Harris, particularly in swing states, and traveled to swing states to knock doors for her, as they saw defeating Trump as necessary.[212]
On June 26, 2018, DSA member and then-endorseeAlexandria Ocasio-Cortezwon the Democratic primary against incumbent RepresentativeJoseph Crowley inNew York's 14th congressional district in an upset, virtually guaranteeing her the congressional seat in the heavily Democratic district, which spans parts of the Bronx and Queens.[213][214] House Minority LeaderNancy Pelosi dismissed the win as "not to be viewed as something that stands for anything else"[215] and said it represented change only in one progressive district.[216] In contrast,Democratic National Committee headTom Perez called Ocasio-Cortez "the future of our party".[217] TheTrotskyistInternational Committee of the Fourth International critiqued her and DSA as a "left" cover for the "right-wing Democratic Party", particularly in regard to foreign policy.[218] Six weeks after Ocasio-Cortez's primary victory, DSA member and endorseeRashida Tlaib won the Democratic primary inMichigan's 13th congressional district.[219] Both Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib won their general elections to become members of Congress.
Ocasio-Cortez's victory led more than 1,000 new members to join DSA the next day, approximately 35 times the daily average.[220] These signups helped boost the organization to 42,000 members nationally in June 2018.[221] That number increased to 50,000 by September 1, 2018.
In the2020 elections, at least 36 DSA members won office, earning more than 3.1 million votes.[222] Four DSA members were elected to theU.S. House of Representatives, including incumbents Ocasio-Cortez and Tlaib and newly elected membersJamaal Bowman andCori Bush.[223] DSA members were unsuccessful in being elected to the House inWest Virginia (WV-2),Mississippi (MS-1) andCalifornia (CA-12).[224][225][226][227]
InTennessee,Marquita Bradshaw won the Democratic nomination for the2020 Senate election in an upset.[228] Initially not nationally endorsed, she was endorsed by theMemphis-Midsouth chapter of DSA and after her primary victory was also endorsed by Tennessee's other DSA chapters, inKnoxville,Chattanooga,Middle andNortheast Tennessee.[229][230] She lost the general election toBill Hagerty.
In November 2022,Greg Casar[a] was the fifth DSA member jointly elected to the House, though he was not endorsed due tohis stances on Palestine.[232] The next year, Bowman announced that he had stopped paying his membership dues,[233] andShri Thanedar, who had quietly joined DSA, was expelled for supporting the governments ofIsrael andIndia.[234][235] But in May 2024, Bowman rejoined DSA and was endorsed by its New York City chapter.[236][237] This came as he faced a strong primary challenge fromGeorge Latimer, who was endorsed by manypro-Israel lobby groups.[238][239] In June 2024, Bowman lost the primary to Latimer.[240] In July 2024, DSA's National Political Committee (NPC)'s endorsement of Ocasio-Cortez was revoked due to her stances on Palestine, though the New York City DSA chapter rejected the NPC's conditions for her endorsement; Ocasio-Cortez is endorsed locally by the NYC-DSA chapter, but does not have the national endorsement.[241] In August 2024, Cori Bush lost the Democratic primary election for her seat toWesley Bell.[242]
In 1990, DSA memberDavid Dinkins took office asMayor of New York City.[243]
In theUnited States elections of 2017, DSA endorsed 15 candidates for office, with the highest position gained being that ofLee J. Carter in theVirginia House of Delegates.[244] DSA members won 15 electoral offices in 13 states, bringing the total to 35 (having changed its electoral strategy at its national convention, DSA had anticipated picking up approximately five seats)[245][246] 56% of DSA members who ran in this election cycle won, compared to 20% in2016.[246] These results encouraged dozens more DSA members to run for office in the 2018 elections.[247]
In the2018 midterm elections, DSA anticipated reaching 100 elected officials nationwide from its strategic down-ballot campaigns, with most of those in state and local races.[248] 39 formally endorsed people ran for office at the state and local levels in 20 states, including Florida, Hawaii, Kansas and Michigan; Maine'sZak Ringelstein, a Democrat, was its sole senatorial candidate.[249] Local chapters endorsed around 110 candidates in total.[250] Four female DSA members (Sara Innamorato,Summer Lee,Elizabeth Fiedler and Kristin Seale) won Democratic primary contests for seats in thePennsylvania House of Representatives, with Innamorato and Lee defeating incumbents.[251][252][253][254] Additionally,Jade Bahr and Amelia Marquez won their primaries in Montana for theState House[255] and Jeremy Mele won his primary for theMaine House of Representatives.[256][257] In California,Jovanka Beckles won one of the top two spots in the primary and advanced to the general election for aState Assembly seat in theEast Bay.[258] Ultimately, about a dozen members (or non-members who were endorsed) won office in state legislatures.[259] In the aggregate, DSA had backed 40 winning candidates at the state, county and municipal levels.[260][261] DSA members elected to state legislatures in 2018 includeHawaii RepresentativeAmy Perruso,New York SenatorJulia Salazar, andPennsylvania Representatives Fiedler, Innamorato, and Lee.[220]
The2019 Chicago aldermanic elections saw six DSA members elected to the 50-seatChicago City Council: incumbentCarlos Ramirez-Rosa and newcomersDaniel La Spata,Jeanette Taylor,Byron Sigcho-Lopez,Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez, andAndre Vasquez.[262] The six newly elected DSA members informally organized theChicago City Council Socialist Caucus in 2019, later formalizing it in 2021 as the Democratic Socialist Caucus.[263][264][265][266][267] In the2019 off-year elections, DSA members made further gains by capturing over a half dozen city council seats across the country;Dean Preston became the first democratic socialist elected to theSan Francisco Board of Supervisors in 40 years,[268] whileLee Carter was reelected to theVirginia House of Delegates.[269]
In 2020, DSA made significant gains instate legislatures. Over 30 DSA members and endorsed (either nationally or by local chapters) candidates were elected in 16 states, including five inPennsylvania and seven inNew York.[b] Notable victories were inWest Philadelphia, where Rick Krajewski beat a 35-year incumbent, and inNew York City, where a slate of five candidates was (re)elected to thestate house and thestate senate.[270][271] All DSA incumbents were reelected, with the sole exception ofJade Bahr, who lost her race for theMontana House of Representatives.[272]
Dozens of DSA members and affiliated candidates have won races for local offices since 2020. Most notably,Nithya Raman, endorsed by the national DSA, won her race forLos Angeles city council in district 4,[273] andJaneese Lewis George won her race forWashington, D.C.city councilward 4, after winning her primary against incumbentBrandon Todd.[273][274][275] Dean Preston was reelected to theSan Francisco Board of Supervisors.[276]José Garza was elected asdistrict attorney forTravis County inTexas andGabriella Cázares-Kelly was electedcounty recorder inPima County, Arizona[277][278] Other DSA-affiliated candidates were elected to city councils inAustin, Aurora,Oakland,Burbank,Berkeley,Mountain View,South San Francisco,Redwood City,Sacramento,Burlington,Madison,Stoughton,St. Petersburg, andPortland,Maine.[279][280][281][282][283]
In March 2021, an all-DSA leadership of a state Democratic party was elected for the first time in its history, sweeping the leadership of theNevada Democratic Party.[284][285] After the elections, the entire Nevada Democratic Party staff resigned.[286] On March 4, 2023, a "unity" slate of candidates was elected, ending DSA leadership of the party.[287] In February 2023, DSA's Las Vegas chapter said that communication between the slate and the chapter had faltered and the slate had become increasingly moderate over its term despite initial statements in favor of democratic socialist causes. From this experience, the chapter wrote in opposition to bothentryism in theDemocratic Party and solely focusing on electoral organizing as formidable strategies for socialist organizers:[288]
This is our lesson, and we hope socialists everywhere will pay close attention: the Democratic Party is a dead end. It is a "party" in name only; truly, it is simply a tangled web of dark money and mega-donors, cynical consultants, and lapdog politicians. ... We don't want milquetoast progressivereformist-reforms; we want socialism. We won't get it by playing the DNC's games, and we won't get it by being a mildly obnoxious thorn in their side, either. Our task is to out-organize them entirely, and not merely within the confines of the voting booth.
— Las Vegas Democratic Socialists of America
In June 2021, theBuffalo, New York chapter-endorsed candidate,India Walton, won the Democratic Partyprimary election for mayor, defeating incumbentByron Brown.[289] Following the primary election loss, Brown qualified for thegeneral election as awrite-in candidate.[290] In November 2021, Walton lost the mayoral race to Brown, who earned 38,338 write-in votes to Walton's 25,773 votes.[291]
In the2023 Chicago aldermanic elections, all five incumbent DSA members were reelected, as was Andre Vasquez, whom DSA endorsed in 2019 but censured in 2020 for supporting a neoliberal budget.[292] AfterJames Cappleman retired, DSA memberAngela Clay was elected in the 46th Ward, bringing the total membership of the Democratic Socialist Caucus back up to six.[293][294]
At the 2023 DSA National Convention, delegates declaredschool board elections to be an electoral priority.[3][295]Jacobin and theNew York Post both noted the success of DSA candidates in school board elections in at least 15 states since 2021 from left- and right-wing perspectives, respectively, including that such candidates ran on supportingtransgender rights, fightingsystemic racism, and supportingteachers' unions and funding forpublic education.[295][296]
In June 2025, theNew York City chapter-endorsed candidate,Zohran Mamdani, won the Democratic Partyprimary election for mayor, defeating former governorAndrew Cuomo. If elected, he will become the second DSA mayor of New York City afterDavid Dinkins left office in 1993.
with a progressive platform and backing from the far-left Democratic Socialists of America
Azzopardi said, referring to the far-left Democratic Socialists of America.
Infighting within DSA chapters is making headlines across the country — a sign that the far-left faction of the progressive wing may be fracturing as the result of its success.
Within DSA, everyone is on the far left, but some are further left than others.
Clearly there is not a lot of strategic thinking going on the far left today. As DSA's choice regarding Ocasio-Cortez tells us, what really concerns them is political purity.
In addition, many are viewing the DSA convention this week in Chicago as a key turning point within the organization. Coming out of the DSA is a new caucus called the Libertarian Socialist Caucus. The LSC promotes a vision of 'libertarian socialism' ...
Originally:O'Rourke, William (November 13, 1973)."Michael Harrington: Beyond Watergate, Sixties, and reform".SoHo Weekly News. Vol. 3, no. 2. pp. 6–7.ISBN 9780791416815.Archived from the original on December 18, 2020. RetrievedNovember 10, 2020.
...Leninist temptation was emerging within the organization. By the fall of 2023, a coalition of hard-left caucuses had gained control of many big-city DSA chapters and had assembled a majority on the group's ruling National Political Committee.
According to Chris Kutalik, a communications director for D.S.A., it has added at least 2,400 new dues-paying members since October for a total of about 78,000 members.
What he is not saying, oddly, is that even the DSA no longer officially holds those positions. Last month it replaced its old platform—the fevered to-do list of a Utopian with OCD and a PhD in jargon—with a compact statement of still radical, but less radical, proposals, neither so grandiose nor so weirdly particular.
DSA believes in the abolition of capitalism in favor of an economy run either by "the workers" or the state
DSA's national platform calls for abolishing capitalism
More than 3,000 people marched in heavy rain from Bryant Park in midtown Manhattan to the office of US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, where they condemned the killings of Palestinians and Israelis and demanded she and other members of Congress support a ceasefire resolution. ... New York State Senator Jabari Brisport was among those arrested. In a video he shared on social media, the senator chants "free Palestine" as he stands in a handcuffed group behind a line of NYPD officers.
Democratic Socialists of America's New York City chapter helped organize the demonstration, calling on New York Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand to demand a ceasefire in the conflict.
Over 100 arrests were made for acts of civil disobedience as protesters sat down and blocked traffic. These arrests resulted in summonses to appear in court.
Police say 139 people were taken into custody and placed on buses after blocking traffic outside of Gillibrand's office on the East Side.
At least 48 DSA members were on the ballot this November, and at least 36 won office, earning more than 3.1 million votes for socialist candidates altogether.
I'm beyond proud to receive the endorsement of Chattanooga Democratic Socialists of America.
A spokesperson for the Detroit chapter of DSA told Forbes in a statement that Thanedar's "views are not—and have never been—representative of Detroit DSA." Thanedar was expelled from the chapter last month "due to his support of the far right, violent, Islamophobic Modi regime in India," the spokesperson said.
The Detroit chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America fired back at Thanedar, saying he can't renounce his membership because he was removed from the local group on Sept. 17.
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